Psychiatric Disorders - Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is the biggest controversial sex difference in psychiatric disorders

Answer 1

the main one is mood disorders more common in woman but only because it is more accepted. believe their is a large cause from the social cultures and not actually a biological component.

Question 2

What are the statistics about have mental illness and having a substance abuse problem

Answer 2

twice as likely to have a substance abuse when having a mental illness

Question 3

Kraeplin’s discovery of common symptoms in schizophrenia (5)

Answer 3

disturbances in thoughts
delusions
auditory hallucinations
odd array of emotional changes
thought to begin during adolescence and moves to chronic state of cognitive impairments

Question 4

What did Eugen Bleuler do in relation to schizophrenia

Answer 4

he introduced the term schizophrenia
identified dissociative thinking as a key symptom of schizophrenia

Question 5

Define positive symptom vs. negative symptom

Answer 5

positive = something emerging that is normally not there
negative = something that should not be there (ex. an emotional reaction that is not usually there)

Question 6

What results for found in relation to genetic contributions for schizophrenia

Answer 6

monozygotic twins have a risk of schizophrenia of 48% that suggests there is not a 100% penetration of genes, meaning that there are other factors and something else needs to happen in order for schizophrenia to be developed.

Question 7

What structural changes in the brain were found in schizophrenic patients? (3)

Answer 7

1. ventricular enlargement
2. limbic system alteration (specifically in the pyramidal cells)
3. (hypothesis) for prefrontal cortex changes

Question 8

What was the biggest structural change found in the brain for people with schizophrenia and why? (1)

Answer 8

ventricular enlargements

(data found that ventricular enlargement was found in twins that are schizophrenic compared to unaffected)

Also found that enlargements were more pronounced in males

Because the tissue or brain is damaged and the tissue disintegrates causes more room for the ventricle to increase in size

Question 9

What other structural changes occurred in the brain of schizophrenic patients

Answer 9

limbic system abnormalities

the pyramidal cells in the hippocampus were reported to be disorientated. mainly in CA1 and CA3. Wasn’t necessarily fewer cells, but their organization was altered. the axon-dendrite organization was not all in a line, they were pointed in all directions which altered the sending information (not displayed in all schizophrenic patients however)

Question 10

What structural changes in the brain were found in schizophrenic patients? (3)

Answer 10

1. ventricular enlargement
2. limbic system alteration (specifically in the pyramidal cells)
3. (hypothesis) for prefrontal cortex changes

Question 11

Hypofrontality Hypothesis

Answer 11

that there are significant impacts on the prefrontal cortex, which is true. The prefrontal cortex is quieter, less reactive when challenged.

Question 12

What was a regional and cellular abnormality found in schizophrenic patients

Answer 12

altered gene expression: specifically inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex

Question 13

Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST)

Answer 13

start by testing on rule (ex. colour), then change rule without telling the subject (ex. change to number matching). Prefrontal damage can do original task, but when change the rule they cannot perform this task, they could even tell you about the rule change but couldn’t actually perform the rule. Schizophrenic cannot do this test.

Question 14

Dopamine Hypothesis

Answer 14

theory that there is excessive dopamine levels which is the root cause of symptoms of schizophrenia

Dopamine is interesting because it comes from many different cell groups and projections. D2 receptors are specifically important, they cause inhibition when activated. D1 cause excitation when activated. So depending on which is affected to see different results

Question 15

What area seems to be funky with how they project in terms of dopamine

Answer 15

ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens, cortex, and hippocampus

Question 16

What is a criticism of the dopamine hypothesis model

Answer 16

dopamine metabolites in blood and urine are not consistent in patients, some patients have effects of some symptoms while other do not.

Question 17

What are the two alternative models to the dopamine hypothesis model

Answer 17

that instead the prenatal development of hippocampus and/or the amygdala may be a critical event in the overall cause of schizophrenia

some combination of GDE factors would alter the development of the hippocampus and/or amygdala and their the relationships to the rest of the brain

Question 18

What did the rat models display

Answer 18

led by weinberger
that change in structures lead to different symptoms of schizophrenia, specifically in nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex. also hippocampus and amygdala

Question 19

What was done to the rats

Answer 19

newborn rat pups had small lesions in either amygdala or hippocampus, left and grew up, this led to abnormalities in adulthood.

Question 20

What abnormalities occurred in rats after the experiment

Answer 20

enlarged ventricles, increased postsynaptic dopamine receptor action, morphological changes in prefrontal cortex, and deficits on tasks specific to prefrontal cortex function

Question 21

Summary of rats model

Answer 21

alterations in depamine related behaviour and prefrontal function are a secondary consequence of prenatal alterations (organization changes which alters interactions)

Question 22

What is the connection of genes to schizophrenia

Answer 22

128 gene mutations associated with schizophrenia, changes in D2 receptors and glutamate