Psychosis & Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are 3 disorders in which there is problem with dopaminergic pathway?
- schizophrenia,
- bipolar disorder,
- schizoaffective disorder
What characterises psychosis?
Loss of ability to distinguish between subjective experience and objective reality,
Loss of insight
WHat are 7 symptoms of psychosis?
- hallucinations
- ideas of reference
- delusions
- formal thought disorder
- thought interference
- passivity phenomena
- loss of insight
What is a perception that occurs in the absence of an external stimulus, feels real & is not subject to conscious manipulation?
Hallucinations
What are ideas of reference?
Finding meaning or hidden messages in everything e.g. newspaper, tv
What is the meaning of paranoia in psychiatry? What term is this often confused with?
The sense that external events are related to oneself in some way
Often confused with persecutors ideas e.g. people are coming to get them
What is a delusion?
A fixed, false held belief held with unshakeable conviction & don’t accept logic, more about reason they believe it as opposed to the belief itself
What is the difference between primary and secondary delusions?
Primary arrives fully formed without need for explanation
Secondary are often attempts to explain other psychotic experiences such as hallucinations, passivity phenomena or thought insertion
What are these themes all types of?
Paranoid, persecutory, grandiose, religious, misidentification, guilt, sin, poverty, erotomanic (public figure is in love with you), jealousy, of reference
Delusions
List 6 disorders of thought.
- clanging and punning
- loosening of associations
- knight’s move thinking
- neologisms
- verbigeration/word salad
- circumferentiality/tangentiality
List 4 thought interferences.
Thought insertion
Thought withdrawal
Thought broadcasting
Thought blocking
Describe 3 types of passivity problems.
- passivity of volition: made actions,
- passivity of affect: made feelings,
- passivity of impulse: made urges
What is loss of insight?
Reality testing is faulty - i.e. you can’t tell that anything’s wrong but everyone is telling you so. Normally our brains reality test all the time & filter the world through senses and construct a reality
What is the characteristic symptom of schizophrenia?
3rd person auditory hallucinations
Self-referential delusions are specific to acute psychosis. True/false?
False - not specific to any particular diagnosis
Define delirium
Acute, transient disturbance from the person’s normal cognitive function caused by insult to brain e.g. infection, medical/surgical patients, hypoglycaemia, encephalitis, stroke, SOL, drugs
List some of the drugs that can cause delirium with drug intoxication and list a drug that can cause delirium when it is withdrawn.
Drug intoxication: Steroids, digoxin, diuretics, anticholinergics
Drug withdrawal: benzodiazepines
What are the hallmarks of delirium?
Clouding of consciousness (drowsiness - unresponsive, disorientation, worse at night) Impaired concentration/memory Visual hallucinations Persecutory delusions Psychomotor disturbance Agitation
Drug—induced psychosis is not the same as drug intoxication or withdrawal effects. True/false?
True - drug induced psychosis is more long lasting and has bigger effect on brain
PAtients with depressive psychosis present with what kind of delusions and hallucinations and what is the most extreme symptom?
Delusions and hallucinations will be depressive e.g. delusions of worthlessness, hallucinations of accusing/threatening voices typically 2nd person
Most extreme delusion - Cottard’s syndrome where patient believes they are already dead and body needs to keep up