Chapter 14 - schizophrenia and related disorders Flashcards
Schizophrenia
- Though they previously functioned well or at least acceptably, deteriorate into an isolated wilderness of unusual perceptions, odd thoughts, disturbed emotions and motor abnormalities
- 1 out of every 100 people in the world have schizophrenia
- 21 mil people world wide
- 3.6 mil in the U.S.
- 25% attempt suicide : 5 % die from suicide
Psychosis
A loss of contact with reality
- Their ability to perceive and respond to the environment becomes so disturbed that they may not be able to function at home, with friends, in school, or at work
What are the three categories of symptoms for Schizophrenia
- Positive Symptoms
- Negative Symptoms
- Psychomotor Symptoms
Positive Symptoms
- “Pathological Excess”
- Bizzare additions to a person’s behavior
- Delusions
Delusions
Ideas that they believe wholeheartedly but that have no basis in fact
Formal thought disorders
Can cause the sufferer great confusion and make communication extremely difficult
Loose Associations or Derailment
- The most common formal thought disorder
- Rapidly shift one topic to another, believing that their incoherent statements make sense
Neologisms
Made up words that typically have meaning only to the person using them
Hallucinations
Perceptions that a person has in the absence of external stimuli
Auditory Hallucinations
- The most common
- Hear sounds and voices that come from outside of their heads that may talk directly to them or may be “overheard”
- When having these hallucinations, there is more blood flow in their Broca’s area
Tactile Hallucinations
May take form of tingling, burning or electric-shock sensations
Somatic Hallucinations
Feel as if something is happening inside of the body
- ex: rats chewing behind someone’s eyeballs so they stab themselves in the eye with an icepick
Visual Hallucinations
May produce vague perceptions of colors or clouds or distinct visions of people or objects
Gustatory Hallucinations
Regularly find that their food and drink tastes strange
Olfactory hallucinations
Smell odors that no one else does, such as the smell of poison or smoke
Inappropriate Affect
Emotions that are unsuited to the situation
- ex: crying at something that should make you happy
Negative Symptoms
- “pathological deficits”
- Characteristics that are lacking in a person
What are they types of Negative Symptoms
- Poverty of speech
- Blunted and flat affect
- Loss of volition
- Social withdrawal
Poverty of Speech
A reduction in speech or speech content
- these people believe they have nothing or little to say or say quite a bit but convey little meaning
Blunted Affect
They display less anger, sadness, Joy and other feelings than most people
Flat Affect
Show no emotion at all
- Faces are still, eye contact is poor, and their voices are monotone
Loss of Volition
- “avolition” or “apathy”
- Feeling drained of energy and of interest in normal goals and unable to start or follow through on a course of action
- People who have this have typically had schizophrenia for a while and are drained by it
- Can also feel “ambivalence”: conflicting feelings - this makes daily ordeals like getting dressed difficult
Social Withdrawal
Withdraw from their social environment to attend to their own ideas and fantasies because their ideas are illogical and confused which withdrawal participates in helping distance them further from reality