schizophrenia

Question 1

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 1

A serious mental condition causing a breakdown in thinking, leading to faulty perceptions, affecting emotion and behaviour, and resulting in an inability to recognise reality.

Question 2

What percentage of the population is affected by schizophrenia?

Answer 2

Around 1% of the population.

Question 3

When does schizophrenia usually onset?

Answer 3

In late adolescence to early adulthood but can occur later.

Question 4

Who is more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, men or women?

Answer 4

Men are twice as likely to be diagnosed in their early twenties.

Question 5

What are the two main symptom types of schizophrenia?

Answer 5

Positive symptoms and negative symptoms.

Question 6

What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 6

Symptoms that are additional experiences outside of normal functioning, such as hallucinations and delusions.

Question 7

What are delusions in schizophrenia?

Answer 7

Beliefs held despite the absence of evidence, often leading to strange behaviour.

Question 8

What are three types of delusions?

Answer 8

Paranoid delusions, delusions of grandeur, and delusions linked to the body.

Question 9

What are paranoid delusions?

Answer 9

The belief that others are out to get them, control their thoughts, or hurt them.

Question 10

What are delusions of grandeur?

Answer 10

Believing one is important, famous, or has special powers, such as being God.

Question 11

What are delusions linked to the body?

Answer 11

Beliefs such as movements being controlled by others or alien forces invading the mind.

Question 12

What are hallucinations in schizophrenia?

Answer 12

False perceptions that are not real, such as auditory, visual, tactile, smell, or taste hallucinations.

Question 13

What are auditory hallucinations?

Answer 13

Hearing voices that are abusive, critical, or instructive, often causing distress.

Question 14

What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 14

A loss of usual experiences or normal functioning, affecting everyday life.

Question 15

What is avolition?

Answer 15

A severe lack of motivation for purposeful activities, often mistaken for laziness.

Question 16

What is speech poverty?

Answer 16

A lack of fluency and productivity in speech, with delayed responses or reduced conversation.

Question 17

What are the two main diagnostic manuals for schizophrenia?

Answer 17

DSM-5 and ICD-11.

Question 18

What is reliability in the context of diagnosing schizophrenia?

Answer 18

Reliability refers to the consistency of the diagnosis, including test-retest reliability (same clinician diagnosing the same patient) and inter-rater reliability (multiple clinicians diagnosing the same patient).

Question 19

How is inter-rater reliability assessed in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 19

Inter-rater reliability is assessed by having two or more clinicians diagnose the same patient and comparing whether they give the same diagnosis.

Question 20

What did Cheniaux (2009) find about inter-rater reliability in diagnosing schizophrenia?

Answer 20

Cheniaux found poor inter-rater reliability, as Clinician 1 diagnosed 26 patients with DSM and 44 with ICD, while Clinician 2 diagnosed 13 with DSM and 24 with ICD, showing inconsistency between clinicians.

Question 21

What did Copeland et al. (1971) find about cultural differences in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 21

Copeland found that 69% of US psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia, while only 2% of British psychiatrists did, showing cultural differences in diagnosing schizophrenia.

Question 22

What is symptom overlap in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 22

Symptom overlap refers to the fact that symptoms of schizophrenia, such as delusions and social withdrawal, overlap with those of other conditions, making diagnosis more difficult.

Question 23

What are the consequences of symptom overlap in schizophrenia?

Answer 23

Symptom overlap can lead to misdiagnosis, which may delay appropriate treatment, potentially resulting in worsened symptoms and high suicide rates.

Question 24

What is comorbidity, and how does it affect schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 24

Comorbidity refers to the occurrence of two or more conditions together. High comorbidity in schizophrenia (e.g., with depression) raises questions about the validity of schizophrenia being a distinct condition.

Question 25

What did Buckley et al. (2009) find about comorbidity in schizophrenia?

Answer 25

Buckley found that 50% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia also had depression, 47% had substance abuse, and 23% had OCD, indicating high comorbidity.

Question 26

What is gender bias in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 26

Gender bias refers to the tendency for males to be diagnosed with schizophrenia more frequently than females, potentially due to the different functioning of males and females with similar symptoms.

Question 27

What did Cotton et al. (2009) find about gender differences in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 27

Cotton found that females with schizophrenia functioned better in work and family relationships, yet were still diagnosed differently than males, suggesting gender bias in diagnosis.

Question 28

What did Loring and Powell (1988) find about gender bias in schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 28

Loring and Powell found that male psychiatrists diagnosed a higher percentage of male patients as schizophrenic (56%) than female patients (20%), showing gender bias in diagnosis.

