Module 3: Neurodevelopment, Mental Health and Mental Illness Flashcards
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- “voices”
- Disorganised speech
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
- Social withdrawal
- Apathy
- Emotional blunting
What are cognitive problems associated with schizophrenia?
Problems with
- Memory
- Attention
- Processing speed
What % of the population suffer from schizophrenia?
- 1% of population
What factors can cause schizophrenia?
- Genetics
- Paternal age
- Maternal famine or infection
- Hypoxia
- Season
- Urban dwelling
- Cannabis use
- Migration
What is the risk of developing schizophrenia in identical twins?
- 48%
What is the risk of developing schizophrenia in fraternal twins?
- 17%
What can be used to find common gene variants in schizophrenia?
- GWAS
What are the characteristics of the 108 loci associated with schizophrenia?
- 75% are protein coding genes/groups of genes, 40% are single genes
- 8% are within 20kb of a gene
- Notable associations with existing knowledge (aetiology/treatment) e.g. DRD2
- Main associations found in genes involved in glutamate neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity, GRM3, GRIN2A, GRIA1, SRR, voltage gated calcium channel subunits, CACNA1I, CACNA1C, CACNB2
What are the main findings of the Schizophrenia GWAS?
- Estimated that 8,300 independent, mostly common SNPs contribute to risk for schizophrenia and that these collectively account for at least 32% of the variance in liability
- Hits converge on genes that are expressed in brain and immune tissues
- MHC locus consistently strongest association
- The leucocyte antigenic system HL-A as a possible genetic marker of schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry. 1974 125:25-7.
- Enriched for genes in glutamate signalling
pathway - DRD2 implicated for the first time!
- Results consistent across sites showing ‘schizophrenia’ is good enough phenotype
What are some rare schizophrenia alleles?
- DISC1- a gene affected by a translocation that causes various forms of mental illness in some carriers
- 22q11 deletion syndrome- a deletion that can cause a variety of symptoms including various forms of mental illness in some carriers
What is 22q11 deletion syndrome?
- Velo-cardio-facial syndrome
- Hypoparathyroidism
- Underdeveloped thymus or absent thymus, which results in problems in the immune system
- Heart defects
- Cleft lip and/or palate
- Up to 1/3 VCFS patients may develop schizophrenia or other psychiatric illness
- Approximately 1% of patients with schizophrenia have 22qDS
- The schizophrenia in 22qDS is indistinguishable by symptoms, treatment response, neurocognitive profile, or MRI brain anomalies.
What are characteristics of rare schizophrenia-associated loci?
- Highly but not completely penetrant
- Not specific to schizophrenia
What are de Novo variants?
- Present in child but not in either parent
- Sufficiently rare (0-3 per exome) that could be possible to identify casual variants
- Very successful approach to identifying the cause of Mendelian diseases through sequencing
Describe de Novo variants in schizophrenia
- Examine “sporadic” cases
– Very difficult to find, depending how you define
them - Compare frequency of de novos in cases vs.
controls - Make assumptions about causality for those
present in cases
What have GWAS and rare variant studies have found?
- Studies of common (GWAS) and rare (sequencing ) variants have all started to implicate synaptic pathways in schizophrenia
- These pathways have also been implicated in
large scale studies of autism and epilepsy - Maybe not surprising biologically?
- Less useful for drug development?
Describe the zinc transporter (ZnT3)
- Significantly decreased in schizophrenia
- impact on synaptic transmission
- Highly brain specific - present in SV sub-populations
- Suboptimal Zn nutrition during gestation in rate causes long-term effects on brain (Aimo et al 2010)
- Zn supplementation beneficial in unipolar depression (Nowak et al 2003)
What is the genetic association of the synaptic vesicle specific zinc transporter with schizophrenia?
- Significant allelic association was observed for four SNPs with disease status in our UK cohort.
- Genotypic associations were observed for all four SNPs tested, consistent with a dominant model for disease penetrance.
- Haplotype analysis further supported these associations with 4 SNP haplotype associated with risk for disease, after correcting for multiple comparisons.
What are different types of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
- Cognitive Analytical Therapy
- Interpersonal psychotherapy
- Brief solution focussed therapy
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy
- EMDR
- Family therapy
- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
- Motivational interviewing
Why is language an issue regarding CBT?
- CBT and the associated lexicon were developed in HICs, whose language (e.g. English) differ (sometimes very substantially) from LIMCs
What is the hierarchy in patient-therapist relationship?
