Schizophrenia Flashcards
Schizophrenia
2+ core features (hallucination, delusion, disorganized speech) for a significant period of time during a one month period
Functional impairment compared to a level of functioning before symptoms
Continuous signs for 6 months with at least one month of active symptoms
How common is schizophrenia
Around 1% of the world’s population has it
Heritability of schizophrenia
Genes are associated with increased risk (DISC1 and more)
If you have a gene associated, does not mean you will have schizophrenia
Environmental factors of schizophrenia
Prenatal malnutrition
Tobacco use during pregnancy
Viral infection during pregnancy
Vitamin D deficiency in childhood
Schizophrenia symptoms categories
Positive
Negative
Cognitive
Positive symptoms
Hallucinations
Delusions
Hallucinations
Perceptual experiences that occur absent of an external stimulus
Delusions
Fixed beliefs that are firmly held and do not change with evidence
Negative symptoms
Diminished emotional expression
Avolition
Alogia
Anhedonia
Asociality
Avolition
Decrease in motivation, self-initiated purposeful activities
Alogia
Diminished speech output
Anhedonia
Decreased ability to experience pleasure from positive stimuli
Asociality
Lack of interest in social interactions
Cognitive symptoms
Thinking/speech problems
Loose associations (switch from one topic to another)
Tangentiality (loosely-related/unrelated concepts)
Incoherence (word salad, similar to Wernicke’s aphasia)
Neuropsychological profile
Changes in:
Attention/working memory
Verbal learning and memory
Social cognition
Some executive functioning and language
