Pyschotic Disorders Flashcards
(41 cards)
Define psychosis
The presence of hallucinations or delusions
What are hallucinations?
Perception without a stimulus
What are visual hallucinations usually caused by?
Problems with brain or eye
(Not psychotic)
What are hypnogogic hallucinations?
as you’re going to sleep
What are hypnopompic hallucinations?
As you’re waking up
What is a delusion
A fixed false belief which is unshakeable
Outside of cultural norms
What are the 5 first rank symptoms of schizophrenia?
- auditory hallucinations
- passivity experiences
- thought withdrawal, broadcast or insertion
- delusional perceptions
- somatic hallucinations
Types of auditory hallucinations
- running commentary
- thought echo: hearing thoughts aloud
- third person: voices referring patient to 3rd person
What are passivity experiences?
Patient believes an action or feeling is caused by an external force
e.g. MI5 have been moving my leg
What is thought withdrawl?
Feeling like their thoughts are being taken out of their mind
What is thought broadcast?
Feeling like everyone knows what the person is thinking
What is thought insertion?
Feeling that thoughts are implanted by others
Experiencing one’s own thoughts as someone else’s
What is delusional perception?
Attribution of new meaning, usually in sense of self reference to normally perceived object + cannot be understood as arising from patient’s affective state
seeing something that has actually happened by interpreting in a delusional way
What are somatic hallucinations?
Mimics feeling from inside the body
e.g. feeling snake inside body, feeling heart twisting inside of them
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
something added
- delusions
- hallucinations
- thought disorder
- lack of insight
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
something taken away
- underactivity
- low motivation
- social withdrawal
- emotional flattening
- self neglect
What is thought disorder
Problem with organisation of thoughts in logical way
What is lack of insight?
Patient doesn’t realise that they are unwell
Positive vs negative symptoms of schizophrenia
- positive: something added
- negative: something taken away
Evidence for involvement of dopamine in schizophrenia
- drugs than increase dopamine levels induced by psychosis
- drugs that antagonise dopamine (especially at D2 receptor) treat psychosis
Where is the mesolimbic pathway between?
From Ventral temgental area
To Limbic structures + nucleus accumbens
What is the mesocortical pathway between?
From ventral tegmental area
To frontal + cingulate cortex
Mesolimbic pathway involvement in schizophrenia
Overactive in schizophrenia
Causes positive symptoms
Mesocortical pathway involvement in schizophrenia
Underactive in schizophrenia
Causes negative symptoms