- Patient-therapist relationship in LAMICs is typically hierarchical
- Patients see the therapist as the expert and expect him/her to act as such- by showing authority and being directive
- A therapist attempting to be collaborative in such contexts may be unwittingly convey the impression of lack of expertise to the patient
How is distance a problem in therapist-patient relationships in LAMICs?
- The patient may travel very long distances at huge expenses and personal hazard to see a therapist
- It is not uncommon that the patient may never see the therapist again
Describe service organisation in CBT in LAMICs
- Referral pathways for CBT may not exist or if it is exists it is not understandable or accessible to clinician or the patient
- So the clinician seeing the patient may be the only one who can offer the patient CBT techniques (the patient may never be seen again)
What are the benefits of group intervention in CBT?
- More cost-effective
- Fits the collectivist culture in LAMICs
- Meta-analyses of CBT in depression and anxiety consistently find group therapy to be as effective as individual therapy
Why can CBT be delivered by lay/non-specialist workers?
- The principle of CBT is relatively easy to convey to non-specialist health workers and other non-health professionals such as teachers
- CBT lends itself readily to manualisation
- Several RCTs of CBT in LIMCs have shown good outcomes with treatments delivered by trained non-specialists using manuals developed and supervised by specialists
What are the benefits of behavioural techniques in CBT?
- Easier to explain- especially by less skilled clinicians
- Quicker to understand and relatively easier to use
- As effective as cognitive interventions or full CBT
What other factors are important to consider in CBT?
- More directive approach (hierarchial nature of patient-therapist relationship)
- Language (Adapt, translate into local languages, idioms and metaphors
- Incorporating existing helpful cultural/religious coping strategies
When is it logical to promote/encourage religious coping?
- If religious coping is helpful in a culture
- Religious practice/coping is high in that culture
What are the negative effects of religion on mental health?
- Guilt
- Promotion of anhedonia
- Promote stigma
- Harmful practices e.g. chaining and beating
- Reduced treatment adherence e.g. fasting
What are the positive effects of religion on mental health?
- Finding meaning in one’s life
- More positive appraisal of negative events e.g. story of Job
- External attribution of negative events e.g. blame the Devil
- Promotion of positive affect e.g. count your blessings
- Social support e.g. reduced isolation
- Positive social guidance e.g. teaching of moderation
- Opportunity to give or serve - which improves positive affect
- Promoting or sustaining Hope in otherwise hopeless circumstances (which could reduce suicidality)
What is the benefit of involving families in CBT?
- Involving families is consistent with the collectivist, extended family and kinship orientation in LAMICs
- Families can remind the patient of the CBT techniques you taught them (since you may never see the patient again)
What are potential opportunities in using the Internet and mobile phones for CBT?
- Online/mobile phone delivery platforms for psychological therapy
- Remote supervision of therapists
Why might CBT not be helpful?
- Typical cognitive therapy may not be as helpful if the patient’s negative cognitions are e.g.
- Genuine loss following a bereavement
- Genuine fear e.g. from bullying or persecution
- But some behavioural interventions may be helpful even in such situations (e.g. Using relaxation techniques to cope)
What are alternatives to CBT?
- Medication (SSRIs for anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD)
- Supportive therapy e.g. bereavement counselling following a loss
- Practical problem solving and advocacy e.g. if negative cognitions are driven up genuine problems such as bullying
- Family therapy - if the underlying low mood or anxieties are driven by negative family dynamics
- Dialectical Behavioural therapy incorporating
- Radical acceptance
- Distress tolerance
- Mindfulness
What is radical acceptance?
- Accepting a painful reality you can’t help AND accepting that life can still be worth living despite that pain (e.g. loss of a loved one, terminal illness, seeing a perpetrator of crime against you acquitted by a jury and walk free from Court etc)
- Not accepting a pain that is unavoidable prolongs suffering and agony, and interferes with the patient’s capacity to move on from the past and take up new opportunities presenting themselves now and in future
- Challenges traditional (but unrealistic) Western beliefs that pain should not be tolerated and perpetual comfort (hedonism) is achievable
What are some distress tolerance techniques?
