1. Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 1

A severe mental disorder where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis.

Question 2

What % of the population have it?

Answer 2

1% of the population

Question 3

Where is schizophrenia more common?

Answer 3

More common in men than in women
More common in cities than in the countryside
More common in working rather than middle-class people

Question 4

What are the 2 main systems for classifying schizophrenia?

Answer 4

1. World Health Organisation - International Classification of Disease (ICD-10)
2. American Psychiatric Associations - Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-5)

Question 5

How do the systems differ in classifying schizophrenia?

Answer 5

In the ICD-10 system at least one positive and negative symptom must be present whereas in DSM-5 one positive symptom alone is enough for a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Question 6

What is another difference between ICD-10 and DSM-5?

Answer 6

ICD-10 recognises a range of subtypes of schizophrenia while DSM-5 no longer does

Question 7

What are the subtypes of schizophrenia according to ICD-10?

Answer 7

Paranoid Schizophrenia - powerful hallucinations and delusions (but not much else)
Hebephrenic Schizophrenia - involves primarily negative symptoms
Catatonic Schizophrenia - disturbance to movement leaving the sufferer immobile or overactive

Question 8

What are positive symptoms?

Answer 8

Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences. They include hallucinations and delusions.

Question 9

What are hallucinations?

Answer 9

Sensory experiences of stimuli that either have no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there.

Question 10

What are delusions?

Answer 10

Beliefs that have no basis in reality.

Question 11

What are negative symptoms?

Answer 11

Atypical experiences that represent the loss of of a usual experience. They include avolition and and speech poverty.

Question 12

What is avolition?

Answer 12

This is when someone suffers a loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels.

Question 13

What is speech poverty?

Answer 13

This is a reduction in the quality and frequency of speech.

Question 14

How can hallucinations be further subdivided?

Answer 14

They can be related or unrelated to events in the environment. They can also be experienced in relation to any sense.

Question 15

What are delusions also known as?

Answer 15

Paranoia. They are irrational beliefs that can take a range of forms.

Question 16

What are common delusions and what may they lead to?

Answer 16

They involve being an important historical or political figure or being persecuted by someone - may lead to sufferers thinking their body is under external control so behave aggressively.

Question 17

What is avolition also known as and how is it shown?

Answer 17

Also called apathy, avolition is shown by poor hygiene, inconsistency in work and a decrease in energy.

Question 18

How is speech poverty shown?

Answer 18

It is shown by a decrease in coherent speech, delays in responses and poor quality and quantity of speech.

Question 19

What are the 5 evaluation points for the methods used to diagnose and classify schizophrenia?

Answer 19

Reliability (-)
Validity (-)
Co-morbidity (-)
Symptom Overlap (-)
Cultural Bias (-)

Question 20

How is reliability a problem?

Answer 20

Poor inter-rater reliability between the ICD-1O and DSM-5. Cheniaux et al. - 2 independent psychiatrists diagnose 100 patients using ICD-10 and DSM-5. 1 = 26 using DSM & 44 using ICD. 2 = 14 using DSM and 24 using ICD.

Question 21

How is validity a problem?

Answer 21

Criterion validity is when different assessment systems arrive at the same diagnosis for the same patient. Cheniaux et al. shows one of ICD and DSM over or under diagnoses - poor criterion validity

Question 22

How is co-morbidity a problem?

Answer 22

This is when 2 different conditions are diagnosed together. Buckley et al. - 50% of schizophrenics have depression, 47% substance abuse, 29% post-traumatic stress, 23% OCD. Lowers the validity of classifying the 2 disorders separately.

Question 23

How is symptom overlap a problem?

Answer 23

Both schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder have positive symptoms - this questions the classification validity of schizophrenia. Also, some patients may be classified as schizophrenic under ICD but bi-polar under DSM - poor diagnostic reliability.

Question 24

How is cultural bias in diagnosis a problem?

Answer 24

African American people are more willing to accept hearing voices to someone else bc it is more culturally appropriate and acceptable to them, getting in touch with ancestors. It is seen as bizarre to us so we judge them and don’t report it ourselves - therefore it appears there are higher prevalence rates in African Americans.