Auditory hallucinations Flashcards
(6 cards)
Psychotic features
Hallucinations
Delusions
Thought disorganisation
- alogia: little information conveyed by speech
- tangentiality: answers diverge from topic
clanging
- word salad: linking real words incoherently → nonsensical content
Psychosis
Experiencing things differently from those around them
First episode 15-30 yrs
Associated features of psychosis
agitation/aggression
neurocognitive impairment (e.g. in memory, attention or executive function)
depression
thoughts of self-harm
When does psychosis occur?
schizophrenia: the most common psychotic disorder
depression (psychotic depression, a subtype more common in elderly patients)
bipolar disorder
puerperal psychosis (postpartum)
brief psychotic disorder: where symptoms last less than a month
neurological conditions e.g. Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease
prescribed drugs e.g. corticosteroids
certain illicit drugs e.g. cannabis, phencyclidine
Schizophrenia - Schneider’s first rank symptoms
Auditory hallucinations of a specific type:
- two or more voices discussing the patient in the third person
- thought echo
- voices commenting on the patient’s behaviour
Thought disorders
thought insertion
thought withdrawal
thought broadcasting
Passivity phenomena:
bodily sensations being controlled by external influence
actions/impulses/feelings - experiences which are imposed on the individual or influenced by others
Delusional perceptions
a two stage process) where first a normal object is perceived then secondly there is a sudden intense delusional insight into the objects meaning for the patient e.g. ‘The traffic light is green therefore I am the King’.
Other features of schizophrenia
impaired insight
negative symptoms
incongruity/blunting of affect
anhedonia (inability to derive pleasure)
alogia (poverty of speech)
avolition (poor motivation)
social withdrawal
neologisms: made-up words
catatonia
