Schizophrenia Flashcards
(38 cards)
What are the costs of schizophrenia?
- Enormous suffering
- Less likely to have children, hold down a job, more poverty
- Suicide rate >10x the general population
- Approx 10% of homeless people have schizophrenia
- Huge financial cost
Approximately how many homeless people have schizophrenia?
Approx. 10% of homeless people have schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is associated with profound changes in ______
Perception, cognition and emotion
What are schizophrenia symptoms traditionally divided into?
Positive symptoms and negative symptoms
What does the 3 factor model consist of?
- Reality distortion (psychotic symptoms)
- Disorganisation
3. Negative Symptoms
What are some types of psychotic symptoms?
Hallucinations (abnormal perceptions) and delusions (abnormal beliefs)
What are hallucinations?
Hallucinations are abnormal perceptions
Hearing things, seeing things, smelling things
(etc.) that other people can’t
Which kind of hallucinations are most common? What is the prevalence?
Auditory hallucinations. Present in ~70% of SZ patients. Visual, tactile, olfactory hallucinations can also occur.
What are AVHs and what are they usually like?
AVHs (auditory verbal hallucinations) typically critical or abusive, often commenting on the person’s actions and often more than one voice.
What are delusions?
Delusions are abnormal beliefs. Very common in SZ (>80% of sufferers)
What are examples of common delusions in schizophrenia?
Paranoid delusions: person believes that others are trying to harm them
Delusions of control: person believes their body is being controlled by an external agent
Delusions of reference: person believes that the words of actions of strangers have special relevance to them

What is disorganisation?
Disorganization refers to disconnected or incomprehensible thought and speech, bizarre behaviour
Who was Emile Kraepelin (1856-1926)?
Kraepelin was the first to classify types of mental disorders based on systematic empirical observations. He offered diagnostic categories defined by common patterns of symptoms
What was Kraeplin’s system, and current systems, like?
Kraepelin’s system – and most current diagnostic systems – imply that mental disorders are separate entities. That is, for any given mental disorder, you either have it OR you do not.
What is formal thought disorder and what does it involve?
Formal thought disorder (FTD) refers to disorganized thinking as evidenced by disorganized speech
Loose associations
Tangential thinking
‘Word salad’
What are some examples of disorganised behaviour?
FTD
Inappropriate affect
Bizzare dress
What are negative symptoms?
Negative symptoms represent deficits in normal behaviour and cognition. Somewhat similar to the symptoms of MDD.
How are negative symptoms of SZ similar to the symptoms of MDD?
Flat affect
- Blank stare
Alogia (poverty of speech)
- When talking, lack of ideas, repetitive
Avolition (poverty of will)
- Similar to depression, lack of motivation
- However, person is not bothered by this
Cognitive deterioration
What are some psychotic symptoms which are more characteristic of SZ than others?
Schneider suggested that FRS were the most characteristic symptoms of SZ. Empirical studies show you can get FRS in other kinds of illnesses, but particularly common in schizophrenia.
What are first-rank symptoms?
Audible thoughts (thought echo) Voices heard arguing Voices commenting on one’s action Delusions of control Thought withdrawal, insertion, broadcast
- Schneider thought that these symptoms were diagnostic.
Common examples of FRS
- Delusions of control (actions being controlled by an external force)
- Delusions of thought insertion (Thoughts inserted into mind by someone else)
- Third-person auditory hallucinations (Two or more voices talking about the patient or commenting on actions)
James Tilly Matthew - who was he?
The first documented case of ‘paranoid’ schizophrenia - suffered from delusions of thought insertions; thought the French was forcing thoughts into mind
Kurt Schneider
Suggested that the FRS were the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. Also thought that any one of them was diagnostic, but it appears that they also occur in other psychotic disorders (bipolar).
What is the major alternative classification system? Where is it most used?
The major alternative classification system is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10)
More popular in Europe.
