Psychosis & Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are normal psychotic experiences?
- Transient hallucinations
- Loosening of associations
- Illogical thinking (decrease after age 7)
Common causes of psychosis
Anxiety and depression.
Epidemiology of schizophrenia
Peak incidence is 1%
4 As of schizophrenia
1) Affective blunting
2) Loosening of Associations
3) Autism
4) Ambivalence
5) Avolition
6) Alogia
7) Anhedonia
8) Asociality
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
active expression of psychosis
- paranoid delusions
- thought withdrawal, insertion, broadcasting
- ideas of reference
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
absence of things
- poverty of speech
- poverty of thought
- absence of pleasure
Good Prognostic Indicators of schizophrenia
- acute, older age of onset
- short duration
- steady work history
- lack of prior psychiatric history
- marriage
- females
Differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Bipolar Disorder
- Autism
- Anxiety Disorders
- Head Trauma
- Dementia
Gray Matter Loss in schizophrenia
MRI scans reveal that schizophrenics have abnormally enlarged ventricles and a smaller brain volume. Fluid filled cavities engulfs the brain from back to front, causes a loss of up to 5% of cortical gray matter a year (typically people lose only 1%). This loss of tissue corresponds directly to clinical impairments starting with visuospatial and associative thinking and ending with sensorimotor).
Neuroimaging in schizophrenia
MRI scans also reveal reduced amygdala and hippocampal volume. As well as reduced prefrontal cortex activity.
Define Schizoaffective Disorder.
Uninterrupted period of illnesses where depression (or major mood symptoms) is present for the majority of the time and mania presents itself during the remaining time.
Define Schizophrenia.
Continuous signs of disturbance by delusions, disorganized speech, or catatonic behavior. Depression and psychosis happen continuously.
