Chapter 9

Question 1

What are some of the symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 1

1. Positive symptoms
   (a) hallucination
   (b) delusions
   (c) disorganized speech or behaviour
2. Negative symptoms
   (a) avolition
   (b) anhedonia

Question 2

What are some of the myths of schizophrenia?

Answer 2

People think that schizophrenics

1. are dangerous,
2. have two separate personalities, or
3. become homeless “street people”,

but these are not true.

Question 3

What does the term “positive symptom” mean?

Answer 3

exaggerated or changed versions of normal behaviour, e.g. when you mostly see what everyone else sees but add your own details or interpretations

Question 4

What does the term “negative symptom” mean?

Answer 4

loss of normal behaviours and experiences

Question 5

What is a hallucination?

Answer 5

mis-interpretations of sensory perceptions (but not dreams or drugs)

Question 6

What are the kinds of hallucinations?

Answer 6

They can be from any of the sense organs, including:
1. auditory (hearing)
2. visual (seeing)
3. tactile (touch)
4. taste
5. smell

Question 7

Which type of hallucination is most common in schizophrenia?

Answer 7

auditory (hearing things that other people don’t hear)

Question 8

What causes hallucinations?

Answer 8

patient cannot tell whether stimuli come from the outside world or from his own thoughts, for example because they cannot recognize their own internal experiences

Question 9

What are delusions?

Answer 9

strange or impossible beliefs that you do not stop believing in, even when it is against the evidence

Question 10

What kinds of delusions are there?

Answer 10

1. persecutory (paranoia) - that people are following you and trying to hurt you
2. referential - when you think that everyday things are specially for you
3. somatic - related to body
4. religious - believing that religious writings (Bible) tell how to save or destroy the world, or that the patient is part of the story
5. grandeur - thinking someone has more power than they do

Question 11

What is disorganized speech?

Answer 11

when a patient’s words, sentences, or ideas do not seem to be related to one another, so that their speech seems unusual to other people

Question 12

What is anhedonia?

Answer 12

no ability to enjoy any good emotions

Question 13

What is avolition?

Answer 13

no motivation to do anything

Question 14

What kinds of movement problems might a person with schizophrenia have?

Answer 14

1. grossly disorganized behaviour - can’t sit still, also problems with doing daily tasks (getting dressed, showering)
2. catatonic behaviour - less movement, body is very straight and not movable

Question 15

What is it called when some of the symptoms of schizophrenia are caused by narcotics?

Answer 15

substance-induced psychotic disorder

Question 16

What is the “level of functioning” criterion for schizophrenia?

Answer 16

a person’s progress in major areas like work or school, relationships, and self-care is below the level they were achieving before

Question 17

What is it called when someone has symptoms of both schizophrenia and depression or bipolar?

Answer 17

schizoaffective

Question 18

What is it called when someone has some of the symptoms of schizophrenia but only for the short-term?

Answer 18

1. brief psychotic disorder (less than one month)
2. schizophreniform disorder (one to six months)

Question 19

When does schizophrenia normally appear?

Answer 19

in adolescence or young adulthood (15-45 years)

Question 20

What are some proposed markers for schizophrenia?

Answer 20

1. eye-tracking - people with schizophrenia will not follow a moving object smoothly, instead their eyes will bounce around the room
2. continuous performance test - people with schizophrenia often get a lower achievement on this test of cognitive skills

Question 21

What is one problem with the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia?

Answer 21

they rely on reports of hallucinations and delusions that cannot be checked

Question 22

What is a disease marker?

Answer 22

sign (показатель) that shows that someone has a certain disease

Question 23

Which historical proposals for the etiology of schizophrenia were influential?

Answer 23

1. psychoanalysts’ theory about severely-rejecting mothers (“schizophrenogenic”)
2. Jung’s theory that the “collective unconscious” could “erupt” in dreams and mental illnesses
3. social theories, e.g. “social drift” theories that people with schizophrenia have problems getting out of poverty

Question 24

What are the modern theories of the etiology of schizophrenia?

Answer 24

1. Meehl’s “schizotype” theory of “hypokirisa”, “cognitive slippage”, and “aversive drift”
   2.

Question 25

Explain Meehl's theory of the etiology of schizophrenia?

Answer 25

1. some people are born with a diathesis (предрасположенность) called "hypokrisia" 2. this means that there are problems in the structure of the neurons of the brain 3. this means that the ideas in the person's head are associated with each other in unusual patterns 4. so the person will speak strangely and have problems with attention, called "cognitive slippage" 5. the person will be rejected and isolated by others, called "aversive drift" 6. if all these factors come together and the person also has a large stress during adolescence, it will cause schizophrenia