PSYCHIATRY Flashcards
What is schizophrenia?
“Fragmentation of the mind”
More common in makes than females
- tends to occur in males 20-28 and females 26-32
What is the ICD10 classification of schizophrenia?
- FUNDAMENTAL AND CHARCTERISTIC distortions of thinking and perception affects that are inappropriate or blunted.
- Clear consciousness and intellectual capacity are usually maintained
- Can also be present with symptoms of affect- schizoaffective disorder
- Must be present for at least 2 weeks
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
- HALLUCINATIONS (esp auditory)
- DELUSIONS
- THOUGHT DISORDER
- FOCUS OF DRUG TREATMENT
- GOOD PROGNOSIS
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
- AVOLITION: lack of motivation
- ANHYDONIA: unable to experience pleasure
- ALOGIA: poverty of speech
- ASOCIALTY: lack of desire for relationships
- Affect BLUNT
- LESS RESPONSIVE
What are the Schneider’s First Rank Symptoms?
- 3rd person auditory hallucinations discussing the patient
- Thought: echo, insertion, withdrawn, broadcast
- Passivity
- Delusional perception
- Somatic (experiences of bodily influence)
- Experiences imposed upon the patient or influenced by others (acts, impulses, affects)
What are the subtypes of schizophrenia?
1) PARANOID
2) HEBEPHRENIC/DISORGANISED
3) CATATONIC
4) RESIDUAL
5) SIMPLE
6) UNDIFFERENTIATED
7) CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIA
What are the prominent symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia?
- Delusions
- Auditory hallucinations
What are the prominent symptoms of hebephrenic/disorganised schizophrenia?
- Disorganised speech or behavior
- Flat or inappropriate affect
What are the prominent symptoms of catatonic schizophrenia?
- Catalepsy or stupor
- excessive motor activity
- extreme negativity or mutism
- automatic obedience
- Dream state with vivid scenic hallucinations
- Violent excitement
- Posturing or stereotypy mannerisms, grimacing
- Echolalia or echopraxia
What are the prominent symptoms of residual schizophrenia?
- Previous full blown acute episode in the past
- Currently negative symptoms or attenuated forms of more generic symptoms
What are the symptoms of simple schizophrenia?
- insidious development of negative symptoms in the absence of positive symptoms
- gradual deterioration of personality with increased emotional bluntness
- Decline in total performance
What are the symptoms of undifferentiated schizophrenia?
- generic symptoms not conforming to one subtype
What are the symptoms of chronic schizophrenia?
- Persistent disability for 2 years or longer
What are the environmental causes and risk factors for schizophrenia?
- Winter births
- Viral infections
- Association with other CNS pathologies
- Neurosyphilis
- Encephalitis
- Temporal lobe epilepsy
What are the social causes and risk factors for schizophrenia?
- Social exclusion
- economic adversity
- childhood trauma/ abuse
- migration
- urban environment
- negative attitudes
- high expressed emotion
What are the toxic causes and risk factors of schizophrenia?
- Cannabis
- Amphetamines
What are the perinatal causes and risk factors for schizophrenia?
- Hypoxia
- Maternal stress
What is the pathogenesis of schizophrenia involving dopamine?
- ANTIPSYCHOTICS act at DA receptors
- increased MESOLIMBIC activity= POSITIVE symptoms
- decreased MESOLIMBIC activity = NEGATIVE symptoms
- Amphetamines act here and MIMIC PSYCHOSIS
What is the pathogenesis of schizophrenia involving 5-HT (serotonin)?
- LSD acts here and causes hallucinations
- Clozapine binds to 5-HT2a
What is the pathogenesis of schizophrenia involving glutamate?
- Phenycyclidine causes psychosis (via NMDA receptors)
- Reduced glutamate activity = negative symptoms
What other neurotransmitters are possibly involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia?
- Acetyl choline
- GABA
What is the medical management for schizophrenia?
SHORT TERM:
- Antipsychotics
LONG TERM:
- Antipsychotic
- Antidepressant
- Lithium
What is the psycho-social management for schizophrenia?
