LEC 2 - Schizophrenia

Question 1

Psychosis Definition

Answer 1

A mental state characterized by profound disturbances in thought
- experience reality in a different way

Question 2

Schizophrenia Definition (Society of Ontario)

Answer 2

Disease of the brain which involves a loss of contact with reality, not able to distinguish between what is real and not
- emphasis on loss of touch with reality

Question 3

Schizophrenia Definition (WHO)

Answer 3

Severe mental disorder, characterized by profound disruptions of thinking
- emphasis on disruption of cognition

Question 4

Positive Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Answer 4

• Hallucinations (sensory experiences without a clear stimulus, usually auditory)
• Delusions (Beliefs that are improbable or impossible, even when demonstrably false)

Question 5

Negative Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Answer 5

Deficits in affect and emotional realm
- Blunted facial expression and voice
- Anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure)
- Asociality
- Avolition (cannot exert willpower)
- Alogia (reduced speech)

Question 6

Disorganized Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Answer 6

• Shifting topics (derailment)
• tangentiality (respond irrelevantly)
• repeating one same word (perservation)
• bizarre motor behaviour

Question 7

Pos symptoms meaning

Answer 7

they don’t persist for long periods of time

Question 8

Neg symptoms meaning

Answer 8

chronic and long lasting

Question 9

Disorganized symptoms meaning

Answer 9

they don’t persist for long periods of time

Question 10

How long has schizophrenia existed?

Answer 10

We don’t know
- We have early records of things that sound like hallucinations, schizophrenia is defined by much wider criteria.

Question 11

Hare’s recency hypothesis

Answer 11

He believes this is a new disease and changes in the environment or recent genetic disorder

Question 12

Emil Kraepelin and Eugen Bleuler

Answer 12

Kraepelin grouped various symptoms as one disease- dementia praecox (Euro view)
Bleuler: didn’t always start in adolescence, nor always progressive. Proposed schizophrenia (American view)
- Considered negative symptoms far more important than positive symptoms

Question 13

Schizophrenia epidemiology

Answer 13

Schizophrenia- or rather its symptoms- reportedly found in all cultures across the world

Question 14

Prognosis

Answer 14

Chronic condition
Some diagnosed w/ schizophrenia stabilizes, some improve, and some get worse over time

Question 15

Causes of Schizophrenia

Answer 15

No consensis

Question 16

Refrigerator Mothers

Answer 16

“cold” parenting style of mothers as a potential cause of schizophrenia
Infuriated many parents who felt blame for their offspring’s problems (leading to alliances in psychiatry, NAMI demanding more treatment, helped popularize conceptions)

Question 17

Genetic causes of Schizophrenia?

Answer 17

Genetics may play a role, but far more complex than simple genetics
(Offspring with two schizophrenic parents and monozygotic twins highest %)

Question 18

Cannot “Predict” Schizophrenia

Answer 18

The speculated genetic risk for developing schizophrenia is not limited to schizophrenia

Question 19

Social Factors

Answer 19

speculate that the real cause can be found in the social world. Why? The highest prevalence of schizophrenia is found in neighbourhoods w/ lowest
socioeconomic status

Question 20

Two social factors contributing to schizophrenia

Answer 20

• Social causation, life events
• Social Drift