PAPER 3 - SCHIZOPHRENIA - classification and diagnosis

Question 1

what is schizophrenia?

Answer 1

a severe mental disorder involving impaired insight and loss of contact with reality

Question 2

what is classification of mental disorders?

Answer 2

the process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms frequently cluster together

Question 3

what are positive symptoms?

Answer 3

• symptoms experiences in addition to normal experiences
• hallucinations and delusions

Question 4

what are hallucinations?

Answer 4

• positive symptom
• unreal perceptions of the environment that are auditory, visual, olfactory or tactile
• many schizophrenics report hearing voices to harm themselves or others

Question 5

what are delusions?

Answer 5

• positive symptom
• irrational beliefs
• a person believes something is real that isn’t, involves inflated beliefs about persons power and importance

Question 6

what are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 6

• experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience
• speech poverty and avolition

Question 7

how do we distinguish between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 7

positive - excess/distortion of normal functioning
negative - loss/munition of normal functioning

Question 8

what are the differences between the 2 manuals in their classification of schizophrenia?

Answer 8

DSM (US) - 1 positive symptom = schizophrenia
ICD (UK) - 2 negative symptoms = schizophrenia

Question 9

what is speech poverty?

Answer 9

• negative symptom
• reduced frequency and quality of speech

Question 10

what is avolition?

Answer 10

• negative symptom
• loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lower activity levels

Question 11

what is co-morbidity?

Answer 11

• occurrence of 2 disorders together
• where 2 conditions are frequently diagnosed together it questions validity of classifying the 2 disorders separately

Question 12

what is symptom overlap?

Answer 12

• occurs when 2 or more conditions share symptoms
• when 2 conditions share symptoms it questions validity of classifying the 2 disorders separately

Question 13

why is good reliability a strength of the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Answer 13

• Osorio reported excellent reliability/consistency of diagnosis of schizophrenia in 180 people using the DSM
• pairs of interviewers achieved inter-rater reliability of +0.97 and test-retest reliability of +0.92

Question 14

why is low validity a limitation of the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Answer 14

• a study had 2 psychiatrists independently assess the same 100 people using ICD and DSM criteria and found 68 were diagnosed under ICD and 39 under DSM
• shows schizophrenia is either over or under diagnosed

Question 15

why is gender bias in diagnosis a limitation of the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Answer 15

• men are more commonly diagnosed with schizophrenia than women
• explanation could be that women are less vulnerable than men due to genetic factors
• seems more likely that women are underdiagnosed as they have closer relationships and support
• women may not be receiving treatment they need

Question 16

why is culture bias in diagnosis a limitation of the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Answer 16

• hearing voices have different meanings in different cultures
• afro-carribean societies consider hearing voices from loved ones to be desirable
• discriminated against due to culturally-biased diagnostic system

Question 17

why is symptom overlap a limitation of the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Answer 17

• schizophrenia and bipolar disorder involve positive symptoms (delusions/hallucinations)
• suggests schizophrenia and bipolar may not be separate conditions but variations one condition
• hard to distinguish/diagnose