- Positive distraction – e.g. Music, watching funny video clips on YouTube, doing puzzles, painting/drawing, baking, walking the dog, gym, running etc
- Relaxation techniques e.g. deep slow breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, positive imagery, yoga,
- Positive self talk
- Helping others – volunteer for a charity
- Prayer
- Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
- Idea from Eastern philosophy especially Buddhism
Can be a therapy on its own or part of DBT or part of CBT (MCBT) - Mindfulness is paying attention to things in the present rather than ruminating about the past or worrying about the future.
- It is consciously bringing back our mind from wandering off – often into negative thoughts
- “The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about others things.”–Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, and philosopher, 1872 -1970
Describe a mindfulness example regarding the dentist (from the lecture)
- E.g. if you are waiting to see a dentist, you are likely to get the thought “this is going to hurt” .
- However, rather than ruminate about how painful your last dental procedure was or how painful the procedure you are about to have might be
You could switch your attention to another experience in that environment. You might notice a fascinating pattern made by sun rays coming through the window and absorb your thoughts with the beauty of it until the dentist invites you into.
- The dental procedure will be painful (you can’t help it), but with mindfulness, you have avoided spending the 20 minutes wait worrying about the pain (i.e. you gained a 20 minutes pain-free life)
What is psychosis?
- Presence of hallucinations, delusions or severe abnormalities in behaviour
- Psychotic illnesses include: Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder
When and what was schizophrenia first identified as?
- 1st identified by Emil Kraepelin as Dementia praecox in 1889 - i.e. progressive decline with early age of onset
What are the 4As of schizophrenia?
- Eugen Bleuler (1857 - 1939) characterised the diagnostic features: 4As —>
- Loosening of Associations (incoherent speech)
- (Flat) Affect
- Autism (social withdrawal)
- Ambivalence (both positive and negative feelings towards someone/something
What is Affect?
- How one’s mood presents (different from subjective perception of mood)
What are the different subtypes of schizophrenia?
- Paranoid: Persecutory/Grandiose delusions
- Hebephrenic: Thought disorder, Flat affect
- Catatonic: Motor disorder, Posturing
- Simple: Progressive decrease in Mental Health | No clinical prevalence, no longer used
What is Crow’s 2 syndrome model?
- Type 1: +ve syndrome, acute, good outcomes, Increased DAr
- Type 2: -ve syndrome, chronic, poor outcomes
What is Liddle’s 3 syndrome model?
- Psychomotor poverty
- Disorganisation syndrome (flat affect)
- Reality distortion (delusions/hallucinations)
What is positive syndrome?
- Hallucinations, Delusions | Well controlled by treatment
What are hallucinations (in the context of schizophrenia)?
- typically Auditory hallucinations (voices, 3rd person, running commentary, thought echo, commands)
What are delusions?
- Belief that lacks rational reasoning e.g. Grandiose | Paranoid | Nihilistic | Erotomanic
What is a thought disorder?
- Disconnected speech (thought implied from speech)
- Tangential
- Derailment
- Word salad
What are features of positive syndrome?
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Thought disorder
What is negative syndrome?
- Flat Affect
- Avolition
- Anhedonia
- Associated with decreased outcomes
What are features of negative syndrome?
- Expressive deficits
- Social withdrawal
What are expressive deficits?
- Alogia (decreased verbal output)
- Affective flattening (decreased non-verbal cues, situation-specific affect dissociation)
What are features of social withdrawal?
- Avolition (decreased motivation)
- Asociality (decreased social)
- Anhedonia (decreased pleasure from positive stimuli)
What are primary and secondary negative symptoms due to?
- Primary symptoms due to schizophrenia
- Secondary symptoms due to positive psychotic symptoms, depression, PD
What is disorganisation?
- Thought disorder
What types affective disturbance are seen in schizophrenia?
- Hopelessness
- Hypomania
What types of disturbed behaviour are seen in schizophrenia?
- Social withdrawal
- Depressed features
How is social cognition impaired in schizophrenia?
- Lack of empathy
How is neurocognitive function affected in schizophrenia?
- Attention
- Memory
- Executive function
- All associated with decreased outcomes
Describe schizophrenia disease progression
(1) Premorbid (asymptomatic)
(2) Prodromal (sleep disturbance, paranoia, withdrawal)
(3) Progression (episodes of psychosis)
(4) Stable/Relapsing (more stable with treatment)
Why do SCZ individuals have increased mortality?
- Worse physical health (diabetes, CVD)
- Decreased accessibility
- Social deprivation
- Decreased adherence
What is the suicide risk of SCZs?
- 12x more than the general population
- Higher rates in Males, young patients, early stages
- Treatment is protective