Schizophrenia Flashcards
(22 cards)
What was the Rosenhan experiment?
Research students told doctors they had a single hallucination to try to get into asylums. They were all admitted and struggled to get back out despite not having schizophrenia.
What were the exit conditions for most students in the Rosenhan experiment?
To be prescribed heavy dosages of medications, falsely admit they had schizophrenia, and some needed to tell about the details of the study (which led the doctors to assume they were lying).
What are the important takeaways from the Rosenhan experiment?
Patients need to be treated like people first and patients second
Traditions and standards are a rulebook that sometimes needs to be ignored
These doctors weren’t evil, they were just doing their job as they were told.
Mental disorders are hard to track through a doctor’s eyes.
What are the rates of psychiatric disorders worldwide?
15-50% report symptoms at some point in life. In the US, 19% of adults experience symptoms in the course of a year.
What is schizophrenia?
A psychiatric disorder affecting 1 percent of the population with positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms.
When is schizophrenia diagnosed?
Late adolescence to early adulthood.
What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Abnormal behaviors or hallucinations that are gained.
What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
The loss of normal functions.
What characterizes schizophrenia?
Delusions (fixed belief that something is true when it isn’t), hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms of anhedonia and social withdrawal.
What is required for schizophrenia diagnosis?
Patient must have one of: delusion, hallucinations, or disorganized speech, and 2/5 symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, or negative symptoms. These symptoms must significantly impact functioning for 6 months.
What is the main problem of schizophrenia?
Psychosis leading to you being unable to tell what is real and what isn’t
What are the neural correlates with schizophrenia?
enlarged lateral ventricles, cortical abnormalities, accelerated cortical thinning, and reduction of synapses and spines.
What is the hypofrontality hypothesis of schizophrenia?
The frontal lobes are underactive in people with schizophrenia. The frontal lobes mediate executive functioning, attention, and planning.
What is the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is caused by an excess of DA release/reception.
Where did the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia originate?
Amphetamine psychosis. Excessive meth results in schizophrenic symptoms and Parkinson’s patients treated with L-DOPA soemtimes develop schizophrenic symptoms.
What 2 dopamine pathways are involved in schizophrenia?
Mesocortical and mesolimbic pathway.
Mesocortical: Ventral tegmentum area > PFC
Mesolimbic: ventral tegmentum area > Nucleus accumbens.
Responsible for negative and positive symptoms respectively.
How has schizophrenia been treated?
Initially with lobotomies, typical antipsychotics (dopamine receptor antagonists), and atypical antipsychotics.
What are the problems with typical antipsychotics?
Dopamine receptors are blocked faster than symptoms disappear, only treat positive symptoms, and tardive dyskinesia.
What is the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is caused by underactivation of glutamate receptors.
What led to the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia?
PCP and ketamine (both NMDA receptor antagonists) lead to positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
Why can’t glutamate agonists be used to treat schizophrenia?
They cause seizures.
What is the integrative model of schizophrenia?
Hypofrontality is a result of lowered glutamate transmission. The PFC typically projects to the VTA, but due to hypofrontality leads VTA to reducing GABA release onto DA neurons. This leads to excitiation of dopamine neurons.
