Classification of Schizophrenia

Question 1

Positive symptoms

Answer 1

-Experiences that are in addition to normal experiences

Question 2

Negative symptoms

Answer 2

-Loss of usual abilities and experiences

Question 3

Diagnosis

Answer 3

-The DSM5 is mostly used for the diagnosis of schizophrenia
-Two of these symptoms: avolition, speech poverty, hallucinations and delusions need to be present, one of which needs to be a positive symptom

Question 4

Examples of positive symptoms

Answer 4

-Hallucinations- Additional sensory experiences such as seeing distortions or hearing critical/abusive voices
-Delusions- negative beliefs about themselves or the world
-For example, persecution from the government

Question 5

Examples of negative symptoms

Answer 5

Avolition- Avolition is when there is a lack of purposeful, willed behaviour
-no energy and no attempt at sociability or personal hygiene
Speech poverty- when there is a lack of quality and quantity in verbal responses
-This can be classified as a positive symptom if speech is excessively disorganised, with sufferers often wandering off the point

Question 6

Evaluation of the inter rater reliability of SZ diagnosis (Beck)

Answer 6

Beck (1963) reviewed 157 patients who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia by multiple doctors and found that there was only a 54% concordance rate between doctors assessments.
-This suggests that there is low inter-rater reliability in the diagnosis of schizophrenia, further suggesting that many patients have been incorrectly diagnosed, potentially receiving inappropriate treatments

Question 7

Validity of SZ diagnosis

Answer 7

-The accuracy of schizophrenia diagnoses can be questioned in some cases
-It can be argued that schizophrenia is not a unique syndrome

Question 8

Co Morbidity

Answer 8

Co-morbidity is the presence of one or more additional disorders that occur simultaneously with SZ, suggesting that schizophrenia is not a separate disorder

Question 9

Buckley (2009) Research point on co morbity (concordance rate)

Answer 9

Buckley (2009) found a high concordance rate between the diagnosis of schizophrenia and other mental health conditions such as depression, OCD,PTSD, anxiety and drug abuse
-As well as complicating treatment procedures, this also suggests that the origninal diagnosis of schizophrenia may be inaccurate as there is a large overlap of symptoms between conditions

Question 10

Symptom Overlap

Answer 10

-Symptom overlap is when two or more illnesses share the same symptoms
-In the case of schizophrenia, conditions such as bipolar disorder also share positive symptoms of delusion and hallucinations, further reducing the validity of SZ diagnoses

Question 11

Gender Differences

Answer 11

-Men’s average age of diagnosis is 25, 5 years earlier than women
-Males are more likely to experience drug abuse as a co morbidity of schizophrenia
-Males are more likely to experience negative symptoms
-Females are more likely to experience positive symptoms

Question 12

Gender Bias

Answer 12

It is suggested that women’s experiences of schizophrenia are taken less seriously and underdiagnosed compared to men
-Cotton suggests that this is due to women’s better coping strategies, leading to them not seeking treatment

Question 13

Culture

Answer 13

-People of Afro-Caribbean heritage in the UK are up to nine times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to 1% of the general population