SHORT TERM
- education
- CBT
- family interventions
LONG TERM
- CBT
- supported employment
- family interventions
- reduce expressed emotion
- replies signature
- art therapy for negative symptoms
What investigations should be done before starting antipsychotics?
- General examination
- Bloods: FBC, U+Es, LFT, RBS, HbA1c, Prolactin, lipids, cholesterol
- ECG: prolonged QT/arrhythmias
What is generally best practice when starting antipsychotic medications?
1) START with 2nd gen antipsychotics (SGA), but change if poor response/ SEs.
- Continue for 1-2 years
- Reduce slowly and monitor
What are the three dopamine pathways affected within schizophrenia?
1) MESOCORTICAL/MESOLIMBIC (related to behaviour
2) NIGRO-STRIATAL- coordination of voluntary movements
3) TUBERO-INFUNDIBULAR- prolactin secretion
What are the additional effects of anti-cholinergic drugs?
CAN’T SPIT CAN’T PEE, CAN’T POOP CAN’T SEE
- dry mouth
- blurred vision
- constipation
- urinary retention
What are the additional effects of anti-adrenergic drugs?
- postural hypotension
- sexual dysfunction
What are the additional effects of anti-histamine drugs?
- sedation
- anti-emetic
When should CLOZAPINE be offered?
- To those who have NOT responded to 2 different anti-psychotic drugs, one of which is 2nd gen.
What are the side effects of CLOZAPINE?
- agranulocytosis
- myocarditis
- weight gain
- salivation
- seizures
- sedation
What is the Depot in relation to schizophrenia?
- IM slow release of antipsychotic preparation
- Good to use if poor compliance with tablets
- RISPERIDONE
- PALIPERIDONE
- OLANZEPINE
- given every 2-4 weeks
What are delusional disorders in general?
- Patients present with delusions but with NO accompanying prominent hallucinations, thought disorder, mood disorder or significat flattening of affect
What are non-bizarre delusions?
- Fixed false beliefs that involve situations that COULD potentially occur in real life, such as being harmed or poisoned.
What excludes a diagnosis of delusional disorder?
- Clear and persistent auditory hallucinations
- Delusions of control
- Marked blunting of affect (no emotional expression)
- Brain disease
- Due to a drug
- Previous diagnosis of schizophrenia
What are the different types of delusional disorder?
1) De Clerambault’s syndrome
2) Othello syndrome
3) Capgras syndrome
4) Fregoli’s syndrome
5) Cotards syndrome
6) Folie a deux
7) Ekboms syndrome
What are the features of De Clerambault’s syndrome?
- ERTOMANIA= delusional belief someone is in love with them
- secret signs/ communication
What are the features of Othello syndrome?
- Morbid jealousy
- Delusional belief that partner having affair
- Associated with alcohol dependence/ sexual dysfunction
- Risk of stalking and violence
What are the features of Capgras syndrome?
- Delusional misidentification
- Relative or friend replaced by IMPOSTER
- F>M
What are the features of Fregoli’s syndrome?
- Different people are a single person
- Often believe they are being persecuted by that person
What are the features of Cotard’s syndrome?
- Delusion of being dead, dying, nonexistent, rotting, lost parts of body/organs
- Associated with depression
What are the features of Folie a deux?
- induced by delusional disorder
- Psychosis shared by two people
What are the features of Ekboms syndrome?
- Delusional parasitosis (infestation)
- Associated with formication (insects crawling on skin)
- Risk of self harm trying to get rid of parasites
- House or home infested: delusional cleptoparasitosis
What are the various risk factors of depression?
BIO: family history, gender, physical health
PSYCH: personality, lack of confidant, low self esteem
SOCIAL: cumulative childhood disadvantage, separation/ divorce, adverse life events, unemployment, poor social support
What are the core clinical symptoms of depression?
1) LOW MOOD: diurnal variation
2) ANHEDONIA: inability to derive pleasure
3) REDUCED ENERGY
- for at least 2 weeks
- not secondary to the substance misuse, bereavement or illness
What additional symptoms associated with depression?
