Lecture 11.1: Psychosis Flashcards
What is Psychosis?
A mental health problem that causes people to perceive or interpret things differently from those around them
What are some Signs and Symptoms of Psychosis (a lack of/negative)? (4)
- Apathy (emotion)
- Avolition (motivation)
- Alogia (speech)
- Anhedonia (Interest)
What are some Signs and Symptoms of Psychosis (positive/present)? (4)
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disorganised Speech
- Disorganised Behaviour
What Mental Illnesses can include psychosis as a symptom? (3)
- Schizophrenia
- Severe Depression
- Bipolar disorder
What can Psychosis be triggered by? (6)
- Traumatic Experience
- Stress
- Drug Misuse
- Alcohol Misuse
- Side effects of prescribed medicine
- Physical Condition (such as a brain tumour)
Physiology of Psychosis in the Brain
Psychosis is a syndrome associated with abnormal functioning of the frontal and temporal lobes and the dopaminergic and serotoninergic projections to these areas
“Dopamine makes things salient”- What does this mean?
- The quality of being particularly noticeable or
important - Prominence
- Dopamine makes things salient that aren’t
already
What is a Delusion?
- A false belief based on incorrect inference about
external reality that is firmly maintained despite
what almost everybody believes and despite
what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious
proof of evidence of the contrary - The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by
other members of the persons culture or
subculture
Types of Delusions (7)
- Thought Broadcast Delusion
- Paranoid/Persecutory Delusion
- Delusion of Reference
- Grandiose Delusion
- Delusion of Alien Control
- Bizarre Delusion
- Somatic Delusion (“I don’t have a heart”)
What are Hallucinations?
A sensory perception that has the compelling sense of reality of a true perception but that occurs without external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ
What are Command Hallucinations?
- Auditory hallucinations that instruct a patient to
act in specific ways - CHs vary from simple, innocuous commands
such as ‘pick up that paper’ to ‘kill’
How prevalent are Command Hallucinations in persons with SCZ?
- Median prevalence of 53% in persons with SCZ
Case Formulation → 5 P’s
- Presenting Problem(s)
- Predisposing Factors: which made the
individual vulnerable to the problem - Precipitating Factors: which triggered the
problem - Perpetuating Factors: which maintain a
problem or unintended consequences of
an attempt to cope with the problem - Protective Factors: that prevent or lessen
a particular behaviour, symptom/distress
What is a Delusion?
False beliefs despite evidence to the contrary
What is a Hallucination?
Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or feeling something that isn’t there
