4.3.5 Schizophrenia Flashcards
define schizophrenia
A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis.
what are positive symptoms of schizophrenia
positive symptoms of schizophrenia are additional experiences behind those of ordinary existence. They include hallucinations and delusions.
name 2 positive symptoms of schizophrenia
hallucinations and delusions
define hallucinations
A positive symptom of schizophrenia . They are sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there.
define delusions
a positive symptom of schizophrenia , they involve beliefs that have no basis in reality , for example that the sufferer is someone else of that they are the victim of w conspiracy.
define negative symptoms of schizophrenia
negative symptoms of schizophrenia are Atypical experiences that represent the loss of usual abilities and experiences , examples include avolition and speech poverty.
define avolition
It’s a negative symptom of schizophrenia , it involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
avolition is sometimes called “apathy” can be described as finding it difficult to begin or keep up with goal directed activity.
define speech poverty
A negative symptom of schizophrenia , it involves reduced frequency and quality of speech . It is often characterised by changes in patterns of speech e.g reductions in amount or quality of speech .
how are you diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the DSM and the ICD.
By way of diagnosis in the DSM a patient must have 2 or more negative symptoms aswell as a positive symptom. In the ICD you only need 2 or more negative symptoms .
This means in terms of requirements it’s easier to be diagnosed by the ICD than the DSM.
evaluate the reliability/validity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia - gender bias
Longenecker et al reviewed studies and concluded that since the 1980”s me. have been diagnosed with schizophrenia more often than women.
One reason this may occur is gender bias , females appear to function better than men, being more likely to work and have good family relationships .
This could cause less women to be diagnosed than men despite having similar symptoms.
They tend to have better interpersonal functioning which may mask their symptoms or the interpersonal functioning may make the case appear to mild to warrant a diagnosis
evaluate the reliability/validity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia- validity + C.A
one limitation is that diagnosis has low validity . one way of assessing validity of psychiatric diagnosis is criterion validity.
Cheniaux et al had two psychiatrists independently assess the same 100 clients using the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV criteria . found 68 were diagnosed with schizophrenia under the ICD and only 39 under the DSM.
limitation as it suggests that schizophrenia is either over or under diagnosed according to the diagnostic system , showing criterion validity is low.
Counter argument -> in osorio et al study it was reported there was excellent agreement between clinicians when they used two measures to diagnose schizophrenia , both derived from the DSM system . This means that the criterion validity for diagnosing schizophrenia is actually good provided it takes place within a single diagnostic system .
evaluate the reliability/validity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia- symptom overlap
There is a considerable overlap between the symptoms of schizophrenia and other conditions. For example both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share symptoms such as delusions and avolition .
This questions the validity of both the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Under the ICD a patient might be diagnosed as a schizophrenic , however many of the same patients may receive a diagnoses of bipolar disorder according to the DSM criteria .
This is unsurprising due to the overlap of symptoms , this reduces validity of diagnosis as people may be wrongly diagnosed .
define co-morbidity
the occurrence of two illnesses or conditions tigether for example a person who has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder.
evaluate the reliability/validity of diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia- co-morbidity
One limitation of schizophrenia is that diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia may be weakened due to co-morbidity.
Buckley et al conducted a review which concluded that 50% of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia also have a diagnosis of depression or substance abuse (47%).
This poses a challenge for both classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia , in terms of diagnosis of half schizophrenia patents are also diagnosed with depression it may just be as a result of struggling to tell the difference between the two disorders.
in terms of classification it is a limitation it may be that very severe depression looks like schizophrenia and vice versa , they may then be better seen as a single condition.
