Schizophrenia Flashcards
Schizophrenia
A psychosis - losing touch with/having a distortion of reality
What’s the incidence rate of sz across the world?
1:100 or 1%, and Fischer & Buchanan (2017) found that the ratio of men diagnosed with sz to women diagnosed with sz is 1.4:1
Positive Symptoms
Behavioural excesses that are rare in normal everyday life (e.g. hallucinations, delusions, disorganised behaviours/speech), generally respond well to drug treatment
Negative Symptoms
Behavioural deficits (the loss of behaviours that non-sz exhibit), can cause long-term consequences and are harder to treat as they’re less responsive to drug treatment
Hallucinations
A sense of perception not caused by an external stimulus: auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, gustatory
Delusions
A false belief that is experienced without any evidence to support it - is usually very absurd & can’t be overcome by reason (e.g. persecution, grandeur)
Delusions of persecution
False belief that others are plotting against/trying to harm them
Delusions of grandeur
False belief that one has a power or is a famous person
Disorganised speech and/or thoughts
Problems with the organisation of speech and ideas, linked to ‘thought disturbances’ where an individual may appear incoherent
Disorganised behaviour
Unpredictable behaviour, either overly excited (catatonic excitement) or immobility (catatonic stuport)
Avolition
General loss of energy resulting in: lack of goal-motivated behaviour, inability to make decisions, reduced motivation, poor hygiene, social withdrawl
Speech poverty
Excessively brief replies with minimal elaboration, often with delayed responses
Flat affect
Absense of emotion and appearing lifeless, including staring vacantly and not making eye contact & speak in a flat tone
Whats are the 2 main classification systems used to diagnose mental illness?
DSM-5 & ICD-11
DSM-5 classification of sz
- Have to have at least 2 of: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, disorganised behaviour & negative symptoms - one of which must be delusions, hallucinations or disorganised speech
- The level of functioning in everyday life has decreased significantly
- Continuous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months, which must include 1 month of symptoms
- Other disorders and substance abuse must be rules out
Test-Retest Reliability
Where the same clinician makes the same diagnosis on separate occasions based on the same info
Inter-Rater Reliability
Where different clinicians make the same diagnosis on the same patient
Reliability - Osario et al. (2019)
Used the DSM-5 to assess the reliability of the diagnosis of sz in 180 pps, pairs of interviewers achieved inter-rater reliability of +0.97, and test-retest reliability of +0.92, suggesting reliability of the diagnosis is very high.
Validity
The accuracy of the diagnosis
Reliability (according to validity)
A valid diagnosis must be first reliable to be valid, but this doesn’t always guarrantee validity.
Descriptive Validity
To be valid, symptoms of sz patients should be different than the symptoms of those with other disorders
Criterion Validity
To be valid, different assessment systems (e.g. DSM-5 & ICD-10) must reach the same diagnosis for the same patient
Validity - Cheniaux et al. (2009)
Had 2 psychologists assess the same 100 patients using the ICD-10 & DSM-IV. Using the ICD-10, 68 pp were diagnosed, while with the DSM-IV, only 39 were diagnosed
Co-morbidity
Refers to the presence of one or more additional disorders occurring simultaneously with schizophrenia
Co-morbidity - Reliability
The more co-morbid disorders an individual is diagnosed with, the less valid/reliable those diagnoses are
Co-morbidity - Validity
Patients may be diagnosed with the wrong disorder and receive incorrect treatment where degeneration can occur.
Co-morbidity - Buckley et al. (2009)
Reported that:
50% of sz had co-morbid depression,
47% had co-morbid substance abuse,
29% had co-morbid PTSD,
23% had co-morbid OCD,
15% had co-morbid panic disorder
Culture Bias
Tendency to over/under diagnose schizophrenia in certain cultural/ethnic groups
Culture Bias - Reliability
The same practitioner may diagnose 2 individuals with the same symptoms differently based on their cultural background
Culture Bias - Validity
Some individuals may be diagnosed incorrectly based on their cultural background rather than their symptoms
Culture Bias - Cochrane (1977)
Found that the incidence of sz in the West Indies and Britain is similar (~1%) but that people of Afro-Caribbean origin were 7x more likely to be diagnosed with sz when living in Britain. INVALID diagnoses of sz were made due to cultural bias due to ethnic stereotypes
Cultural Bias - Copeland et al. (1971)
Gave a description of the patient to 134 US & 194 British psychiatrists.
69% of US were diagnosed
BUT only 2% of British were diagnosed
Cultural Bias - Occurence
Escobar (2012) suggests that (overwhelmingly white) psychiatrists may tend to over-interpret symptoms and distrust the honesty of black people during diagnosis