Psych Flashcards
What are some risk factors for mild cognitive impairment (MCI)?
- Age - 65+
- diabetes
- smoking
- HTN
- elevated cholestrol
- obesity
- depression
- lack of physical exercise
- low education level
- lack of mental or social stimulation
What are some differential diagnoses of someone presenting with increased forgetfulness and a lower than average score on MMSE?
- mild cognitive impairment
- delirium
- depression
- pseudo dementia
- vitamin B12 deficiency
- drug side effects/interactions
- hypothyroidism
- infections (think UTI in women)
How would you investigate someone with MCI?
- Bloods - FBC, vit B12, random + fasting blood glucose
- full physical examination
- full Hx
- CT/MRIb/SPECT
- cognitive assessment - MMSE, addenbrookes & MOCA
- MMSE <10 = severe, <23 mild.
How would you manage someone with MCI?
- no meds indicated for MCI, however Tx of underlying causative medical condition if there is one
- employ routine early, regular exercise, healthy diet, reduce alcohol, avoid stress, keep social active
What 4 things are necessary for Capacity? Can it change?
- understand the decision to be made
- retain the information
- weigh up the pros and cons
- communicate the decision
capacity is DECISION & TIME specific
Define Phenomenology.
Description of signs and symptoms through an empathetic assessment of subjective experience.
Define an illusion.
illusions are misperceptions of real external stimuli
Define a hallucination.
Hallucinations are perceptions occurring in the absence of an external physical stimulus. Auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, somatic.
What’s the difference between 2nd and 3rd person auditory hallucinations?
- 2nd = YOU are a bad person, YOU are the next messiah, YOU are going to die
- 3rd = Running commentary (suggestive of schizophrenia)& voices discussing/commenting
What is a reflex hallucination?
A stimulus in one sensory field causes a hallucination in another sensory modality.
What’s the difference between an over-valued idea and a delusion?
Over-valued idea is a false/exaggerated belief that is sustained by logic but is NOT as rigid as a delusion
Define Delusion.
A false unshakeable idea or belief which is out of keeping with the patients educational, cultural and social background. Something that is outside of normal experience.
Briefly describe some common delusions.
persecutory - everything bad is your fault - depression
grandiose - believe you’re jesus, superman, cured cancer. - schizo
paranoid - FBI are after you - schizo
self-referential - newspaper/TV talking to you,
Nihilistic - already dead, bowels rotted - depression
What are some examples of thought disorders?
Alienation - catch all term for the below Insertion Withdrawal Broadcast Echo Block
What are examples of disorders of expression?
Concrete thinking Loosening of association circumstantiality perseveration confabulation
Define perseveration.
repetition of a word, theme or action that is more than deemed relevant or appropriate.
Define confabulation.
Telling a false account of events in order to fill a gap in memory.
What are some passive phenomenology?
Somatic passivity - passive recipient of thoughts, feelings, sensations, LIFE
catatonia
psychomotor retardation
describe some features of catatonia
it’s a state of excited or inhibited motor activity in the absence of a mood or neuro disorder.
- waxy flexibility - patients limbs moved into a position and they stay there
- echolalia - repetition of words heard by the patient
- echopraxia - automatic repetition of movements that the examiner made the patient do
Define psychomotor retardation
- slowing of thoughts & movements, to a variable degree.
- Occurs in depression but may be drug induced (antipsychotics) or structural (Parkinson’s)
What is pressure of speech?
very rapid delivery of speech with a wealth of associations which may be unusual and often wanders off point. (suggestive of mania)
What is flight of ideas?
Rapid skipping from one thought to another that is distantly related. Can be very tenuously related.
Define Anhedonia.
The inability to take pleasure from something one would usually find enjoyable.
Define incongruity of affect.
emotional responses which seem grossly out of tune with the situation or subject being discussed.
Define depersonalisation.
A feeling of some change in self, associated with a sense of detachment from one’s own body.
define derealisation.
A sense of one’s surroundings lacking reality, often appearing dull, grey and lifeless.
What is the difference between obsession and compulsion?
Obsession = a recurrent persistent thought, image or impulse that happens without voliation that is seen as being ones own & remains despite efforts to resist Compulsion = repetitive, apparently purposeful behaviour performed in a stereotyped way accompanied by a subjective sense that it must be carried out despite acknowledgement of it's purposelessness.
Define Akathisia.
A condition marked by motor restlessness, ranging from anxiety to an inability to lie or sit quietly or to sleep
What are the 3 core symptoms of depression?
- low mood
- loss of energy (anergia)
- loss of pleasure (anhedonia)
What are some other common symptoms associated with depression?
- changes in sleep (typically early morning waking)
- changes in libido
- changes in appetite
- diurnal mood variation
- agitation
- loss of confidence
- loss of concentration
- guilt
- hopelessness
- suicidal ideation
How do you tell between mild & moderate depression?
mild = core + 2-3 symptoms moderate = core + 4 other symptoms + functioning affected
How do tell between moderate and severe depression?
moderate = core + 4 Sx + functioning affected Severe = several symptoms + suicidal + marked loss of functioning
What are the 2 types of severe depression?
- With or Without psychotic symptoms
- typically mood congruent (nihilistic & guilty delusions, derogatory voices)
What are some possible presentations of depression?
- Post natal - 13% of women
- recurrent depression
- part of bipolar illness
What’s the difference between bipolar I and II?
I = both mania + depression (sometimes only mania) II = more episodes of depression, only mild hypomania EASY TO MISS
What’s the duration & symptoms of hypomania?
- between 4-7 days
- elevated mood (euphoric/dysphoric/angry)
- increased energy
- poor concentration
- increased talkativeness
- mild reckless behaviour
- sociability/overfamiliarity
- increased libido/sexual disinhibition
- increased confidence
- decreased sleep need
- change in appetite
What’s the duration & symptoms of Mania?
- Greater than 1 week of Sx
- extreme uncontrollable elation
- over activity
- pressure of speech
- impaired judgment
- Extreme risk taking behaviour
- social disinhibition
- inflated self-esteem
- with psychotic Sx
- mood congruent/incongruent
What are some psychotic disorders?
- Schizophrenia - MAIN ONE
- delusional disorder
- Schizotypal disorder
- depressive psychosis
- manic psychosis
-organic psychosis
Describe the epidemiology of Schizophrenia?
- 1% lifetime risk
- stable incidence across the world
- 1:1 F:M
- onset typically 2nd-3rd decade second small peak in late middle age
- increase suicide risk
- increased risk of death from CVD, Resp disease and infection (x2, 3, 4)
What are the first rank Sx of Schizophrenia?
need greater than 1 Sx
- thought alienation
- passivity phenomena
- 3rd person auditory hallucination
- delusional perceptions