Chapter 13 Flashcards
The hallmark of schizophrenia is ___________
psychosis (loss of contact with reality)
First clinical description of schizophrenia
- 1810, John Haslam (apothecary in first psychiatric institution in Europe)
Benedict Morel ‘demence precoce’
- 1860
- described case of 13yo boy
- case had dementia features to it
- thought boys’ intellectual, moral, and physical functions deteriorated bc of brain degeneration of hereditary origin
Emil Kraepelin ‘dementia praecox’
- latin for demence precoce
- mental deterioration at an early age
- noted disorder characterized by hallucinations, apathy/indifference, withdrawn behavior, incapacity of regular work
- best known early definition
Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939)
- coined term schizophrenia
- schizo = to split; phren = mind
- disorder is lack of coherence between thought and emotion; to split from reality
Schizophrenia DSM-5 Criteria
- 2+ of symptoms present for at least 1mo
- delusions
- hallucinations
- disorganized speech
- grossly disorganized/catatonic behavior
- negative symptoms (ie dim. emotional expression)
Lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia
just under 1% (0.7%)
Risk factors for schizophrenia
- having father over 50 (at conception)
- parent in dry cleaning business
- first/second generation immigrants (esp Black Caribbean/African ppl living in white communities)
Onset of schizophrenia
- 18-30 (more likely early onset in men)
- more common/severe in men
- second and third peak in mid 40s and ealy 60s in women
- low estrogen worsens symptoms so might play a protective role in women
Delusions
- erroneous belief fixed/firmly held despite clear contradictory evidence (disturbance in content of thought)
- more than 90% of patients have them at some point
- ex thoughts being broadcast/inserted/taken away; neutral env. having special meaning; bodily changes/removal of organs
Hallucinations
- sensory experience that seems real but occurs in absence of any external perceptual stimulus
- auditory most common (75% of patients)
- likely that auditory hallucinations occur when patients misinterpret self-generated thoughts as coming from another source (show activation of Broca’s area-speech production-and not speech comprehension areas)
- visual in 39%
- patients become emotionally involved in hallucinations; incorporate them into delusions
Disorganized speech
- disorder in thought form (delusions are disorder of thought content)
- fail to make sense even though they are using language in conventional way
- may make up new words (neologisms)
Disorganized behavior
- elements of this often present in children even when no other symptoms are there yet
- impairment of goal-directed activity
- ex issues w hygiene, silliness, unusual dress
- catatonia: almost no movement
- catatonic stupor: virtual absence of all mvmt+speech
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
- excess/distortion in normal behavior and experience
- “what there is more of”
- delusions, hallucinations
- most medications work primarily on positive symptoms!
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
- absence/deficit of normally present behaviors
- reduced expressive behavior (ie blunted affect, alogia-little speech)
- reduced motivation/experience of pleasure (avolition/anhedonia)
- presence of negative symptoms not a good sign
Schizoaffective Disorder
- features of schizophrenia AND severe mood disorder
- “schizophrenia w a lot of emotional distress”
- poor diagnostic reliability
- moving toward needing to be in full depressive episode for diagnosis
- 10y outcome better than for schizophrenia patients
Schizophreniform Disorder
- schizophrenia-like symptoms lasting at least 1mo but less than 6mo
- basically less severe form of schizophrenia
- prognosis better than for schizophrenia
Delusional Disorder
- delusional beliefs w otherwise normal behavior
- erotomania delusion involves great love for someone (usually high status) – lots of stalkers!
- like nano-robots in covid vaccine thing
Brief Psychotic Disorder
- sudden onset of psychotic symptoms/disorganized speech/catatonic behavior
- typically lasts a few days
- usually triggered by high stress situation
Familial factors of schizophrenia
- tend to run in families (familial)
- prevalence in first-degree relatives is 10%
- second-degree relatives (share 25% of DNA) have 3% prevalence
- familial =/= genetic
- risk for identical twins is close to 50%
- this and bipolar are most genetically based disorders
Twin/adoption studies in schizophrenia
- concordance rate for MZ twins 28%, DZ twins 6%
- higher rates when biological parent has schizophrenia
- kids at high genetic risk raised in healthy environment ( and low-communication-deviance) don’t develop problems more than kids at low genetic risk
- so genetic risk + adverse environment is very bad!
Molecular genetics and schizophrenia
- probably involves many genes
- candidate genes: havent rly been identified
- genome-wide association study (GWAS) looks for profiles of aberrant genetic code (found 103 loci ass. w schizophrenia)
- COMT gene on chromosome 22 involved in dopamine metabolism (more likely to develop schizophrenia if gen. material del. or w cannabis use in adolescence)
- strongest finding is region on chromosome 6 (genes involved in immune functioning)
- some risk alleles also implicated in bipolar
Endophenotypes and schizophrenia
- trait that individuals who have this condition tend to have
- often present before individual develops condition
- discrete, stable, measurable trait thought to be under genetic control
Prenatal exposure in schizophrenia
- higher rates in children born to mothers in second trimester at time of influenza epidemic (viral infection during pregnancy can increase risk!)
- rhesus incompatibility between mother and infant can increase risk of brain abnormalities