- Weight change
- Appetite change
- Loss of concentration
- Sleep disturbance- early morning wakening
- Guilt
- Worthlessness
- Suicidal thoughts
- Loss of libido
- Irritability/restlessness
What are the ICD10 classifications of severity for depression?
- MILD: 2 core + 2 other
- MODERATE: 2 core + 3 other
- SEVERE: 3 core + 4 other
What are the treatment management options for depression?
- ANTIDEPRESSANTS
- ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY
- COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY
- INTERPERSONAL THERAPIES
- SOCIAL MANAGEMENT
What are the 3 broad categories of antidepressants?
1) MONOAMINE REUPTAKE INHIBITORS (most common)
2) RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS
3) MONOAMINE OXIDASE INHIBITORS
What are examples of monoamine reuptake inhibitors?
- TRICYCLICS: amitriptyline, lofepramine
- SSRIs: fluoxetine, citalopram (1st line)
- NARIs: Reboxetine
- SNRIs: venlafaxine
- NaSSa: Mirtazepine
What are the side effects of SSRIs:
- agitation
- GI: nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, contipation
- SEXUAL: libido/ erectile dysfunction
- ANTICHOLINERGIC: dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision, sweatiness, headaches
- suicidal ideas
What are the side effects of antidepressants:
- SSRI specific (see card
- Suicidal ideas
- Serotonin syndrome (restlessness, fever, tremor, myoclonus, confusion, fits, arrhythmias)
- Hyponatraemia
- Priapism
What should be done if there is no response to medication of depression?
- TRY FOR AT LEAST 4-6 WEEKS
- Check compliance
- Mixing with alcohol and drugs?
- Switch or augment therapy
- NEVER STOP SUDDENLY
- Try lithium
What combinations are contraindicated in depression management?
TCA+ SSRI
When and how can ECT be used in management of depression?
- for severe, life threatening or treatment resistant depression
- 12 sessions in total- twice per week
What are the side effects of ECT?
- headache
- nausea
- muscle pain
When is psychological therapy offered as a mode of treatment in depression?
for MILD to MODERATE disease
What is low intensity psychological intervention?
- Advice: sleep hygiene and exercise
- CBT self help: books, computer packages, apps etc
What should be given if there is no response to low intensity intervention?
- High intensity psychological intervention or antidepressant medication
What is the cognitive triad according to Beck?
NEGATIVE VIEW OF:
- SELF
- WORLD
- FUTURE
What are the cognitive biases according to Beck?
- Catastrophising
- Jumping to conclusions
- All or nothing/ black-white thinking
- Personalising
- Generalising
What are the 5 main techniques explored in CBT?
1) clarify the problem (when, where, duration, frequency, triggers)
2) Describe patients problem in terms of thought (cognitions), actions (behavior), physical sensations (physiological reactions) and mood
3) Thought diaries
4) Behavioural experiments e.g. does exercise lift my mood?
5) Graded exposure to avoided situations with anxiety management strategies
What are some examples of defence mechanisms?
- Denial
- Projection
- Dissociation (detach from specific function)
- Somatisation (move psychic pain into bodily function)
- Regression
- Repression
- Displacement (transfer emotions to a more acceptable object)
- Humour
- Altruism
When are interpersonal therapies (IPT) offered in depression?
For MODERATE to SEVERE disease
What is the focus of IPT?
- conflicts
- life changes
- grief and loss
- relationship problems
What is psychodynamic therapy?
Focus on past conflicts contributing to current difficulties- “insight orientated”
What are the areas to address in social management of depression?
- ADLs
- Living situation
- Isolation
- Support at hone
- Working? Problems at work?
- Carers
- Finances
When should secondary care referral be made for depression?
