classification and diagnosis of SCZ Flashcards
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Hallucinations and delusions
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
Speech poverty and avolition
What does reliability in the diagnosis of schizophrenia refer to?
The consistency of the diagnosis across different clinicians or over time
What does validity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia refer to?
The extent to which schizophrenia is accurately identified and distinct from other disorders
What is co-morbidity in the context of schizophrenia diagnosis?
The occurrence of two or more disorders in the same individual which can complicate diagnosis
How can culture bias affect the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
Clinicians may interpret symptoms differently based on cultural norms leading to misdiagnosis
How can gender bias affect the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
Differences in diagnosis rates between genders may occur due to stereotypes or clinician expectations
What is symptom overlap in schizophrenia?
When symptoms of schizophrenia are similar to those of other disorders such as bipolar disorder making diagnosis challenging
What are hallucinations?
Sensory experiences that appear real but are created by the mind such as hearing voices
What are delusions?
Strongly held false beliefs that are resistant to reasoning or contradictory evidence
What is avolition?
A lack of motivation to initiate or persist in goal-directed activities
What is speech poverty?
A reduction in the amount or quality of speech which can be a negative symptom of schizophrenia
Why is co-morbidity an issue for schizophrenia diagnosis?
It makes it difficult to differentiate schizophrenia from other disorders affecting diagnosis and treatment
Give an example of culture bias in schizophrenia diagnosis.
Hearing voices might be seen as a symptom of schizophrenia in Western cultures but could be considered spiritual in other cultures
What is the impact of symptom overlap on the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
It increases the likelihood of misdiagnosis as symptoms might be attributed to the wrong disorder
Why is gender bias problematic in schizophrenia diagnosis?
It can result in underdiagnosis or overdiagnosis in certain genders affecting access to appropriate treatment
What did Harrison et al. (1984) find about the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
Higher rates of schizophrenia diagnoses were found among people of West Indian origin living in the UK suggesting culture bias
What did Copeland et al. (1971) demonstrate about schizophrenia diagnosis?
A study showed that 69% of US psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia compared to only 2% of British psychiatrists when presented with the same patient description highlighting cultural differences
What did Loring and Powell (1988) discover about gender bias in schizophrenia diagnosis?
When clinicians were given identical case studies those described as male were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than those described as female
What did Rosenhan (1973) conclude from the pseudopatient study?
Rosenhan found that once labelled as schizophrenic individuals were treated according to their diagnosis even when behaving normally highlighting issues with reliability and validity
Explain how symptom overlap might lead to problems with the diagnosis and / or
classification of schizophrenia.
shared symptoms could lead to an unreliable / incorrect diagnosis (not valid)
because the person may exhibit a symptom typical of schizophrenia (e.g. delusions)
but could instead have another condition with the same symptom (e.g. bipolar
disorder).
In the context of schizophrenia, outline what is meant by co-morbidity
co-morbidity is where two conditions co-exist in the same individual at the same
time / have a tendency to co-exist alongside each other
so a person with schizophrenia might also at the same time be suffering from
another condition, e.g. personality disorder, depression, alcoholism, etc.
