Schizophrenia Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is schizophrenia?
A psychotic disorder.
Describe a psychotic disorder
- Loss of contact with reality
- Lacks insight of their condition
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
1- Delusions
2- Hallucinations
3- Thought Disorders
4- Experiences of influence
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
1- Lack of emotional expressions (flat affect)
2- Lack of motivation (Avolition)
3- Lack of spoken language (Alogia)
4- Social withdrawal (Asociality)
5- Inability to experience pleasure (Anhedonia)
Types of delusions
1- Grandeur
2- Persecution
3- Reference
Define grander delusion
A person who sees themselves as exceptional in some way.
Define persecution delusion
This person may believe that other people want to harm them and may believe they are being spied on / tricked or followed.
Define reference delusion
This person believes that any situation or event has personal significance.
What is Aneja et al’s case study?
About a 14 year old boy diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Describe the case study history.
-The boy came from a troubled home with an aggressive father.
-His parents got divorced when he was 10 and he lived with his grandparents.
-His schoolwork suffered and he stopped attending school by the age of 12.
-He was irritable, sad and often got into trouble for fighting.
Describe the symptoms.
-He heard voices that teased him.
-He was suspicious of his mother.
-Muttered, laughed and shouted at unseen people..
-Spoke very little.
-Poor sleep and self care.
-Preferred to be alone away from others.
-Lacked insight of his condition.
Describe his treatments.
-He was hospitalised and diagnosed with very early onset schizophrenia.
-Released from hospital with medications that helped his aggression.
-Received 8 sessions of bilateral ECT.
-His positive symptoms decreased but his negative symptoms stayed the same.
What are the three genetic explanations of schizophrenia?
1- Family studies
2- Twin studies
3- Adoption studies
Describe family studies.
This study shows that if you have a close family member with schizophrenia then you are more likely to develop it too.
Describe twin studies.
Mono-zygote twins have higher concordance of schizophrenia suggesting that there is genetic contribution.
Describe adoption studies.
Studies found that 6.7% of adoptees who have a schizophrenic biological mother also develop schizophrenia.
Describe the dopamine hypothesis.
Excess dopamine can be a cause of schizophrenia.
Explain dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that enables communication between two neurons.
Evidence of the dopamine hypothesis
1- Drugs
2- L-Dopa
3- Post Mortem Studies
4- Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Describe the evidence of drugs
- Drug trials were tested on people with and without schizophrenia
- Drugs that increase the dopamine levels include amphetamine and cocaine.
- Large increase of dopamine correlates to the increase of hallucinations and delusions.
Describe the evidence of L-Dopa
- People with parkipsons disease are treated with a synthetic form of dopamine and if the dosage is too high it creates similar symptoms to those with schizophrenia such as hallucinations.
Describe the Post Mortem Studies evidence
- Post mortem studies have found that the brains of deceased individuals with schizophrenia have a larger number of dopamine than those without the disorder.
- Deceased patients were found to have abnormally low levels of the enzyme that breaks down dopamine, suggesting the presence of excess dopamine.
Describe the Positron Emission Tomography evidence
Is a scan analysis to measure the amount of dopamine activity in the brain. Those with schizophrenia indicate greater number if receptors.
Describe the cognitive explanation
Assumes that both positive and negative symptoms result from faulty information processing.