- Significant risk of self-harm, danger to others, psychotic symptoms or severe agitation
- Significant depression with functional impairment persists despite adequate treatment
- When additional comment support is required
- Indication for specialist psychological treatment
Summary of management for depression:
1) PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES for mild-moderate
2) ANTIDEPRESSANTS for moderate to severe
3) Antidepressants have efficacy but not in drug/alcohol misuse
4) Antidepressants are NOT effective for adjustment disorder/ stress response syndrome
5) VENLAFAXINE has best efficacy in severe depression
6) SSRIs should be first line
7) CITALOPRAM is good choice if hepatic/ renal impairment
8) FLUOXETINE should be considered if poor compliance
What is bipolar affective disorder?
- 2 OR MORE EPISODES in which the patient’s mood and activity levels are significantly disturbed
1) elevation of mood and increased energy and activity (MANIA)
2) lowering of mood and decreased energy and activity (DEPRESSION)
How is mania classified?
ELEVATED/EXPANSIVE/ IRRITABLE MOOD for at least 1 week, unless unwell enough for hospital admission
ADDITIONAL, at least 3:
- increased activity/ physical restlessness
- increased talkativeness
- flight of ideas/ racing thoughts
- loss of social inhibitions resulting in inappropriate behavior
- reduced need for sleep
- inflate self-esteem or grandiosity
- distractibility/ flitting from one activity to another
- reckless or foolish behaviour without insight
- marked raised libido/ indiscretions
What is hypomania?
lesser state, existing for at least 4 days, where symptoms affect activities of daily living
What is the management for acute bipolar disorder?
- BENZODIAZEPINES e.g. lorazepam
- ANTIPSYCHOTICS e.g. quetiapine, asenapine
What is the long term management for bipolar disorder?
MOOD STABILISERS
- Lithium
- Valproate
- Carbamazepine
- Lamotrigine
What are the indications for lithium?
- MANIA: treatment and prophylaxis
- Bipolar Affective Disorder
- Recurrent depression
- Aggressive or sel-mutilating behavior
What baseline investigations should be done before administering lithium?
- Physical and weight
- U+Es
- renal function
- TFTs
- Ca2+
- ECG
- Pregnancy test, as it is teratogenic
What are the early side effects of lithium?
- Dry mouth
- Metallic taste
- Nausea
- Fine tremor
- Fatigue
- Polyuria
- Polydipsia
What are the late side effects of lithium?
- Diabetes insipidus
- Hypothyroidism
- Arrhythmias
- Ataxia
- Dysarthria
- Weight gain
What are the causes of lithium toxicity?
- Drugs
- NSAID
- diuretics
- renal failure
- UTI
- dehydration
What is the management for lithium toxicity?
- STOP LITHIUM
- give fluids
- start diuresis/ dialysis
What is anxiety?
An emotion accompanied by physiological changes that prepare the body to ‘fight or flight’
Only problematic when it starts to interfere with our daily life
What are panic attacks?
- An abrupt discrete episode of intense fear or discomfort
- Reaches a maximum within a few minutes
- At least 4 specific symptoms of anxiety
What are the autonomic symptoms associated with anxiety?
- Palpitations/ increased HR
- sweating
- trembling
- dry mouth
What are the chest and abdomen symptoms associated with anxiety?
- difficulty breathing/ feeling of choking/ chest pain
- nausea/ abdominal distress
What are the mental state symptoms associated with anxiety?
- feeling dizzy/ faint
- derealisation- feeling that objects are not real
- depersonalisation- feeling that people are not real
- fear of losing control/ going crazy/ passing out/ dying
What are the general symptoms associated with anxiety?
- hot flushes/ cold chills
- numbness/ tingling
What is generalized anxiety disorder?
A period of at least 6 months with prominent tension, worry and feelings of apprehension about everyday events and problems.
What are the symptoms associated with generalised anxiety disorder?
- worry, nervousness, poor concentration, irritability
- hyper-vigilance, restlessness, increased startle response
- muscle tension
- headaches
- trembling
- sweating, sleep disturbance, derealisation, depersonalization
- fears of impending danger, illness, or accidents, negative thoughts, ‘unable to cope’
What are the autonomic symptoms associated with generalised anxiety disorder?
- CVS- palpitations, tightness, pain
- RESP- over breathing, difficulty inhaling
- GI- dry mouth loose stools, epigastric discomfort, butterflies
- GUS- frequent micturition
- NEURO- blurred vision, light headed, dizzy
What is episodic paroxysmal anxiety (panic disorder)?
