Psychotic Disorders

Question 1

What is psychosis?

Answer 1

When an individual experiences a different reality to someone else. The person will not realise they are having a psychotic episode.

Question 2

What is a hallucination?

Answer 2

Perception of an stimulus in the absence of external stimuli. Can be in any of the 5 senses but is most commonly in the form of second or third person auditory hallucinations

Question 3

What is a delusion?

Answer 3

Fixed, firmly held belief that is usually false that cannot be reasoned away and is held despite evidence to the contrary. It is out of keeping with a person’s sociocultural norms.

Question 4

What is a persecutory delusion?

Answer 4

Thought that they are at risk of harm, being threatened, cheated or harrassed

Question 5

What is a grandiose delusion?

Answer 5

Idea that the person is exceptionally powerful, talented or important

Question 6

What is a delusion of reference?

Answer 6

A delusion involving certain objects, people or events having great significance

Question 7

What is a delusion of love (erotomania)?

Answer 7

Delusion that someone of high status is in love with them

Question 8

What is a delusion of misidentification? (Capgras syndrome and Fregoli syndrome)

Answer 8

Capgras syndrome is when a person believes a familiar person has been replaced with an exact double
Fregoli syndrome is when a person believes a stranger is a familiar person

Question 9

What is thought insertion?

Answer 9

The delusion that your thoughts are being implanted in your brain from someone else

Question 10

What is thought withdrawal?

Answer 10

Thoughts are being extracted from one’s head

Question 11

What is thought broadcasting?

Answer 11

Thoughts are being projected into other people’s mind usually without the person’s consent

Question 12

What is a formal thought disorder?

Answer 12

A problem with speech so each sentence doesnt follow on from the next.

Question 13

What is circumstantial speech?

Answer 13

Speech is delayed but does reach a conclusion

Question 14

What is tangential speech?

Answer 14

Speaker never returns to original point

Question 15

What are neologisms?

Answer 15

Use of new words created by the patient

Question 16

What is thought blocking?

Answer 16

Sudden stop to the patient’s flow of speech

Question 17

What is thought preservation?

Answer 17

Repetition of a word or a phrase

Question 18

Describe a disorder of the self

Answer 18

The individual cannot distinguish between themselves and the world

Question 19

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 19

Psychosis disorder which usually presents in young adults and affects their personality over time

Question 20

What are the 1st rank symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 20

Auditory hallucinations (2nd/3rd person auditory)
Thought disorder
Passivity phenomena (bodily sensations controlled by others)
Delusional perceptions

Question 21

Give examples of negative schizophrenia symptoms?

Answer 21

Loss of emotion 
Apathy 
Poverty of thought 
Social isolation 
Poor self care

Question 22

Give examples of positive schizophrenia symptoms?

Answer 22

Delusions
Hallucinations
Thought disorders

Question 23

How long must symptoms be present for a diagnosis of schizophrenia to be made?

Answer 23

1 month

Question 24

What is paranoid schizophrenia?

Answer 24

Presents with persecutory, systematised delusions and auditory hallucinations. It is the most common form of schizophrenia.

Question 25

What is disorganised schizophrenia?

Answer 25

Thought disorder, odd behaviour, fleeting, bizarre delusions and labile or inappropriate mood. It normally has an early onset and a poor prognosis

Question 26

What factors indicate a poor prognosis in schizophrenia?

Answer 26

Family history 
Gradual onset
Low IQ
Premorbid history of social withdrawal 
Lack of obvious precipitant

Question 27

How is schizophrenia managed?

Answer 27

Antipsychotic drugs
Benzodiazepines to sedate
Education of patient and family
Assessment of needs and risks

Question 28

Give 4 risk factors for schizophrenia

Answer 28

Family history 
Obstetric complications 
Advancing paternal age
Life stressors 
Poverty 
Urban upbringing

Question 29

What is schizoaffective disorder?

Answer 29

Episode of low mood and schizophrenia at the same time.