Schizophrenia Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is S not?
a split-personality disorder
What is S?
its characterised by fundamental distortions in thinking and perception
How common is it?
affects around 1% of the population - the most common form of psychosis
What are the 3 symptomologies?
Positive symptoms, negative symptoms and though disorders
What are positive symptoms?
Lack of insight (doesnt know symptoms aren’t real), hallucinations (likely to be auditory) and delusions (false beliefs not shared by others)
What are thought disorders?
manifests as distorted or illogical speech
What are negative symptoms?
Social withdrawal, self neglect, loss of motivations, paucity of speech
Which symptoms are similar to depression?
negative
Which symptoms are easier to treat?
positive
What is the male to female risk ratio?
1.4:1
Earlier onset in males or females?
males (~21) females (~27)
Which gender experiences more severe symptomology?
males
Which socioeconomic group does it appear most in?
low socioeconomic groups affected most but anyone can be a sufferer
What are the 3 phases of S?
Predromal phase, Active phase and Residual phase
Describe some of the requirements in the ICD-10 to be diagnosed with S?
delusional perception, hallucinatory voices, incoherent speech, catatonic behaviour, negative symptoms.
Causes: What link does dopamine have with S?
Excessive dopamine activity: neurons that communicate using dopamine fire too often and transmit too many messages or excessive number of dopamine recptors
Causes: Genetic link?
General population: 1% risk. First degree relatives: 6.5% risk and Monozygotic Twins: 40% risk.
Causes: Enviromental factors?
Premature birth/low birth weight, parenting (some evidence, but could be circumstantial) and life stressors (likely to set off S not cause)
Causes: Cannabis?
People with S smoke more weed than the general population. Its argued that they use it as self medication to dull their symptoms. Link has been found between early cannabis use and S; gene-environment interaction
Treatment: Pharmacological?
antipsychotic is standard treatment of S. Clozapine reduces negative and positive symptoms although adherence rates are poor.
Treatment: Psychological?
Only effective after pharmacological. CBT, family therapy and psychoeduation all found to help reduce persistent symptoms and increases support, reduced relapse rates
So what is the prognosis?
Not poor, improved dramatically with pharmacological intervention and psychoeducation improves outcome.
What are the recovery stats?
First episode: 80% recovery. Lifetime vulnerability to relapse,