- Recurrent attacks of severe anxiety and panic attacks, not restricted to any particular situation or set of circumstances
- Unpredictable
- 4 panic attacks in 4 weeks, which lasts up to 10 minutes with a sudden onset
What is phobic anxiety disorder?
1) Anxiety symptoms restricted to specific situation or objects
2) Fear out of proportion to the situation
3) Fear cannot be reasoned or explained away
4) Anticipatory anxiety
5) Avoidance behaviour
What are the features of agoraphobia?
- F>M
- 20-35
- Fear of space and crowds
- difficulty travelling
- feeling of being trapped
- better if with company
- increased risk with panic attacks
What are the features of social phobia?
- F>M
- Adolescence
- Fear of interaction in social situations
- being scrutinized
- worse if few people
What are the features of specific phobias?
- F-M
- childhood
- animals
- flying
- dentists etc
What is the psychological management for generalised anxiety panic disorder?
- Self help
- CBT
- Applied relaxation
What is the psychological management for phobias?
- psycho education
- exposure (systematic desensitization)
What is the medical management for generalised anxiety panic disorder?
- SSRIs
- beta blockers for symptoms
- Benzodiazepines avoided apart from short term
What is obsessive compulsive disorder?
- Obsessional thoughts are ideas, images, or impulse that enters the patient’s mind again and again in a stereotyped form.
- The patient often tries, unsuccessfully, to resist them
What are some examples of obsessional thoughts/ rumination?
- fear of acquiring disease
- coming to harm
- causing harm to others
- an indecisive, endless consideration of alternatives, associated with an inability to make trivial but necessary decisions in day to day living
What are features of compulsive acts/rituals?
- Stereotyped behaviors that are repeated again and again
- Activities that are not enjoyable or useful
- Done to prevent some objectively unlikely event involving harm or danger
- Recognised by the patient as symbolic, pointless or ineffectual
- Anxiety is present
What are the psychotherapy treatments of OCD?
- CBT
- Exposure and response prevention
- Repeated graded exposure to anxiety provoking stimuli
What are the drug treatments for OCD?
- SSRI (fluoxetine, sertraline)
- TCA (clomipramine)
- Combined psychotherapy and drug treatment generally better than each alone)
What are additional treatments for OCD?
- Referral to National Service for Refractory OCD
- ECT/ psychotherapy
What is an acute stress reaction?
- Transient disorder that develops is an individual without any apparent mental disorder in response to exceptional stress
- Symptoms usually appear within minutes of the impact of the stressful stimulus
What are the symptoms of acute stress reaction?
- being in a daze
- disorientation
- panic
- annesia
What is post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
- Delayed or protracted response to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature, which is likely to cause pervasive distress in almost anyone.
What are the features of PTSD?
- Re-experiencing symptoms e.g. flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive memories
- avoidance of activities and situations associated with trauma
- Hyperarousal/anxiety with hyper vigilance and increased startle reaction
- Numbness, emotional blunting, detachment from others
- associated depression and suicidal ideation
- onset follows the trauma with a latency period of 1-6 months
- The course is fluctuating but prognosis is good
What are the predisposing factors for PTSD?
- personality traits- compulsive
- previous neurotic illness
- genetic (oversensitive amygdala and hippocampus, decreased hippocampal size on MRI)
- scale of trauma
- patients previous experience
- level of social support available
What is the treatment for PTSD?
- CBT
- Repeated graded exposure
- Testimony based techniques
- EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing)
- antidepressant- paroxetine or mirtazepine
What is adjustment disorder?
- adaptation to a significant or stressful life change
What are the symptoms of adjustment disorder?
- depression
- anxiety
- inability to cope
What is the treatment for adjustment disorder?
- supportive psychotherapy
- antidepressants
What is the definition of bereavement?
- Any loss of event
- usually the death of someone
What is the definition of grief?
- feelings
- thoughts
- behaviour associated with bereavement
What are the ‘normal’ reactions associated with bereavement?
