Psychiatric Disorders

Question 1

Name the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia

Answer 1

• Hallucinations
• Thought disorders
• Stereotyped behaviours (repetitive purposeless movements - thought to originate in the extra pyramidal system)

Question 2

Name the negative symptoms of Schizophrenia

Answer 2

-Depression (Poverty of affect)
-Cognitive impairment (inability to perform problem solving tasks)
-Temporal disorientation (time of day, year etc forgotten)

Question 3

Which symptoms start then others progress with age?

Answer 3

Positive symptoms first then negative becomes prominent with age

Question 4

Name the four theorised causes of schizophrenia?

Answer 4

1) Genetic
2) Pyschosocial
3) Structural Brain Damage
4) Viral infection

Question 5

Describe how viral infection could cause schizophrenia?

Answer 5

The hypothesis is that exposure of the mother to a virus during the second trimester increases the risk of schizophrenia.
(higher incidence in patients born in late winter or spring)

Question 6

How does structural brain damage cause schizo?

Answer 6

• ventricular enlargement (decreased vol of the temporal lobe - hippocampus)
• increased dendritic pruning (less prevalent and less branched)
• BUT no gliosis (SO NOT NEURODEGENERATIVE)