Psychiatry Flashcards
(143 cards)
What is Charles Bonnet syndrome?
Persistent or recurrent hallucinations, generally against a background of visual impairment. Insight is often preserved. (must be in absence of any other neuropsychiatric disturbance)
What are the protective factors against suicide?
- children at home
- family support
- religious beliefs
If someone has previously attempted suicide, what features increase risk of a further attempt?
- violent method
- making efforts to not be found out
- planning
- leaving a written note
- final acts e.g. sorting out finances
How to assess risk to self
- deliberate self harm, thoughts or carried out
- suicide risk
- ability to maintain health: substance abuse, concordance and neglect
What 3 risks should be assessed in psych review?
- risk to self
- risk to others: thoughts of harming others or hallucinations telling them to harm others
- risk from others
Features of Schizophrenia
- auditory hallucinations: voices discussing in 3rd person, voices commentating on behaviour, thought echo
- thought disorder: thought insertion/deletion/broadcast
- delusional perceptions: normal object is first perceived then delusional insight into the object’s meaning
- passivity phenomena
- other: impaired insight, negative symptoms, catatonia
What is the management of schizophrenia?
- anti-psychotics
- CBT
What are the factors associated with a poorer prognosis for schizophrenia?
- strong family onset
- prodrome of social withdrawal
- low IQ
- gradual onset
- lack of precipitating factor
What is the most common type of schizophrenia?
Paranoid schizophrenia
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
- thought echo (hearing thought out loud)
- thought broadcast
- thought insertion or withdrawal
- 3rd person auditory hallucination
- delusional perception
- passivity and somatic passivity
- thought disorder
- lack of insight
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
- blunted affect
- apathy
- social isolation
- poverty of speech
- poor self care
Investigations to rule out causes of schizophrenia/psychosis
- Baseline blood tests: including FBC, TFTs, U&Es, LFTs, CRP and a fasting glucose
- Urine culture: to rule out urinary tract infection causing delirium
- Urine drug screen: to rule out drug intoxication
- HIV testing if applicable
- syphilis serology
What is the management of acute psychosis?
- consider oral benzodiazepine
- refer to a specialist to start anti-psychotic
- family intervention/cbt
Name two typical antipsychotics
- haloperidol
- chlorpromazine
Name two atypical antipsychotics
- clozapine
- risperidone
- aripiprazole
What is anxiety-panic disorder
- panic attack: sudden onset of discrete period of severe anxiety in which at leat 4 of the following are experienced: palpitations, sweating, shaking, sensation of shortness of breath, feeling of choking, nausea dizziness, derealisation/depersonalisation, fear of losing control or dying or going crazy, paraesthesia, chills or hot flushes
- at least 3 panic attacks in 3 weeks: no objective danger, comparative freedom from anxiety symptoms between attacks, without being confined to known/predictable situations
What is the first line medication for generalised anxiety disorder?
Sertraline
At what point would you need to titrate clozapine slowly?
if doses have been missed for a period of over 48 hours
What is tangentiality?
wandering from a topic without returning to it
What is knights move?
severe type of loosening of associations, where there are unexpected and illogical leaps from one idea to another. It is a feature of schizophrenia.
What is Circumstantiality?
inability to answer a question without giving excessive, unnecessary detail. However, this differs from tangentiality in that the person does eventually return to the original point.
What electrolyte imbalances can be seen with long term lithium use?
- hypercalcaemia
- hyperparathyroidism
What is the mechanism of benzodiazepines?
- Enhance effect of GABA (inhibitory neurotransmitter)
What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 bipolar disorder?
- type 1 associated with mania
- type 2 associated with hypomania