1. Psychopathology Flashcards
What is an illusion?
Involuntary false perception in which a transformation of real objects takes place (sensory stimulus)
(eg. curtain in the ward perceived by a patient to be a female witch)
What is a hallucination?
Perception of an external object when NO such object is present
(no sensory stimulus)
Complex auditory hallucination
- occurs in schizophrenia
Mood congruent: stating depressive/manic themes in second person (“you are useless”) or command hallucinations (“you are useless and you should hurt yourself”)
- occurs in depressive disorder or bipolar disorder
Mood incongruent: voices discussing in 3rd person, giving a running commentary on the patient’s behaviour or thoughts spoken out loud
Simple auditory hallucination
Sounds or music
- alcohol misuse, deafness, right temporal lobe lesion
Simple visual hallucination
eg. flashing lights
common in acute organic disease, lesions are found in the occipital cortex
What is positive scotoma? (Simple visual hallucination)
Simple visual hallucinations seen following head injury
What is migrainous visual aura? (Simple visual hallucination)
often zigzag lines
due to transient disturbance of occipital cortex
Complex visual hallucination
eg. involving people/animals
occurs in organic diseases; lesions are found in the temporal lobe
Lilliputian visual hallucination
hallucinated objects (usually people) appear greatly reduced in size
occurs in psychiatric states associated with febrile or intoxicating conditions
Alcoholic hallucinations
Acute hallucinosis seen in people with alcohol dependence following excess alcohol intake; can also be part of withdrawal symptoms
Hypnogogic/Hypnopompic
Hallucinations occur as conscious levels fluctuates between dreaming and waking.
HypnoGogic: Going to sleep
HypnoPompic: waking uP
Autoscopy
Seeing one’s self or double;
the double imitates movements and facial expressions of the original, as if a reflection in a mirror
Extracampine
Experiences outside the limits of sensory fields including visual field and range of audibility
Kinesthetic hallucinations
Sense of bodily movement
eg. a person believes that his elbow is rotating involuntarily but there is no such sign on PE
Cenesthetic hallucinations
False perception/ Sensation of an altered state in a body organ without corresponding receptors which can explain the sensation in normal human physiology
eg. feeling a lump in the throat even when it is not there, of animals crawling through the body
Circumstantiality
Speech takes a long time to reach the point because of a great deal of unnecessary details but still reaches the point
(“beating around the bush”)
- occurs in schizophrenia, dementia, temporal lobe epilepsy and normal people
Tangentiality
Stream of thought that diverges from the topic and speech appears to be unrelated and irrelevant at the end so it never reaches the point
- occurs in schizophrenia, mania
Flight of ideas
Continuous speech where topics jump RAPIDLY from one to another and there may be a logical link between topics
- occurs in mania (accompanied by pressure of speech)
Loosening of associations
Diffuse and unfocused speech where there is a lack of logical connections between topic; difficult for listener to establish any link
- occurs in schizophrenia
- aka thought derailment aka Knight’s move thinking
Thought insertion
Feels that external thoughts which do not belong to them are being inserted into their mind
Thought withdrawal
Feels that their own thoughts are being taken away by others
Thought broadcasting
Feels that their own thoughts are being made known to others through broadcasting like a radio or tv station
Thought blocking
Feels that their own thoughts are being blocked as it will just disappear, no amount of jogging of memory can bring it back
- occurs in schizophrenia, brain trauma/injuries, drugs
Logoclonia
Spastic repetition on syllabus
- occurs in autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s