Examining Barriers to effective physical health care management of Literature review

Examining Barriers to effective physical health care management of people with schizophrenia - Literature review Example same to different factors such as the association between mental and physical illnesses and the complications resulting from the mental illness itself following persistent use of medication. Schizophrenia patients and other mentally ill patients often suffer many physical health-related problems. Various studies on the interaction between physical health and mental health indicate psychiatric patients often endure physical health complications. In their article, Heggelund et al (2011) posited that most of the patients with Schizophrenia and major depression often suffer from cardiovascular and respiratory disease. The authours attribute the occurrence of these diseases in these patients to higher rates of smoking. In addition, Harrison and Gill (2010) suggest that the people with Schizophrenia experience poor dietary habits, poor living conditions and cognitive impairment among others. Heggelund et al. (2011) observed that patients suffering from Schizophrenia tended to gain weight and become obese. A research conducted by Brown and Mitchel (2012) showed that the incidence of obesity was high in Schizophrenia patients, accounting for up to 42% compared with 27% of the general population. The high percentage of Schizophrenia patients developing obese has thus been a key physical concern largely because it leads to the development of diabetes among other diseases. The tendency by the Schizophrenia patients to become obese has been attributed to different factors. In their article, Connolly and Kelly (2005) suggested that one of such factors is because the patients, in many cases, consume poor diets that are rich in fat and low fibre content without any consideration of the health implication. The authors also argue that these patients tend to lead a sedentary life, and this often reflects symptoms such as apathy and somnolence. The accumulation of calories in their bodies coupled with poor diet and lack of regular exercise serve as the predisposing factors for