Chapter 16: Schizophrenia, Affective Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, And OCD Flashcards
Schizophrenia
Serious mental disorder characterized by disordered thoughts, delusions, hallucinations, and bizarre behaviors
Schizophrenia: Positive Symptoms
Presence of unusual behaviors, in excess of typical functioning
- Thought disorders - Delusions - Hallucinations
Thought Disorders
Disorganized, irrational thinking
Delusions
Believe that is clearly contradiction to reality (persecution, grandeur, and control)
Hallucinations
Perception of nonexistent object or events
Schizophrenia: Negative Symptoms
Absence or decrease in some typical behaviors
- Social withdrawal, lack of affect, anhedonia, and reduced motivation
Schizophrenia: Cognitive Symptoms
Cognitive deficits
- Difficulty sustaining attention, low psychomotor speed, deficits in learning and memory, poor abstract thinking, poor problem solving
Genetic Factors of Schizophrenia
- Heritability plays a role, but no “schizophrenia gene”
- Evidence of susceptibility to develop schizophrenia, but triggered by other factors
- Higher rate in monochorionic monozygotic twins
Schizophrenia Mutations
Mutations of DISC1 gene increases likelihood of schizophrenia and other mental disorders
Schizophrenia Paternal Age
Children of older fathers are more likely to develop schizophrenia
- Increased likelihood of mutations in chromosome of cells that produce sperms (mutations in spermatocyte)
Schizophrenia Epigenetic
- Rare mutations of epigenetic factors may predispose people to schizophrenia
- Methylation leads to suppression of gene
- DNA is wound more tightly
Epidemiology
Study of distribution and causes of diseases in populations
Environmental Factors of Schizophrenia
- Season of birth
- Viral epidemics
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Population density
- Prenatal stress
- Substance abuse
Seasonality Effect
Increased incident of schizophrenia in people born during late winter and early spring
Dopamine hypothesis
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are caused by hyperactivity of dopaminergic synapses in the mesolimbic pathway
- Drugs acting as agonists produce and reinforce positive symptoms - brain may contain more dopamine receptors
D2 receptors and Schizophrenia
Increased in people with schizophrenia, but not main reason for schizophrenia
Chlorpromazine
DA-R blocker antipsychotic drug
Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway and Schizophrenia
- Drugs acting as agonists produce and reinforce positive symptoms
- Some studies show those diagnosed with schizophrenia release excessive dopamine; brains may contain more dopamine receptors
- Certain thoughts are hijacking the mesolimbic system
- More DA
Consequences of Long-Term Drug Treatment of Schizophrenia
- Early drugs used for treatment had side effects
- Parkinson’s-like symptoms
- Tardive dyskinesia
Tardive Dyskinesia
Opposite of Parkinson’s
- involuntary movements of face and neck - Supersensitivity of D2 receptors in caudate nucleus
Supersensitivity
Caused by damage to afferent axons or long-term blockage of NT release
Hypofrontality
Decreased activity of PFC (especially DLPFC)
- believed to be responsible for negative symptoms - may also be responsible for hyperactivity in the mesolimbic pathways related to positive symptoms
Atypical Antipsychotics
Unlike original antipsychotics, they increase DAergic activity in PFC and reduce it in mesolimbic system
- Aripiprazole
Clozapine
Blocks D4-R in NAc
Aripiprazole
Acts as a partial agonist at DA-R
- Increase DA activity in PFC (low DA) - Decrease DA activity in mesolimbic system (high DA)
Glutamate hypothesis
Decreased Glu activity (resulting in hypofrontality) may contribute to negative and positive symptoms
- Chronic low doses of Glu antagonist drugs produces negative and cognitive symptoms - PCP and ketamine (indirect NMDA antagonists)
Developmental Changes Theories in Schizophrenia
- Abnormalities (suppressed DISC1 expression) in pyramidal neurons of the PFC are primary cause of process that leads to schizophrenia
- Abnormalities in the striatal DA system are primary causes of process that leads to schizophrenia
- result of inhibitory GABAergic transmission in DLPFC
Affective Disorders
- Characterized by disorder feelings
- Two main types
- Bipolar disorder
- Major depressive disorder (MDD)
Bipolar Disorder
Cyclical periods of mania and depression
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Unremitting depression or period of depression that don’t alternate with period of trauma