schizophrenia

Question 1

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 1

A mental disorder which affects thought processes and the ability to determine reality

Question 2

What are the two major classification systems

Answer 2

ICD-10 and DSM 5

Question 3

what are positive symptoms?

Answer 3

symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences

Question 4

What are two types of positive symptoms

Answer 4

delusions and hallucinations

Question 5

what are hallucinations?

Answer 5

unusual sensory experiences, include auditory and visual hallucinations

Question 6

what are delusions?

Answer 6

irrational beliefs - take a range of forms

Question 7

what are negative symptoms?

Answer 7

experiences that represent the loss of usual experiences such as clear thinking or ‘normal’ levels of motivation

Question 8

what are two types of negative symptoms

Answer 8

avolition and speech poverty

Question 9

what is avolition

Answer 9

losing the will to perform goal-directed activity due to decreased motivation e.g. lack of motivation to work

Question 10

what is speech poverty

Answer 10

minimal verbal communication that lacks useful information, lacks characteristics of normal speech

Question 11

what does reliability of diagnosis mean

Answer 11

consistency of symptom measurement - inter-rater reliability (extent to which different assessors agree on their assessments

Question 12

evidence investigating reliability
Soderberg et al (2005)

Answer 12

• Soderberg et al. (2005): concordance rate of 81% using DSM
• DSM is regarded more reliable than ICD as symptoms outlined are more specific

Question 13

evidence investigating reliability
Nilsson et al (2000)

Answer 13

• only 60% concordance rate between practitioners using ICD implying DSM is more reliable

Question 14

Evidence investigating reliability
Cheniaux et al (2009)

Answer 14

• had two psychiatrists independently diagnose 100 patients using both DSM and ICD
• inter-rater reliability was poor, psychiatrists failed to diagnose patients consistently

Question 15

Validity

Answer 15

the extent to which sz is a unique syndrome with characteristics, signs and symptoms

Question 16

evidence investigating validity
Cheniaux et al (2009)

Answer 16

• sz is either over- diagnosed in ICD or underdiagnosed in DSM
• both diagnostic systems lack concurrent validity –> leading to inaccurate diagnosis

Question 17

Evidence investigating validity
Mason et al (1997)

Answer 17

• more modern classification systems had higher predictive validity –> predictive diagnosis has improved over time as classification systems have improved over time

Question 18

what is symptom overlap

Answer 18

sharing symptoms of other disorders which makes the diagnosis of schizophrenia more difficult

Question 19

what is co morbidity

Answer 19

where 2 or more conditions co-exist in the same individual at the same time, so a person with schizophrenia may be suffering from depression or bipolar disorder at the same time

Question 20

gender bias

Question 21

cultural bias