Question 29

How does cultural bias affect schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 29

Cultural bias can lead to different diagnoses based on cultural norms, with certain behaviours being interpreted differently across cultures, potentially leading to over-diagnosis in some groups.

Question 30

What cultural bias was found in schizophrenia diagnosis for African American and Afro-Caribbean patients?

Answer 30

African Americans and Afro-Caribbean individuals were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia due to cultural differences in how symptoms like hearing voices are interpreted.

Question 31

What did Rosenhan (1973) investigate in his study on schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 31

Rosenhan investigated how situational factors affect schizophrenia diagnosis by sending pseudo-patients to psychiatric hospitals to see if they could be diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Question 32

What were the findings of Rosenhan’s (1973) study?

Answer 32

Rosenhan found that staff diagnosed 11 out of 12 pseudo-patients with schizophrenia, and no staff detected their sanity, indicating low reliability and validity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Question 33

What did Rosenhan’s (1973) study suggest about psychiatric diagnoses?

Answer 33

Rosenhan’s study suggested that psychiatric diagnoses, particularly for schizophrenia, lack reliability and validity, as psychiatrists could not distinguish between sanity and insanity.

Question 34

What is the main issue with comorbidity in diagnosing schizophrenia?

Answer 34

Comorbidity suggests that schizophrenia may not be a distinct condition, as it often occurs alongside other disorders like depression, which raises doubts about the validity of its diagnosis.

Question 35

How can symptom overlap lead to serious consequences?

Answer 35

Symptom overlap can result in misdiagnosis, which can delay proper treatment, leading to prolonged suffering, worsened symptoms, and potentially increased suicide rates.

Question 36

How does cultural bias affect the reliability of schizophrenia diagnoses?

Answer 36

Cultural bias leads to inconsistent diagnoses across cultures, as symptoms may be interpreted differently depending on cultural norms, reducing the reliability of the diagnosis.

Question 37

What does the double-bind theory suggest about the cause of schizophrenia?

Answer 37

The double-bind theory suggests that schizophrenia may be caused by frequent contradictory communication from parents, leading to confusion and stress for the child.

Question 38

How does Bateson (1972) describe the communication in families that could impact the development of schizophrenia?

Answer 38

Bateson suggests that when a parent sends mixed messages (e.g., saying "I love you" in a hostile tone), it creates confusion for the child, which may contribute to schizophrenia.

Question 39

What does the double-bind theory propose about the impact of contradictory communication on a child?

Answer 39

It proposes that conflicting messages lead to confusion, and when the child responds wrong, they may be punished, leading to paranoia and delusions as the world becomes unclear and dangerous.

Question 40

What evidence supports the double-bind theory?

Answer 40

Berger (1965) found that schizophrenics had a higher recall of double-bind statements from their mothers compared to non-schizophrenics.

Question 41

Why might the evidence for the double-bind theory be unreliable?

Answer 41

The recall of schizophrenics may be affected by their mental illness, making the evidence less reliable.

Question 42

What case study did Bateson (1956) use to support the double-bind theory?

Answer 42

Bateson reported a case study where a recovering schizophrenic had a contradictory interaction with his mother, supporting the idea of double-bind communication.

Question 43

Why is the case study supporting the double-bind theory considered weak?

Answer 43

It is a case study, which lacks population validity and therefore generalisability.

Question 44

What contradictory evidence exists against the double-bind theory?

Answer 44

Liem (1974) found no difference in parental communication patterns between families with schizophrenic children and those without, suggesting the theory lacks validity.

Question 45

What does the theory of expressed emotion (EE) focus on?

Answer 45

EE focuses on how relatives express emotions towards the person with schizophrenia, with high EE involving negative emotions such as criticism and hostility.

Question 46

What are the types of expressed emotion in families?

Answer 46

Critical: Negative comments about the person. Hostile: Irritability or aggression, verbal or physical. Emotional over-involvement: Self-sacrificing or controlling behaviours.

Question 47

How does high expressed emotion (EE) impact the patient with schizophrenia?

Answer 47

High EE can cause stress for the patient, which is associated with a higher risk of relapse, as it triggers episodes beyond their coping mechanisms.

Question 48

What did Linszen (1997) find about the impact of high EE on relapse rates in schizophrenia patients?

Answer 48

Linszen found that patients who returned to high EE families were about 4 times more likely to relapse than those with low EE families.

