Chapter 11 Flashcards
What were the findings regarding a study showing the adoption of children whose mothers were hospitalized for schizophrenia?
Kids were shown to have an increased chance of developing schizophrenia and schizophrenia-related disorders despite being adopted.
What does the Dopamine Hypothesis entail?
For: Drugs that are effective in treating schizophrenia decrease dopamine activity. Amphetamines may introduce symptoms of psychosis that resemble paranoid schizophrenia.
Against: oversensitive dopamine receptors.
What is serotonin?
Regulate dopamine neurons in the mesolimbic pathway
What is glutamate?
Play roles in brain function, including learning and memory. Low levels of glutamate are found in ppl w/ schizophrenia.
What are Congenital & Development Considerations concerning schizophrenia?
(1) Viral infection (no real evidence)
(2) Rhesus Incompatibility
(3) Pregnancy & Birth Complications
(4) Early Nutritional Deficiency
(5) Maternal Stress
(6) Gene & Environmental Synthesis
How does stress affect schizophrenia?
Increase in life stress → increase in likelihood of relapse
Increased rates of schizophrenia found in central city areas w/ low socio-economic status
What is the Sociogenic Hypothesis regarding schizophrenia
Stressors associated w/ being in a low social class may cause or contribute to development of schizophrenia
What is Social-Selection Theory?
During the course of their developing psychosis, people with schizophrenia may drift into the poverty-ridden areas of the city.
May move to areas with little social pressure to escape intense social relationships.
What is Schizophrenia?
Disorder characterized by psychosis.
Characterized by Disordered thinking (ideas not logically related), Faulty perception and attention, Inappropriate affect, Bizarre disturbances in motor activity
What is the prevalence & comorbidity of schizophrenia?
Prevalence
Appears in late ado or early adulthood
Occurs in episodes w/ less severe symptoms in between
Appears earlier in men
Comorbidity
Substance abuse, depression, social anxiety
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Positive: presence of too much of a behaviour that isn’t apparent in most ppl
(1) Disorganized Speech: fails to make sense, incoherence, neologisms
(2) Delusions: erroneous belief firmly held, despite contradictory evidence
(3) Hallucinations: Sensory experience, feels real, but isn’t. More auditory
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
Negative: absence of a behaviour that should be evident in most ppl
(1) Reduced Expressive behaviour:
Flat affect: no facial/ emotional response. No stimulus can elicit a response
Alogia: poverty in speech/ content of speech
(2) Reductions in motivation:
Avolition: inability to initiate/ persist in goal-directed activity. Lack of interest
Anhedonia: Diminished ability to experience pleasure
Asociality: Severely impaired social relationships (few friends, poor social skills, etc.)
What is Catatonia?
A class of symptoms of schizophrenia. Includes:
(1) Several motor abnormalities: Appears similar to mania, gestures repeatedly, increase in activity
(2) Catatonic immobility: adoption of unusual postures and maintaining them for long periods
What is Disorganized Schizophrenia?
(1) Disorganized speech, disorganized behaviour & flat or inappropriate affect
(2) Hallucinations/ delusions (no theme)
(3) Early and gradual onset, poor prognosis
What is Catatonic schizophrenia?
(1) Marked by psychomotor disturbances
(2) Rare in industrialized countries
