Classifying + Diagnosing SZ Flashcards
schizophrenia
schizophrenia is a serious mental psychotic disorder characterised by a disruption of cognition + emotion
= it affects a person’s language, thought, perception + sense of self
diagnosing SZ
DSM 5 - Diagnostic + Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders
= 2 or more +ve/ 1 + 1
ICD 11 - The International Classification of Diseases
= show 1 +ve, 1 -ve symptom/ 2 -ve symptoms
positive symptoms
- excess of distortion of normal functions:
- hallucinations
- delusions
negative symptoms
-reduction/ loss in normal functions:
- speech poverty (alogia)
- avolition
hallucinations
sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there
delusions
- aka paranoia
- irrational, bizarre beliefs that seem real to the person with SZ
- common delusions involve being an important historical, religious or political figure
alogia
- aka speech poverty
- changes in patterns of speech
- reduction in quality + quantity of speech
avolition
finding it difficult to begin or keep up with goal-directed activity
- reduced motivation to carry out a range of activities
ads of classification + diagnosis
- communication + shorthand
- treatment
- greater understanding of abnormalities
issues associated with SZ
- reliability
- validity
- co-morbidity
- symptom overlap
- gender bias in diagnosis
- cultural bias in diagnosis
reliability - issues associated with SZ
- consistency of measuring instrument
- an example of inter-rater reliability
= two or more people agree with the same diagnosis for the same individual, after diagnosing separately
= low as +0.11, shows that there is poor reliability in the diagnosis of SZ
validity - issues associated with SZ
- the extent to which we are measuring what we intend to measure
= assessed using criterion validity, using different assessment systems arrive at the same diagnosis
= according to a study, SZ is more likely to be diagnosed using the ICD than DSM, showing that SZ is either over-diagnosed in ICD or under-diagnosed in DSM
co-morbidity - issues associated with SZ
the idea that two or more mental disorders occur together
= question the validity of of diagnosis as around 50% of patients also diagnosed w/ depression or substance abuse (47%)
= shows that we aren’t able to distinguish between disorders very well if they are diagnosed w/ both
= weakness of diagnosis
symptom overlap - issues associated with SZ
there is considerable overlap between the symptoms of SZ + other conditions e.g. depression + bipolar disorders
- two psychs found that people w/ DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) actually having more SZ symptoms than those w/ SZ
- overlap questions the validity of the classification + diagnosis of SZ
= as ICD + DSM may diagnose a patient w/ different conditions, and the overlap may suggest that they are the same disorder
gender bias - issues associated with SZ
- found that men were more likely to be diagnosed w/ SZ than women
- could be gender bias in diagnosis as women seem to function better than men, having good family relationships + more likely to work
= therefore less likely to diagnose women as they show better interpersonal function than men