Question 49

What did Kavanagh (1992) find about relapse rates in high vs low EE families?

Answer 49

Kavanagh found a relapse rate of 48% in high EE families compared to 21% in low EE families, suggesting that high EE contributes to relapse.

Question 50

What is a criticism of the relationship between EE and relapse?

Answer 50

Not all patients living in high EE families relapse, and not all patients in low EE families avoid relapse, suggesting individual differences in response to EE.

Question 51

How does the perception of EE impact patients with schizophrenia?

Answer 51

Lebell et al. (1993) found that patients who do not perceive high EE behaviours as negative or stressful can still do well, highlighting the importance of the patient's perception.

Question 52

What is a criticism of the family dysfunction theories of schizophrenia?

Answer 52

Both theories are reductionist as they focus solely on family dynamics, ignoring other potential causes like genetic factors.

Question 53

What evidence suggests that genetics play a role in schizophrenia, alongside family dysfunction?

Answer 53

Tsuang et al. (1990) found that a first-degree relative of someone with schizophrenia has a 5-20 times higher risk of developing the illness, indicating a genetic component.

Question 54

What model is suggested to provide a better explanation for schizophrenia than family dysfunction theories?

Answer 54

The diathesis-stress model is suggested, which proposes that genetic vulnerability coupled with negative family environments may lead to schizophrenia.

Question 55

Why are theories of family dysfunction in schizophrenia considered socially sensitive?

Answer 55

These theories may be insulting to parents, who might feel blamed for their child's schizophrenia, adding to their stress and suffering.

Question 56

What shift has occurred in research on family dysfunction and schizophrenia in recent decades?

Answer 56

There has been a shift away from these theories, possibly due to the social sensitivity of blaming parents for the condition.

Question 57

What do cognitive explanations of schizophrenia suggest?

Answer 57

Cognitive explanations suggest that schizophrenia is due to faulty information processing, particularly affecting positive symptoms like delusions and hallucinations.

Question 58

What are cognitive deficits in schizophrenia?

Answer 58

Cognitive deficits refer to problems with information processing, such as attention, information overload, and difficulties in interpreting visual and auditory information.

Question 59

How do schizophrenic individuals misinterpret inner speech?

Answer 59

Schizophrenic individuals may misinterpret their inner speech as external voices, causing them to hear voices that others do not.

Question 60

What is the impact of cognitive deficits on social interactions in schizophrenia?

Answer 60

People with schizophrenia may struggle to understand others' behaviour, leading to difficulties in interpreting emotional cues and engaging in effective communication.

Question 61

What are the two types of dysfunctional thought processing identified by Frith (1992)?

Answer 61

The two types are metarepresentation (difficulty recognising one’s own thoughts) and central control (difficulty suppressing automatic responses to deliberate actions).

Question 62

What does metarepresentation dysfunction cause in schizophrenia?

Answer 62

Metarepresentation dysfunction means individuals cannot recognise their own thoughts as their own, which can lead to hallucinations like hearing voices and delusions such as thought insertion.

Question 63

What does central control dysfunction cause in schizophrenia?

Answer 63

Central control dysfunction leads to an inability to suppress automatic responses, causing disorganised speech and thoughts, as automatic thoughts derail conversations.

Question 64

What did Stirling et al. (2006) find in their study using the Stroop Test?

Answer 64

Stirling et al. found that schizophrenic patients took twice as long as control participants to name ink colours, suggesting difficulties with central control.

Question 65

What did Sarin and Wallin (2014) find regarding cognitive biases in schizophrenia?

Answer 65

Sarin and Wallin found that delusional patients showed biases in information processing, such as jumping to conclusions, and that patients with hallucinations experienced their thoughts as external voices.

Question 66

What is a limitation of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia?

Answer 66

The cognitive explanation does not address the origin of cognitive deficits, only explaining the symptoms without clarifying their causes.

Question 67

What are the positive applications of the cognitive theory of schizophrenia?

Answer 67

The cognitive theory has led to the development of virtual hallucination machines and cognitive behavioural therapies, improving the quality of life for patients by teaching them to manage their symptoms.

Question 68

What did the NICE (2014) review find about CBT and antipsychotic medication?

Answer 68

The NICE review found that CBT was more effective than antipsychotic medication in reducing symptoms and improving social functioning in schizophrenia.

Question 69

How does CBT support the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia?

Answer 69

CBT supports the cognitive explanation because it aims to change faulty information processing, and its effectiveness suggests that faulty cognition could be a cause of schizophrenia.