- disbelief, shock, numbness, and feelings of unreality
- anger, feelings of guilt, sadness, tearfulness
- preoccupation with the deceased, disturbed sleep and appetite weight loss
- seeing or hearing the voice of the deceased.
- Gradual reduce in intensity, with acceptance of the loss and readjustment
- a typical ‘grief reaction’ lasts up to 12 months but cultural differences exist
What are ‘abnormal’ reactions to bereavement?
- very intense, prolonged, delayed (or absent)
- symptoms outside normal range are seen
- preoccupation with feelings of worthlessness
- thoughts of death
- excessive guilt
- marked slowing of thoughts and movements
- a prolonged period of not being able to function normally, hallucinatory experiences
What are the risk factors for abnormal reactions to bereavement?
- history of depression
- intense grief or depressive symptoms early in the grief reaction
- few social supports
- little experience of death
- ‘traumatic’ or unexpected death
What is the management of abnormal reactions to bereavement?
- Benzodiazepines may be used to reduce severe autonomic arousal or treat problematic sleep disturbance in the short term
- ‘abnormal’ grief: consider antidepressants and counseling
What are dissociative disorders?
Conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity or perception
- it is triggered by psychological trauma, may be preceded only by stress, psychoactive substances, or no identifiable trigger at all
What is conversion disorder?
Patients who present with neurological symptoms, such as numbness, blindness, paralysis or fits which do NOT have organic cause, caused by a psychological trigger
What are somatoform disorders?
- A repeated presentation of physical symptoms
- Persistent requests for medical investigations, in spite of repeated negative findings and reassurances
- If any physical disorders are present, they do not explain the symptoms or distress
What are the symptoms associated with somatisation disorder?
- Multiple, recurrent and frequently changing physical symptoms of at least TWO years duration
- long and complicated history of contact with both primary and specialist medical care services
- symptoms may be referred to any part or system of the body
- chronic and fluctuating- associated with disruption of social, interpersonal and family behaviour
- F>M onset usually <30yrs
What is hypochondriasis?
- A persistent belief of at least 6 months of the presence of a minimum of two serious physical disease
- Persistent preoccupation with a presumed deformity or disfigurement
- Persistent refusal to accept medical advice that there is no adequate physical cause for the symptoms or physical abnormality.
What is dysmorphophobia?
related to hypochondriac disorder. It is excessive preoccupation with imagined or barely noticeable defects in physical appearance.
What is the management for hypochondriasis?
- CBT
- SSRI
What are the three different types of eating disorders?
1) Anorexia nervosa
2) Bullimia nervosa
3) EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified)
What are the features of anorexia nervosa?
- BMI <18.5
- core psychopathology
- amenorrhoea
- 1/200 males, 1/250 females
- there can be bingeing and purging in anorexia too
What are the features of bulimia nervosa?
- BMI >18.5
- core psychopathology
- regular binge/ purge 1x/ week
- 1/500 males, 1/50 females
What are EDNOS?
- eating disorder not otherwise specified
- subclinical disorders
- binge eating disorder
What is the core psychopathology of eating disorders?
- fear of fatness
- pursuit of thinness
- body dissatisfaction
- body image distortion
- self-evaluation based on weight and shape
What is the general psychopathology of eating disorders?
- Depression
- anxiety, social phobia
- suicidal ideation
- OCD symptoms
What are the differentials for eating disorders?
- Depression
- Somatoform disorders
- OCD
- Hypopituitarism
- Addison’s disease
- Thyrotoxicosis
- IBD/ malabsorption
- Diabetes mellitus
- Carcinoma
- TB
What are common behaviors of those with eating disorder?
- dieting, fasting, calorie counting
- excessive exercise
- water loading
- diet pills, thyroxine, diuretics appetite supplements
- excessive weighing
- culinary behaviours
- avoidance and isolation
- bingeing and purging
- starve-binge-purge cycle
- misuse of insulin, laxatives, DSH, drugs
What are the effects of starvation on the CVS?
- bradycardia
- hypotension
- sudden death