CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY SCHIZOPHRENIA

Question 1

what are the positive symptoms of sz

Answer 1

*hallucination
*experience of influence, passivity of control
*delusions
*disorganized thoughts
*disorganized behaviors’ along with catatonia behaviour

Question 2

name few negative symptoms of sz

Answer 2

*alogia
*avolition
*affective flattening

Question 3

what is the aim of freeman et al VR ideation

Answer 3

*to conduct a pilot study to find individuals have persecutory thoughts about VR characters under controlled conditions

*to find whether there are factors that predict the occurrence of such thoughts.

Question 4

describe the sample method of freeman et al VR study

Answer 4

*volunteer sampling - from university college of london.( 21 students , 3 admin staff)
*special- all the volunteers are non clinical and adults .

Question 5

what is the research method used by freeman et al.

Answer 5

self reports ( semi structured interviews and questionnaires)

Question 6

explain the procedure if freeman et al VR ideation.

Question 7

what are the measures he came up for the ideation

Answer 7

*brief symptom inventory (BSI)
*paranoia scale
*Spielberger state anxiety questionnaire
*VR paranoia
*semi structured interview and observing rating of *persecutory ideation
*sense of presence questionnaire

Question 8

write the the results in freemans ideation

Answer 8

*no gender difference in score
*in the VR paranoia questionnaire , persecutory thoughts positively correlated with ideas of reference , the interviews and negatively with positive beliefs.
*paranoia score was 31.8.
*VR persecutory thoughts positively correlated with paranoia , interpersonal sensitivity and anxiety .

Question 9

conclusion of freeman et al ideation

Answer 9

• VR method can be used for better understanding of persecutory ideation , to help evaluation and even to be used to reduce persecutory ideation and delusions.

Question 10

mention 4 methodological weaknesses of freeman et al ideation

Answer 10

*findings lack ecological validity.
*sample was non clinical , biased therefore generalizability to clinical patients are questionable.
*VR may cause simulation sickness ( dizziness , nausea , headache , eye strain )
*since feed back is done through self reports the reports might not be very biased( due to social desirability)

Question 11

mention 2 methodological strengths

Answer 11

*collected quantitative data in all questionnaires and even the interviews were rated making it easy to analyse , compare and find relationships.

Question 12

what are the ethical issues that can be seen in freeman et al ideation

Answer 12

*though consent was taken it was not fully informed consent as they did not know that it was about their persecutory thoughts .
*confidentiality was maintained

Question 13

what are the issues and debates from freeman.

Answer 13

*application to every day life
*individual vs situational
*idiographic vs normothetic

Question 14

how can we explain sz and delusional disorder.

Answer 14

*biological explanation
*cognitive explanation

Question 15

what are the 2 explanations that comes according to biological view point of sz

Answer 15

*genetic explanation
*biochemical explanation

Question 16

how can we get biological approaches in sz

Answer 16

*explanation on brain structure
*biochemicals( neurotransmitters , hormones)
*genetics of a individual.

Question 17

what are the genetic view point of sz

Question 18

what is the neurotransmitter that affect for sz

Answer 18

dopamine (high level of dopamine)

Question 19

what is the biochemical explanation for negative symptoms of sz

Answer 19

lack of dopamine in the pre frontal cortex

Question 20

what is the biochemical explanation for negative symptoms of sz

Answer 20

lack of dopamine in the pre frontal cortex

Question 21

what are the research evidence for high dopamine level leads for sz

Answer 21

*post mortem brain of sz patient has high amount of dopamine receptors also it has low amount of enzymes that break down dopamine.
*drugs that increase dopamine such as cocaine and amphetamine have

Question 22

what are the research evidence for high dopamine level leads for sz

Answer 22

*post mortem brain of sz patient has high amount of dopamine receptors also it has low amount of enzymes that break down dopamine.
*drugs that increase dopamine level of the body such as cocaine and amphetamine give similar symptoms to sz.
*Parkinson patients normally have less amount of dopamine therefore as a treatment the provide L Dope which increase the dopamine level of the body also gives similar symptoms to sz after medication.
* animal studies done related to sz( Tenn et al 2003) - when rat is injected with high dosage of dopamine they show sz symptoms and when they reinject drugs that block D1 receptor this symptoms disappear.