Psychosis Flashcards
Define psychosis?
- broadly defined as a loss of contact with reality
Why are psychotic states high risk periods?
pt is experiencing: agitation aggression impulsivity (suicide) other forms of behavioral dysfxn
Clinical manifestations of psychosis - delusions?
- strongly held false beliefs that are not part of the pt’s cultural or religious backgrounds
- they may be bizarre or non-bizzare
- types:
persecurtory
grandiose
erotomanic
somatic
delusions of reference
delusions of control
clinical manifestations of psychosis - hallucinations?
- wakeful experiences of content that isn’t actually present
- any of the 5 senses
- auditory most common
- followed by visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory
clinical manifestations of psychosis - thought disorganization (speech)?
- alogia/poverty of content
- thought blocking - suddenly losing train of thought
- loosening of assoc - sequences not well connected
- tangentiality: answers to questions veering off topic
- clanging or clang association: using rhyming words
- word salad - real words linked incoherently
- perseravation - repeating words or ideas even when topic is changed
Psychotic disorders - differential?
- schizophrenia
- bipolar disorder with psychotic features
- major depression w/ psychotic features (at same time)
- schizoaffective disorder (depression or bipolar at diff time then psychosis)
- schizophreniform disorder (not long enough to be called schizophrenia)
- brief psychotic disorder
- substance induced psychotic disorder
- delusional disorder
- psychosis secondary to a medical condition
Work up of psychosis?
- thorough mental status exam - note grooming, mannerisms, reactions
- PE
- labs:
CBC
CMP
RPR/VDRL
TSH
HIV
UA
urine drug screen
more as indicated by hx
How do you dx schizophrenia?
- dx is based entirely on psychiatric hx and mental status exam
- there is no lab test for schizophrenia
epidemiology of schizophrenia?
- lifetime prevalence is 1%
- found in all societies and geographical areas
- equally prevalent in men and women
- over 50% male pts first admitted to psych hopstial b/f 25
- only 1/3 of female schizophrenic pts admitted b/f 25
- peak ages of onsets:
men - 12-25
women - 25-35 - women get it later in life than men and men tend to have worse outcome
- onset b/f 10 and after 60 extremely rare
Why is it so hard for the patient with schizophrenia?
- for most it is highly disabling
- generally persists throughout a pts life
- pts and their families often suffer from poor care and social ostracism
- only about half of all pts with schizophrenia obtain tx, in spite of the severity of the disorder
How does genetics play a role in schizophrenia?
prevalence of having schizophrenia:
- child with one affected parent - 12%
- 2 affected parents - 40%
- monozygotic twin - 47%
DSM-5 of schizophrenia?
2 or more of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1 month period (or less if successfully tx):
- delusions
- hallucinations
- disorg. sppech (frequent derailment, incoherence)
- grossly disorganized or cataonic behavior
- negative sxs (affective flattening or poverty of speech)
only one of these criterion are necessary if:
- delusions are bizzare
- hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up running commetery, or 2 or more voices conversing
theses are all considered active phase sxs
more keys to dx:
- social or occupational dysfxn
- continuous signs of disturbance persisting for at least 6 months and w/in this at least 1 month of active phase sxs
Positive sxs of schizophrenia?
- dellusions
- hallucinations
Negative sxs of schizophrenia?
- affective flattening
- poverty of speech (alogia)
- blocking
- poor grooming
- lack of motivation
- anhedonia
- social withdrawal
diff b/t positive and negative sxs of schizophrenia?
- pts that predominantly have postive sxs have a relatively good response to tx
- pts that have negative sxs have poor responses to tx
What is paranoid subtype of schizophrenia?
- preoccupation with one or more delusions or frequent auditory hallucinations
- no disorganized speech, disorganized speech, disorganized or catonic behavior, or flat or inappropriate affect
What is the disorganized subtype of schizophrenia?
- disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, flat or inappropriate affect
What is the catatonic subtype of schizophrenia?
- motoric immobility
- excessive purposeless motor activity
- extreme negativism or mutism
- pecularities of voluntaray movement (bizarre posturing, stereotyped movements)
- echolalia or echopraxia: mimic what you say or do
Components of mental status examination? description, mood, feelings, affect, perception?
-General description: ranges from completely disheveled, screaming, and agitated to obsessively groomed, completely silent and immobile.
behavior: may be talkative and exhibit weird postures, may become agitated or violent in an unprovoked manner or in response to hallucinations, may be in catatonic stupor, tics, echopraxia
-mood, feelings, affect: reduced emotional responsiveness to overly active and inappropriate emotions such as extremes of rage, happiness, and anxiety
- perception: all 5 senses may be affected by hallucinatory experiences (MC: auditory and visual).
Illusions: diff from hallucinations in that illusions are distortions of real images
MSE: thought components?
- most difficult sxs to understand
- likely the CORE sxs of schizophrenia:
*thought content:
what is the person thinking (ideas, beliefs, and interpretations of stimuli)
delusion (4 components):
false belief
based on incorrect inference about external reality.
not consistent with pt’s intelligence and cultural background.
can’t be corrected by reasoning
*thought form and process: how is person thinking what they're thinking? flight of ideas thought blocking incoherence poverty of content poor abstraction abilities verbigeration tangentiality circumstantiality derailment neologisms
MSE: sensorium and cognition?
- usually oriented to person, time and place (lack of such orientation should prompt clinicians to investigate the possibility of medical or neuro brain disorder)
- memory usually intact (may be difficult however to get pt to attend closely enough to the memory tests for adequate assessment)
- classically described as having poor insight into the nature and severity of the disorder - pt doesn’t understand that they are sick (fully believe in delusions)
MSE - impulsiveness?
- may be agitated and have little impulse control when ill
- along with this - may have decreased social sensitivity - may throw food on floor, grab other person’s belongings