S1. Schizophrenia

Question 1

Schizophrenia

Answer 1

• psychotic disorder, marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions and behaviour
• inability to filter stimuli = enhanced sound/colour perception

Question 2

Schizophrenia Symptoms

Answer 2

• positive: enhance experience; occur in addition to experience (delusions, hallucinations)
• negative: reduce experience; ‘loss’ of experience (speech poverty, avolition)

Question 3

Delusions

Answer 3

• positive
• beliefs, with no basis in reality
• e.g. paranoia (stalked by royal family)
• delusions of grandeur, persecutory delusions, delusional jealousy

Question 4

Hallucinations

Answer 4

• positive
• distorted view/perception of real stimuli; or perceptions of stimuli with no basis in reality
• e.g. auditory hallucinations (voices of deceased)
• caused by excess of dopamine receptors in Broca’s Area

Question 5

Speech Poverty

Answer 5

• negative
• abnormally low speech frequency/quality
• e.g. derailment (dysfunctions of central control; sufferer cannot control associations that are made with new words)

Question 6

Avolition

Answer 6

• negative
• inability to cope with normal pressures/motivations associated with everyday living
• e.g. reduction in interests, desires and goals; reduction in self-initiated, purposeful acts

Question 7

Mental Disorder Classification System Types

Answer 7

• DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual)(Five)
• ICD-10 (International Classification of Disease)(Ten)

Question 8

DSM-V and ICD-10 Classification Differences

Answer 8

• BOTH: require persistence of symptoms for 1 month minimum
• DSM-V: requires 2 or more, of: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, catatonic behaviour
• ICD-10: requires stable, paranoid delusions accompanied by hallucinations

Question 9

Schizophrenia Subtypes

Answer 9

• positive schizophrenia, mixed schizophrenia
• ONLY recognised by ICD-10, not DSM-V

Question 10

Positive Schizophrenia

Answer 10

• symptoms: prominent delusions, hallucinations, and positive formal thought disorders

Question 11

Mixed Schizophrenia

Answer 11

• prominent symptoms either BOTH positive, or BOTH negative, or neither is prominent

Question 12

• Eval: Gender Bias and Schizophrenia

Answer 12

• dispositional traits of women working whilst suffering) may mask distort the severity of symptoms (so they are not severe enough for a diagnosis)
• current system doesn’t account for differences, increasing the likelihood of inaccurate diagnosis

Question 13

• Eval: Cultural Bias and Schizophrenia

Answer 13

• likelihood of diagnosis: African American > Westerners
• due to openness about potential symptoms of schizophrenia
• e.g. hearing voices (considered desirable, ‘increased spirituality and connectedness with ancestors’)
• both classifications would view this as having schizophrenia