schizophrenia - 1.1

Question 1

hallucinations

Answer 1

when we perceive things around us that aren’t actually real

e.g. smelling weird smells

can include all 5 senses

Question 2

delusions

Answer 2

irrational beliefs which are maintained even when there is evidence to contradict

e.g. believing aliens are taking over

Question 3

avolition

Answer 3

when individuals feel a persistent lack of motivation or energy to do everyday things

e.g. lacking energy to tidy room

Question 4

speech poverty

Answer 4

minimal speech

lack of spontaneous, unprompted speech

e.g. barely speaking and giving one word answers

Question 5

positive symptoms

Answer 5

not usually experienced

the addition of an abnormal symptom

Question 6

what type of symptom are hallucinations and delusions?

Answer 6

positive

Question 7

negative symptoms

Answer 7

involve the absence of experiences that people normally have

Question 8

what type of symptom are aviolition and speech poverty?

Answer 8

negative symptoms

Question 9

what do doctors use to diagnose mental disorders?

Answer 9

DSM - 5

Question 10

what needs to occur for a schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 10

patient needs to display at least 2 of the main symptoms for at least 6 months

Question 11

what makes a diagnosis reliable?

Answer 11

if the diagnoses are consistent

e.g. if a doctor sees two patients with the same symptoms and gives them the same diagnosis then the results are reliable

Question 12

what makes a diagnosis valid?

Answer 12

if the doctor doesn’t incorrectly diagnose people who don’t have a particular illness

criteria used to make diagnosis allow us to correctly identify people who have a particular illness

Question 13

inter-rater reliability

Answer 13

when multiple people make the same measurement to see how similar their measurements are

Question 14

what did Beck find?

Answer 14

in 1962 Beck found that schizophrenia diagnoses were 55% similar

in 2005 researchers found that they were 81% similar

shows that a diagnosis of schizophrenia is becoming more reliable over time

Question 15

describe Rosenhan’s study into the validity of schizophrenia diagnoses

Answer 15

8 mentally healthy volunteers who pretended to hear voices (delusions) admitted into hospital

as soon as they were admitted they acted normally

observation study

tested how long it took doctors to declare volunteers were healthy

Question 16

Rosenhan’s findings (validity of schizophrenia diagnoses)

Answer 16

took the doctors 7-52 days to realise the diagnoses were wrong and that the volunteers were healthy

showed that the diagnosis of schizophrenia can lack validity

Question 17

how does culture bias reduce reliability of the diagnosis?

Answer 17

two doctors with different cultural backgrounds might give the same patient a different diagnosis

this reduces the reliability as the diagnosis as the diagnoses aren’t consistent

Question 18

how does culture bias reduce the validity of the diagnosis?

Answer 18

when doctors diagnose schizophrenia they rely on the social norms of their own culture to decide whether a patient’s behaviours match symptoms of schizophrenia

this means they are more likely to diagnose schizophrenia in patients who are from a different culture to the doctors own

this reduces the validity as the diagnoses are inaccurate

Question 19

what do doctors rely on when diagnosing schizophrenia?

Answer 19

the social norms of their own culture to decide whether a patient’s behaviours match symptoms of schizophrenia

Question 20

describe Cochrane’s study to support the effect of culture bias on schizophrenia diagnosis

Answer 20

afro-caribbean people living in britain were being over-diagnosed with schizophrenia due to cultural bias

doctors in Britain were judging the patients using the social norms from their own culture

compared the number of people diagnosed with schizophrenia in the caribbean and in britain

Question 21

Cochrane’s findings and conclusion (culture bias)

Answer 21

overall rate of schizophrenia was similar in the caribbean and in britain

afro-caribbean people were x7 more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia in britain than in the caribbean

Cochrane concluded that this was because of cultural bias by british doctors

Question 22

gender bias

Answer 22

when the differences between men and women are misrepresented

Question 23

alpha bias

Answer 23

over-exaggerating differences in men and women’s behaviour

Question 24

beta bias

Answer 24

ignoring real differences between men and women

Question 25

how can gender bias impact the reliability of schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 25

patients with the same symptoms might receive different diagnoses depending on their gender

reduces the reliability as not consistent

Question 26

how can gender bias impact the validity of schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 26

if criteria used to diagnose schizophrenia under or over exaggerates differences between men and women then they won’t correctly identify schizophrenia in all men and women

reduces the validity as criteria is inaccurate

Question 27

describe Loring and Powell’s study to support the effect of gender bias on schizophrenia diagnoses

Answer 27

gave male and female doctors identical descriptions of a patient’s symptoms

they varied the patient’s gender

Question 28

Loring and Powell’s findings conclusion (gender bias)

Answer 28

when described as female, 20% of doctors diagnosed the patient with schizophrenia

when described as male, 56% doctors diagnosed patient with schizophrenia

suggests that there is alpha bias as differences were over-exaggerated

Question 29

symptom overlap in schizophrenia

Answer 29

the symptoms of schizophrenia considerably overlap with the symptoms of other disorders

Question 30

how does symptom overlap reduce the validity of the diagnosis?

Answer 30

patients might be diagnosed with the wrong disorder

Question 31

how does symptom overlap reduce the reliability of the diagnosis?

Answer 31

different doctors might diagnose a patient with a different disorder

Question 32

describe Ellason and Ross’s study to support the effect of symptom overlap on schizophrenia diagnosis

Answer 32

they researched into the symptom overlaps between dissociative identity disorder patients and schizophrenia

patients with DID displayed more schizophrenic symptoms than patients with schizophrenia

Question 33

comorbidity

Answer 33

if two or more illnesses occur together in the same person

e.g. having depression and OCD

Question 34

how does comorbidity affect the reliability of schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 34

if a patient has a comorbid illness, doctors are more likely to ignore some of the symptoms, therefore different doctors may give the same patient different diagnoses

this reduces the reliability

Question 35

how does comorbidity reduce the validity of schizophrenia diagnosis?

Answer 35

if two illnesses are often comorbid, this suggests that the criteria for diagnosing the two illnesses might be incorrect - they might not actually be separate conditions

this reduces the validity

Question 36

describe Buckley’s research to support the effect of comorbidity on schizophrenia

Answer 36

wanted to find out how many patients with schizophrenia also had other comorbid illnesses

50% of schizophrenic patients in same also diagnosed with depression

47% of patients also diagnosed with addiction to drugs or alcohol

23% of patients also diagnosed with OCD

Question 37

Buckley’s findings and conclusion (comorbidity)

Answer 37

very high proportion of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia had a second comorbid illness

they way doctors have catergorised mental disorders might not be as accurate

depression and schizophrenia might not be separate

therefore criteria used might lack validity

Question 38

effects of symptom overlap on schizophrenia diagnosis

Answer 38

this could reduce reliability because different doctors might look at the same symptoms and give a different diagnosis

also reduces validity because the criteria used to diagnose schizophrenia don’t enable doctors to correctly distinguish between schizophrenia and DID