Schizophrenia Content Flashcards
What is DSM-5
Way of classifying SZ
- includes one positive symptom being present (delusions, hallucinations or speech disorganisation)
What is ICD-10
Classification of SZ
- two or more negative symptoms are needed for diagnosis (avolition and speech poverty)
Positive symptoms of SZ
- additional experiences beyond those of ordinary experience
1. Hallucinations – sensory experiences that have no basis in reality or distorted perceptions of real things, experiences in relation to any sense
2. Delusions beliefs that have no basis in society – make a person with SZ behave in ways that make sense to them but bizarre to others e.g. Victim of conspiracy
Negative symptoms of SZ
- loss of usual abilities and experiences
1. Avolition – severe loss of motivation to carry out everyday tasks e.g. Work, hobbies and personal care - results in lower activity levels and unwillingness to carry out goal-directed behaviours
2. Speech poverty – a reduction in the amount and quality of speech - may include a deal in verbal responses during conversation - DSM emphasises speech disorganisation and incoherence
What are the issues in diagnosis of SZ
Reliability – extent to which the diagnosis of SZ is consistent
Validity - extent to which the diagnosis and classification techniques measure what they are designed to measure what they are designed to
Co-Morbidity - occurrence of two illnesses together which confuses diagnosis and treatment
Symptom Overlap - when two or more conditions share symptoms
What is the genetic basis of SZ
- Strong relationship between similarity of family members and likelihood of both developing SZ
- each individual gene confers a small increased risk of SZ – polygenic
What is the dopamine hypothesis
- featured in the functioning on the brain systems related to the symptoms of SZ
Hyperdopaminergia – high dopamine in sub cortex associated with hallucinations and poverty of speech
Hypodopaminergia – recent versions have focused on the low levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (responsible for thinking and decision making)
What are neural correlates in SZ
- measurements of the structure or function of the brain that correlate with positive or negative symptoms
Ventral Striatum – involved in anticipation of reward causing a loss of motivation in SZ as a result of low activity levels there
Name the psychological explanations of SZ
Family dysfunction and cognitive explanations
What does family dysfunction include
Schizophrenogenic mothers, double-bind theory and expressed emotion
Explain schizophrenogenic mothers
- patients early experiences with those types of mothers
- these mothers are cold, rejecting and controlling and create a family climate of tension and secrecy which causes distrust, paranoid delusions and SZ
Explain double-bind theory and who suggested it
Bateson - described how a child may be regularly trapped in situations where they fear doing the wrong thing but receive conflicting messages about what counts as wrong
- cannot express their feelings about unfairness of the situation
- when they ‘get it wrong’ child is punished by withdrawal of love so learn the world is confusing and dangerous
- leads to disorganised thinking and delusions
Explain expressed emotions
level of emotion expresses towards the schizophrenogenic patient and includes:
- verbal criticism of the patient
- hostility towards them
- emotional over-involement in their life
high levels of EE cause stress in the patient – primary explanation for relapse
What do cognitive explanations include
dysfunctional thought processing
meta-representation
dysfunction of central control
Explain dysfunctional thought processing
- lower levels of information processing in some areas of the brain suggest cognition is impaired e.g. reduced processing in ventral striatum is associated with negative symptoms
