symptoms of schizophrenia

Question 1

four key symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 1

1. thought insertion
2. hallucinations
3. delusions
4. disordered thinking

Question 1

diagnosing schizophrenia

Answer 1

• the DSM-5 requires at least 2 out of the 4 key symptoms - one must be delusions, hallucinations or disorganised speech / thought but the patient may also have grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour and / or negative symptoms (diminished e,otional expression, avolition, alogia, anhedonia and asociality)
• the patients has to experience the symptoms for at least a month and experienced distrubance to everyday functioning for at least 6 months
• in the ICD-10 there is less focus on dysfunciton and 6 months of being distured is not necessary for a diagnosis to be made

Question 2

thought insertion

Answer 2

• when a person believes their thoughts do not belong to them and have been implanted by an external source
• they experience a ‘blurring’ of the boundary between the self and others and feel that this border has beocme permeable
• this can lead to the belief that thoughts, feelings and experiences can pass from one person to another

Question 3

types of delusions

Answer 3

• delusions of persecution
• delusions of reference
• delusions of grandeur
• erotomanic delusions
• delusions of nihilism
• somatic delusions

Question 4

delusions

Answer 4

• fixed beliefs that are resistant to change and implausable to people of the same cultural background
• they may relate to everyday life (e.g., believing that your movements are being monitored by the police) or they may be ‘bizarre’ (e.g., believing that an alien is trying to remove your brain)

Question 5

delusions of persecution

Answer 5

belief that one is going to be harmed or harassed by an individual, organisation or other group

Question 6

delusions of reference

Answer 6

belief that certain gestures, comments and environmental cues are directed at one self

Question 7

delusions of grandeur

Answer 7

when an individual believes that he or she has exeptional abilities, wealth or fame

Question 8

erotomanic delusions

Answer 8

when an individual believes falseley that another person is in love with him or her

Question 9

delusions of nihilism

Answer 9

the conviction that a major catastrophe will occur

Question 10

somatic delusions

Answer 10

focus on preoccupations regarding health and organ function

Question 11

type of hallucinations

Answer 11

• auditory hallucinations
• visual hallucinations

Question 12

hallucinations

Answer 12

perceptual experiences which do not correspond with reality

Question 13

auditory hallucinations

Answer 13

usually experienced as voices, that are percieved as distinct from the individuals own thoughts

Question 14

visual hallucinations

Answer 14

seeing things which aren’t actually there

Question 15

disordered thinking

Answer 15

• jumbled and unrelated thoughts leading to incoherent speech
• the person may switch from one topic to another and jumble seemingly unrelated ideas making it difficul to follow their train of thought

Question 16

types of disordered thinking

Answer 16

• derailment / loose associations
• tangentiality
• word salad

Question 17

derailment / loose association

Answer 17

the individual may switch from one topic to another

Question 18

tangentiality

Answer 18

answers to queestions may be onbliquely related or completely unrelated

Question 18

word salad

Answer 18

speech may be so severely disorganised that it is nearly incomprehensive and resembles receptive aphasia in its linguistic disordanisation

Question 19

grossly disorganised behaviour / catatonia

Answer 19

behaviour ranging from child-like silliness to unpredictable agitation

Question 20

behaviours associated with grossly disorganised behaviour / catatonia

Answer 20

resistance to instructions, maintaining a rigid inapproriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack or verbal or motor responses

Question 21

positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 21

• delusions
• hallucinations
• disorganised thinking
• thought insertion
• grossly disorganised behaviour / catatonia

Question 22

negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 22

• diminished emotional expression
• avolition
• alogia
• anhedonia
• asociality

Question 23

diminished emotional expression

Answer 23

includes reductions in the expression of emotions in the face, eye contact, intonation of speech and movements of the hand, head and face that normally give an emotional emphasis to speech

Question 24

avolition

Answer 24

a decrease in motivated self-intitated purposeful activities

Question 25

a

algolia

Answer 25

manifested by diminished speech output

Question 26

anhedonia

Answer 26

the decreased ability to experience pleasure from pistive stimuli or degredation in the recollection of pleasure previously experienced

Question 27

asociality

Answer 27

refers to the lack of interest in social interactions and may be associated with avolition, but it can also be a manifestation of limited oppourtunities for social interactions

Question 28

features of schizophrenia - life time prevalence

Answer 28

• the lifetime prevalance which is 0.3-0.7%
• this varies with ethnicity, nationality and geographic origin in immigrants
• onset is slightly earlier in males (early to mid 20s) than females (late 20s)
• males tend to have a poorer prognosis than females
• females are over-represented in late onset cases (40+)

Question 29

features of schizophrenia - prognisis

Answer 29

• prognosis is variable and hard to predict
• a minority recover completely, but most experience chronic, episodic impairment and some show progressive deterioration, with increasingly brief periods of remission and severe cognitive deficits
• positive symptoms reduce over time but debilitating negative symptoms often remain