psychosis + schitzophrenia Flashcards
what is psychosis?
Psychosis refers to a group of symptoms that impairs perception of reality
-hallucinations
-disorganised thought
-delusion
what is a hallucination?
-a perception which occurs in the absence of an external stimulus
-has the same qualities as a normal perception
-is not subject to conscious manipulation
-can occur in any sensory modality
what is passivity phenomena?
-phenomena where they think someone is controlling what they do, their emotions or thoughts
-they made me think/ do/ feel this
what is thought interference?
-thought interference refers to thought broadcasting, insertion, blocking or withdrawal
Thought insertion - “There are thoughts being put into my head that don’t belong to me - I haven’t thought them.”
Thought withdrawal - “They can extract the information from me using the internet, they take my thoughts out of my head”
Thought broadcasting - “It’s like everyone can know what I am thinking - my sky dish is beaming what I am thinking to the neighbours, they all know!”
Thought blocking - “It’s like I get halfway through thinking something and the thoughts just dry up, and I can’t think anything for a while.”
what is loss of insight?
you can think you’re fine and everything is normal, don’t realise that you are ill
what are delusions?
A firm fixed belief based on inadequate grounds
presentation of hebephrenic schitzophrenia?
-affective symptoms are prominent delusions and hallucinations, feeling and fragmentary, behaviour irresponsible and unpredictable, and mannerisms common
-The mood is shallow and inappropriate, thought is disorganised, and speech is incoherent
-Early negative symptoms
-a lot of disorderd speech/thought
what are examples of negative symptoms?
- Reduced amount of speech
- Reduced motivation/drive
- Reduced interest/ pleasure
- Reduced social interactions
- Blunting of affect
when are negative symptoms typically seen?
during the predromal phase
what are examples of positive symptoms?
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Passivity Phenomena
- Disorder of the form of thought
what is the dopamine theory regarding psychosis?
Dopamine dysregulation causes psychosis
Dopamine regulates salience of external events and internal representations
Dopamine theory- what causes positive schitzophrenia symptoms?
subcortical dopamine hyperactivity
(mesolimbic pathway VTa> Nucleus accumbens)
dopamine theory- what causes negative schitzophrenia symptoms?
frontal dopamine hypoactivity
(mesocortical pathway VTA> frontal cortex)
risks for developing schitzophrenia?
it has a polygenetic inheritence
RISKS:
-Viral illness in 2nd trimester in utero
-Long term cannabis use
-FH
what can make schitzophrenia worse?
amphetamines
