General introduction to Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is Schizophrenia?

Answer 1

-This is a mental disorder characterized by psychosis, disorganized thoughts and behavior.

Question 2

What is another name for Schizophrenia?

Answer 2

-Schizophrenia is also referred to as Split mind meaning functions of the mind split off from each other.

Question 3

What are Hallucinations? And give examples.

Answer 3

-These are false sensations that aren’t grounded to reality.
Examples include;
1. Auditory hallucinations.
2. Visual hallucinations.
3. Tactile hallucinations.

Question 3

What are Delusions? And give examples.

Answer 3

-These are false beliefs that an individual holds to be true.
Examples include;
1. Grandiose; false belief that you have special abilities or skills that make you of higher status than others.
2. Erotomaniac; false belief that someone in status is in love with you.
3. Persecutory; false belief that someone is plotting against you or wishing you harm.

Question 4

What are the 5 Psychotic spectrum disorders? And briefly describe them?

Answer 4

-Schizotypal affective disorder, Delusion of disorder, BPD, Schizophrenia and Schizo- affective disorder.

1. Schizotypal personality disorder- victims struggle forming emotionally meaningful relationships because they are either emotionally blunt or cold.
   [Blunt; feel emotions however express some of it.
   Flat; feel emotions however cannot express them.]
2. Delusion of disorder- when a victim experiences delusions in the absence of hallucinations, disorganized thoughts and behavior. [Hold onto beliefs about impossible events; Bizarre delusions]
3. BPD [Brief Psychotic Disorder]- shares symptoms with schizophrenia however lasts for less than 6 months.
4. Schizophrenia- it’s characterized by full blown psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts and catatonia such as waxy flexibility, mutism and rigidity.
5. Schizo- affective disorder- this is a substance induced psychosis. If certain substances or medication are abused they can induce psychosis. Examples include; Marijuana, Steroids and Antibiotics.

Question 4

What are some symptoms a patient has to meet in order to be labelled as Schizophrenic? [2]

Answer 4

1. The victim must have full blown psychosis for not longer than a period of 6 months.
2. The individual must show a reduction in normal functioning in the core areas of functioning; Academic, Social and Occupational.

Question 4

What are the 2 types of Schizophrenia? And briefly describe them.

Answer 4

1. Type I (Positive symptoms).
   - This refers to excesses in normal functioning and is characterized by; hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thoughts and behaviors.
2. Type II (Negative symptoms).
   - This refers to a drop or reduction in normal functioning and is characterized by; Avolition [lack of motivation] and Alogia [poverty of speech].

Question 4

Describe the Genetic explanation for Schizophrenia?
{Gottesman and Shields falls under this}.

Answer 4

-The genetic explanation regards the influence of genes or the combination of genetic markers in the development of Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

Question 4

What are Genetic Markers?

Answer 4

-They are a set of different Alleles that determine a trait and are located together in a particular chromosome. [ Linkage group].
-They are usually passed down from parent to offspring causing the disorder to develop.

Question 4

State the 2 types of Impairments and their Genetic markers?

Answer 4

• Working Memory;
  1. TCF- 4.
  2. MIR- 137 gene.
  3. GRM3 defective.
• Sensory dysfunction;
  1. CCK- A receptor gene.

Question 4

According to the study by Gottesman and Shields, what was the likelihood of inheriting Schizo in the General population?

Answer 4

-They found out the likelihood of inheriting Schizo increased from just 1% in the general population to 48% in MZ twins.

Question 4

Explain the difference between MZ and DZ twins? How have Twins studies helped researchers?

Answer 4

• MZ twins develop from one egg and share 100% of their DNA.
• DZ twins develop from 2 fertilized eggs and share 50% of their DNA.
• Twin studies have enabled researchers to track inheritable traits and if a trait is inherited;
  ‘It will high in concordance in MZ twins [meaning 100% genetic resemblance] than in DZ twins [50% genetic resemblance] not withstanding environmental differences.

Question 4

Describe the following:
1. Concordance.
2. Family studies.
3. Adoption studies.
4. Twin studies.

Answer 4

Concordance; this is the presence of a particular observable trait eg; intelligence or psychosis between family members or a set of twins.

Family studies; it’s a type of investigation where biological relatives with a particular disorder are more likely to have the disorder than non- relatives.

Adoption studies; it’s a type of study that looks at the similarities in a particular trait between adopted individuals and their biological parents not withstanding environmental differences.

Twin studies; using a set of twins who are investigated for any shared traits.

Question 4

Finish the following statement.
If a trait is Inheritable…?

Answer 4

The concordance of that trait increases with the degree of relativity.

Question 4

Briefly describe the Dopamine Hypothesis?

[Dopamine hypothesis].

Answer 4

-The dopamine hypothesis is based on the idea that the brains of ppl with schizophrenia fire too often and this is because they have a lot of dopamine receptors [Upregulation] compared to ppl without schizophrenia.
- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is found in the class of catecholamines and it enables communication between neurons or nerve cells.
- The dopamine hypothesis therefore identifies a link between excessive amount of dopamine or dopamine receptors and positive symptoms of schizophrenia and other related disorders.

Question 4

Describe how a signal is produced? [3]

[Dopamine Hypothesis].

Answer 4

A signal is produced in 3 ways;
1. The vesicles in the pre- synaptic nerve cell burst open releasing dopamine.
2. Then, the dopamine travels across the synapse and binds on the receptors at the post- synaptic membrane.
3. Lastly, the binding causes a signal or a message.

Question 4

State 2 evidences for enhanced Dopamine receptors in Schizophrenia?
How does Frith describe Schizophrenia?

Answer 4

1. Patients with Parkinson’s disease are often treated using Levodopa. It’s a form of synthetic dopamine. If patients here receive a high dosage psychotic symptoms may be created in the victims.
2. If schizophrenic patients ingest amphetamines and cocaine, their positive symptoms worsen.

Question 4

How does Frith describe Schizophrenia?

Answer 4

• He describes Schizophrenia as an abnormality of self- monitoring.

Question 4

What is self- monitoring according to Frith?

Answer 4

• This is when schizophrenic patients struggle monitoring their own intentions and those of others leading to paranoia that is common in the delusion of persecution and reference.

Question 4

What does Frith acknowledge or recognize?

Answer 4

-He acknowledges the role played by biological factors such as;
1. dopamine receptors.
2. upregulation.
3. inheritance of defective genes.

• However since no one genetic, structural or biochemical cause has been identified, he sought to adopt a cognitive approach to explain the feeling of being schizophrenic.

Question 4

What do schizophrenics here struggle with other than self monitoring?

What to schizophrenics here lack? And what do they as well suffer from?

Answer 4

-They struggle with source monitoring where they fail to recognize that their perceived hallucinations are in fact just inner speech.
- They lack of TOM where they are unable to monitor their own intentions and those of others [The difference between them and ASD people is that before the psychotic episode, they may have had an intact TOM compared to ASD where it is a neurodevelopment].
- They also suffer from the flattening effect where they lack speech and socially withdraw themselves due to the difficulties in monitoring their own mental states and those of others.

Question 5

What can’t they differentiate between according to Frith?

Answer 5

-They cannot differentiate between their own thoughts and alien voices.