Chapter 10 - Schizophrenia Spectrum And Other Psyhotic Disorders Flashcards
Four A’s
In Bleuler’s view, the primary characteristics of schizophrenia:
- associations (loose)
- affect (blunted or inappropriate)
- ambivalence
- autism
Associations
Linkages or relationships among thoughts or utterances (one of the four A’s in Bleuler’s view - i.e. Loose association)
Affect
Emotion or feeling state is attached to objects, ideas, or life experiences (one of the four A’s in Bleuler’s view - i.e. Flattened or inappropriate affect)
Ambivalence
A state in which a person holds conflicting feelings toward others, such as loving and hating a person at the same time (one of the four A’s in Bleuler’s view)
Autism
1) An absorption into daydreaming and fantasy
2) a disorder in childhood characterized by:
- failure to relate to others
- lack of speech
- disturbed motor behaviours
- intellectual impairment
- demands for sameness in environment
(Described as one of the four A’s -primary characteristics - of Bleuler’s view of schizophrenia)
First-rank symptoms
In Kurt Schneider’s view, the primary features of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations and delusions (auditory, sight, touch, smell) that distinctly characterize the disorder
Second-rank symptoms
In Schneider’s view, symptoms associated with schizophrenia that all occur in other psychological disorders (i.e. mood disturbances and confused thinking)
Prodromal phase
1) stage in which early features or signs of a disorder become apparent
2) in schizophrenia, the period of decline in functioning that precedes the development of the first acute psychotic episode (characterized by waning interest in social activities and increased difficulty in meeting responsibilities of daily life)
Residual phase
In schizophrenia, the phase of the disorder that follows an acute phase, characterized by a return to a level of functioning typical of the prodromal phase
Thought disorder
Disturbances in thinking characterized by various feature, especially a breakdown in logical associations between thoughts
Neologisms
Type of disturbed thinking associated with schizophrenia involving the coining of new words
Perseveration
Persistent repetition of the same thought or train of thought
Clanging
In people with schizophrenia, the tendency to string words together because they rhyme or sound alike
Blocking
1) disruption of self-expression of threatening or emotionally laden material
2) in people with schizophrenia, a condition of suddenly becoming silent with loss of memory for what they have just discussed
Stupor
State of relative or complete unconciousness in which a person is not generally aware of or responsive to the environment, as in a catatonic stupor
Positive symptoms
The more flagrant features of schizophrenia characterized by the presence of abnormal behaviour such as:
- hallucinations
- delusions
- thought disorder
- disorganized speech
- inappropriate affect
Type I schizophrenia is characterized by these symptoms
Negative symptoms
Features of schizophrenia characterized by the absence of normal behaviour. Negative symptoms are deficits or behavioural deficiencies, such as:
- social-skills deficits
- social withdrawal
- flattened affect
- poverty of speech and thought
- psychomotor retardation
- failure to experience pleasure in pleasant activities
Type II schizophrenia is characterized by these symptoms
Premorbid functioning
Level of functioning before the onset of a disorder
Cross-fostering study
Method of determining heritability of a trait or disorder by examining differences in prevalence among adoptees reared by either adoptive parents or biological parents who possess the trait or disorder in question.
Evidence that the disorder followed biological rather than Adoptive parentage favours the heritability of the trait or disorder
Dopamine theory
Biochemical theory of schizophrenia that proposes that schizophrenia involves the action of dopamine (I.e. Over reactivity of dopamine receptors in the brain - don’t appear to produce more, but rather simply use more)
Hippocampus
One of a pair of structures in the limbic system that are involved in process of memory
Amygdala
One of a pair of almond-shaped structures in the limbic system that are involved in emotion and memory
Schizophrenia
Enduring psychosis that involves:
- failure to maintain integrated personality functioning
- impaired reality testing
- disturbances in thinking
Common features include:
- delusions
- hallucinations
- flattened or inappropriate affect
- bizarre behaviour
Schizophrenogenic mother
Type of mother, described as cold but also overprotective, who was believed to be capable of causing schizophrenia in her children. Research has failed to support the validity of this concept