Schizophrenia Flashcards
(94 cards)
Introduction:
Outline the term schizophrenia
Original name: Dementia Praecox
- Split (schizo) mind (phrenia)
- split between cognition and emotion
Introduction:
Outline the prevalence of schizophrenia in the general population
- affects 0.3-0.7% (varies across culture)
- men - usually appears in late teens to early 20s
- women - usually appears in early 30s (around baby time)
Introduction:
Outline what is meant by episodic in terms of schizophrenia
symptoms appear in episodes that can last as short as a few hours or as long as years
1/3 of people recover after one episode
1/3 live with it for life
1/3 experience catatonic behaviour
5-6% commit suicide
Introduction:
Outline the prognosis of schizophrenia
Bleuler (1978) studied 2000 schizophrenics (longitudinal)
found symptoms are the most severe in early adulthood, during the first 5 years after onset
Introduction:
Outline the two types of symptoms of schizophrenia
Positive - excess of normal functions. adding to your normal behaviour
Negative - loss of normal function. similar to severe depression. taking away from normal behaviour
Introduction:
Outline positive symptoms to schizophrenia and definitions
- hallucinations - faulty sensory input resulting in either auditory, visual or tactile figments
- delusions - unusual beliefs not based in reality. e.g. thought broadcasting, insertion or withdrawal. jealousy.
- disorganised thinking and speech - the result of interference from hallucinations and delusions
- catatonic behaviour - reduced reaction to the environment. could last hours
Introduction:
Outline negative symptoms of schizophrenia and definitions
- alogia (speech poverty) - reduced speech or only speaking in response to others
- flat affect (lack of emotion) - feeling disconnected from emotions. incorrect reactions to situations
- avolition (social withdrawal) - isolating yourself and avoiding all social interactions. lack of goal orientated behaviour
- apathy - lack of enthusiasm
- anhedonia - loss of interest in everyday activities
Issues in diagnosis - diagnostic criteria:
Outline the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia in the DSM-V
- characteristic symptoms - disruption to 2 or more of; work, relationships and self-care
- social/occupational dysfunction - failing to meet the standards of their previous self
- duration - 1 month for brief episode of psychosis (BEP), 6 months for schizophrenia
- schizoaffective/mood disorder exclusion - exclusion of these in case of mix of characteristic symptoms
- exclusion of substance cause
- relationship to autism - negative symptoms look like autism, therefore autistic people must show positive symptoms to be diagnosed
Issues in diagnosis - reliability:
Outline what variables may affect the reliability of the diagnoses of schizophrenia
- inter-rater reliability
- test-retest (external) reliability
Issues in diagnosis - reliability:
Outline inter-rater reliability for schizophrenic patients
having multiple psychologists/psychiatrists assess the same patient to determine individual diagnoses - must have a +0.8 correlation
Beck et al (1961) found 153 schizos were assessed by two different psychiatrists and only agreed 54% of the time (+0.54). implies low inter-rater reliability for schizophrenia
Issues in diagnosis - reliability:
Outline test-retest reliability for schizophrenic patients
having the same psychologist/psychiatrist assess the patient on separate occasions to determine the same diagnoses
- doesn’t take into account natural progression
Issues in diagnosis - reliability:
give evaluations for reliability of diagnosis for schizophrenic patients
- Research support - Copeland (1970) found people are more likely to think someone’s behaviour is because of their personality if it fits with stereotypes about their group
- consequences of getting the diagnoses wrong - either they aren’t schizophrenic and are pumped full of antipsychotics or they are and they go untreated
- revision of the DSM - newer DSM versions outlining different criteria - people diagnosed on old versions may not be diagnosed by new ones, or other way around.
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
Outline what variables may affect the validity of the diagnosis of schizophrenia
- comorbidity
- overlapping symptoms
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
Outline comorbidity and its effect on the validity of diagnosis of schizophrenia
- simultaneous presence of two or more disorders
Buckly (2009) found comorbidity rates of schizophrenia and depression 50%, PTSD 29%, OCD 23%
makes it harder to correctly diagnose
suggests schizophrenia and depression could be the same thing
47% have substance abuse issues
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
Outline overlapping symptoms and its effect on the validity of diagnosis of schizophrenia
- symptoms crossing over to multiple disorders
- no symptoms in schizophrenia are solely in schizophrenia - all come up elsewhere
bipolar: mania, irritability
schizo: affective flattening, apathy
both: aggression, agitation, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, depression, impulsivity, hostility
13% of population hear voices whereas only 1% of population have schizo
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
Outline symptom heterogeneity
the same symptoms appear different across different causes
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
Outline aetiological heterogeneity
causes of symptoms are influenced by different factors
Issues in diagnosis - validity:
give evaluations for validity of diagnosis for schizophrenic patients
- research support - Buckly
- DSM has multiple criteria - multiple ways to be diagnosed - broader and not subjected to just symptoms
Issues in diagnosis - culture bias:
Outline the cultural influences on the diagnosis of schizophrenia
- cultural interpretations of schizophrenia symptoms
- negative cultural attitudes towards schizophrenia
- culture/nationality of the clinician
- race discrimination
Issues in diagnosis - culture bias:
Outline studies supporting the influence of the culture of the clinician in diagnosing schizophrenics
Cochrane (1977) found Caribbean men are 7 time more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia when living in Britain
Issues in diagnosis - culture bias:
Outline studies supporting the influence of race discrimination in diagnosing schizophrenics
Escobar (2012) found white doctors over-interpret symptoms of black patients during diagnosis
Issues in diagnosis - culture bias:
give evaluations for the effect of culture bias on the validity of diagnosis of schizophrenic patients
- research support - cochrane, escobar
- practical applications - symptom pool
Issues in diagnosis - gender bias:
Outline factors into gender bias when diagnosing schizophrenics
- unreported facts when diagnosing schizophrenia in men and women - men suffer more more severe negative symptoms and suffer from more substance related disorders. Goldstein (1993) found men are more likely to be involuntarily committed to psychiatric wards than women
- biased research - most research into schizophrenia has been conducted on men
- underdiagnoses of women suffering schizophrenia - leads to untreated patients as they may be denied access to treatment
Issues in diagnosis - gender bias:
Outline studies into rates of diagnoses across the two genders across time in diagnosing schizophrenics
Longnecker et al (2010) reviewed studies of schizophrenic incidence and found prior to 1980s men and women were equally diagnosed, but since then men have been increasingly diagnosed more often