Altered Thought Processes Flashcards
what is psychosis
A syndrome of neurocognitive symptoms that impairs cognitive capacity,
leading to deficits of perception, functioning, and social relatedness
what are the 5 symptomatic domains of psychosis
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized thought
Disorganized or abnormal motor behavior
Negative symptoms
what is primary psychosis
A psychiatric cause, i.e. schizophrenia, schizoaffective DO
Psychobiological origin (genetic & neural pathways) makes future episodes
more likely to occur
what is secondary psychosis
Contributing cause, i.e. substance intoxication, delirium, or dementia
Have a greater chance to recover
what can psychosis do
Unregulated neural circuits release inflammatory markers that degrade
the circuit
can cause dementia
is there a genetic link btwn scizophrenia
yes
neurobio of scizo
Dopamine hypothesis (associated
with positive symptoms)
* Increased dopamine production
* Increased release of dopamine
* Increased receptor sensitivity
* Increased dopamine receptors
other nts involved in scizo
norepinephrine, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, and glutamate, loss of grey matter, ventricular enlargement
excess or not enough serotonin in scizo
excess
what do glutamate levels do
Increase during stress
First episode of psychosis
precipitated by stress
Hippocampus becomes
hypermetabolic then atrophies
Common finding in schizophrenia –
research to identify new biomarkers
to signal early illness, prevention, &
treatment
positive symptopns of scizo
overt symptoms that should not be present
hallucinations
delusions
disorganized thoughts
negative symtpoms of scizo
does not refer to attitude, but instead a lack of characteristics that should be present
reduced speech
lack of emotional and facial expression
diminished abiligt to begin and sustain activities
decreased ability to find pleasure in everyday
social w/draw
cognitive deficits
difficilties w/ following aspects of cognition can make it hard to live a normal life or earn a living
memory
attention
planning
decision making
what are delusions
Fixed false personal belief that does not
change when confronted with conflicting evidence
what are persecutory delusions
paranoid
what are grandiose delusions
exaggerated feeling of importance
somatic delusions
body function
erotomanic delusions
in love with him or her
jealous delusions
irrational w/out cause
reference delusions
Events in environment refer to him
or her, i.e. radio is talking to them
what is paranoia
Extreme suspiciousness of others
what is magical thinking
Ideas that one’s thoughts or
behaviors have control over specific situations
wha is loose associaion
Shift of ideas from one unrelated topic to another
what are neologisms
Made-up words that have meaning only to the person who invents them
