Descriptive psychopathology Flashcards
Are primary delusions understandable?
No by definition they are un-understandable as they arise from a primary psychiatric illness.
They present immediately self-evident akin to intuition or a revelation and may be accompanied by radical transformation or emergence of thinking
Outline the salient features of alexithymia
Struggle to identify own feelings
May find it difficult to tell difference between own feelings and emotional arousal
Struggle to read other peoples feelings
Lack of imagination
Cognition is externally-orientated and stimulus bound / Lak of symbolic thinking
What is couvade syndrome?
Not a delusional belief but a syndrome where pregnant mothers who are expecting have conversion symptoms
What gait may patients with conversion disorder exhibit?
Atasia-abasia
- Widly ataxic staggering gait accompanied by gross, irregular jerky movements with thrasing
- If patients fall they are generally not hurt
Differentiate Deja Vu, Jamais Vu, Deja Entandu and Deja Pense
Deja Vu - inappropriate familiarity with new place/event
Jamais Vu - knowledge that have experienced a new place/event before but no familiarity
Deja Entandu - new sound interpreted as familiar
Deja Pense - new thought interpreted as familiar
What is stupor?
Loss of activity with no reaction to external stimulus - seen in depression, dissociation
What is type token ratio?
The ratio of total number of new words used : total number of words used
- it is a measure of lexical diversity
Outline the main negative symptoms of Schizophrenia?
Anhedonia
Flattened affect
Alogia - poverty of speech
Social withdrawal
Lethargy
Avolition - lack of motivation
The feeling “as if” someone is not real is referred to as…
Depersonalisation - it is an as if phenomenon
What can card sorting tests demonstrate? (type of abnormal thinking)
Overinclusive thinking
- Kurt Goldstein specified the test to sort items into category, colour and form - i.e. sort things accoding their attributes into conceptual categories
How do mannerisms and stereotypy differ?
Mannerisms are performance of a goal directed activity in a sometimes bizarre/over the top manner i.e. combing hair without comb
Stereotypy are repeated non-goal directed movements i.e. rocking
How does alcoholic induced psychotic disorder with hallucination present?
Alcoholic hallucinosis: occurs after prolonged and heavy alcohol use
Hallucinations are initially poorly formed noises or murmurings then develop into more clearly formed voices. Hallucinations are experienced when sober
Generally they cease with a period of abstinence but if persistent may be treated with antipsychotics
What is snout spasm or Schnauzkrampf?
Typical posturing of tightened forehead and facial muscles seen in patients in a catatonic stupor
What does ego-syntonic refer to?
If a phenomenon is in keeping with the goals/needs/self-image of the ego
Generally delusions begin as ego-syntonic but as a patient develops insight they then may become ego-dystonic
How does jamais vu differ to deja vu?
Deja Vu - events experienced for the first time are associated with inappropriate familiarity that they have been experienced before. NOVEL EXPERIENCE THAT FEELS FAMILIAR
Jamais Vu - events that have been experienced before feel unfamiliar. OCCURING EXPERIENCE BUT UNFAMILIAR
Outline the three types of illusions and when they may occur?
Affect illusions - occur with heightened emotional tone and misperception
Complete illusions - when our brains try and fill in missing information in stimulus
(both affect and complete illusions improve with closer attention)
Pareidolic illusions occur when perceiving a badly defined stimulus i.e seeing a face in a cloud etc
Not all illusions occur when perception threshold is increased
What is a coensthetic hallucination?
A hallucination of visceral or bodily sensations in the absence of sensorial input - may be ripping in nature
What is phantom limb pain characterised by?
A body image disturbance - note historically classified as somatic hallucinations