The day I first posted in this thread I had a schizoaffective patient lash out after she got into an area she wasn't allowed in. She refused to leave and when another nurse tried to direct her out she swing.
I was watching and as so as that happened I walked over with much speed and took her by the arm. She swing and kicked but as soon as she was through the door I let go and she stopped.
She is not violent. She is frustrated and due to her medicine non compliance she is disorganized and not able to communicate effectively. She is paranoid but not aggressive.
She will be committed then told she either takes meds by mouth or she receives IMs untill she complys.
Schizoaffective and schizophrenic patients are similar enough I'm going to lump them in together. I normally treat them similar but still person to person.
Sometimes they are responding to internal stimuli. Auditory hallucinations sound scary but most patients are honest about them. In school I had a little old lady tell me the voices we're telling her to kill me. She promised she wouldn't.
Typically the patients don't act on the voices and they want to take meds to make the voices go away. They might be kinda scary when they are talking to the voices they hear but almost never violent.
They may not follow directions that well but that's because there are louder voices they are hearing.