M4. Lesson 4.4: Schizophrenia and Psychotic Related Disorders Flashcards
People who have committed highly publicized mass murders may have had schizophrenia which means that majority of people with schizophrenia are dangerous. True or False.
False. Sadly, a few of the individuals who have committed some of the recently highly publicized mass murders may have had schizophrenia, though most people who commit such crimes do not have schizophrenia and the vast majority of people with schizophrenia are not dangerous.
Hypothetically, if you have met people with schizophrenia, why would you have not noticed?
It is also likely that you have met people with schizophrenia without ever knowing it, as they may suffer in silence or stay isolated to protect themselves from the horrors they see, hear, or believe are operating in the outside world.
What types of symptoms do psychotic disorders typically involve?
Psychotic disorders involve many different types of symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior, abnormal motor behavior (including catatonia), and negative symptoms such anhedonia/amotivation and blunted affect/reduced speech.
What are delusions?
Delusions are false beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even when the person is presented with conflicting information, and are often culturally influenced in their content (e.g., delusions involving Jesus in Judeo-Christian cultures, delusions involving Allah in Muslim cultures). They can be terrifying for the person, who may remain convinced that they are true even when loved ones and friends present them with clear information that they cannot be true. There are many different types or themes to delusions.
What are the different types of delusions?
- Persecutory
- Grandiose
- Referential
- Others
What is the most common delusion type?
Persecutory
What are persecutory delusions?
The most common delusions are persecutory and involve the belief that individuals or groups are trying to hurt, harm, or plot against the person in some way. These can be people that the person knows (people at work, the neighbors, family members), or more abstract groups (the FBI, the CIA, aliens, etc.).
What are grandiose delusions?
Grandiose delusions are where the person believes that they have some special power or ability (e.g., I am the new Buddha, I am a rock star)
What are referential delusions?
Referential delusions, where the person believes that events or objects in the environment have special meaning for them (e.g., that song on the radio is being played specifically for me)
What are other types of delusions?
Other types of delusions where the person may believe that others are controlling their thoughts and actions, their thoughts are being broadcast aloud, or that others can read their mind (or they can read other people’s minds)
What are hallucinations?
When you see a person on the street talking to themselves or shouting at other people, they are experiencing hallucinations. These are perceptual experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in the outside world generating the experiences.
In what forms can hallucinations come as?
They can be auditory, visual, olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or somatic (touch).
What is the most common form of hallucination in psychosis for adults mostly?
The most common hallucinations in psychosis (at least in adults) are auditory, and can involve one or more voices talking about the person, commenting on the person’s behavior, or giving them orders.
What is the content and voices of auditory hallucinations like?
The content of the hallucinations is frequently negative (“you are a loser,” “that drawing is stupid,” “you should go kill yourself”) and can be the voice of someone the person knows or a complete stranger. Sometimes the voices sound as if they are coming from outside the person’s head. Other times the voices seem to be coming from inside the person’s head, but are not experienced the same as the person’s inner thoughts or inner speech.
What is disorganized speech?
Talking to someone with schizophrenia is sometimes difficult, as their speech may be difficult to follow, either because their answers do not clearly follow from your questions, or because one sentence does not logically follow from another. This is disorganized speech.
Can disorganized speech be present in writing?
Yes, it can.
What does disorganized behavior include?
Disorganized behavior can include odd dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals (e.g., repetitive hand gestures).
What is abnormal motor behavior?
Abnormal motor behavior can include catatonia, which refers to a variety of behaviors that seem to reflect a reduction in responsiveness to the external environment. This can include holding unusual postures for long periods of time, failing to respond to verbal or motor prompts from another person, or excessive and seemingly purposeless motor activity.
What are negative symptoms?
Some of the most debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia are difficult for others to see. These include what people refer to as “negative symptoms” or the absence of certain things we typically expect most people to have.
What symptoms are examples of negative ones?
Anhedonia or amotivation; and flat affect or reduced speech/alogia