schizophrenia Flashcards
classification of sz
CD-10 and DSM-V cluster symptoms together to identify disorders and distinguish them from each other
positive symptoms
hallucinations- unreal or distorted sensory experiences (auditory or visual)
delusions- beliefs with no basis in reality
negative symptoms
avolition- loss of or severely reduced motivation that leads to low activity levels
speech poverty- reduced frequency or quality of speech, is often disorganised
symptoms of sz strengths
reliability- for diagnosis is .97 for inter rater and .92 for test retest- shows that it is consistently applied
symptoms of sz limitations
- low validity- either under or over diagnosed
-co-morbidity- it is commonly diagnosed with other conditions such as bipolar disorder
-gender bias- men are diagnosed more than women as women are better functioning
family studies
people with sz will likely have relatives with the disorder- MZ twins have concordance ates of 48%, DZ twins of 17% and the general population have a 1% rate
candidate genes
individual genes that may be associated with increased risk of sz e.g. genes coding for functioning of neurotransmitters including dopamine
mutations
parental DNA may mutate because of radiation, viruses etc- explains sz with no family history
original dopamine hypothesis
high levels of dopamine (hyperdopaminergia) in subcortical brain areas
updated dopamine hypothesis
abnormally low dopamine levels (hypodopaminergia) in brains cortex leads to hyperdopaminergia in subcortical areas
biological explanation strengths
genetic- family studies like Gottesman and Tiernan show that biological children of people with sz have a higher risk of developing it
neural- amphetamines increase DA and worsen sz symptoms and antipsychotics reduce DA activity and symptoms
biological explanations limitations
genetic- genetic counselling provides and average figure, not true probability of the child developing sz because of the environmental influence
neural- post mortem and live scanning studies have found raised levels of glutamate in several brain regions- several candidate genes involved in production
family dysfunction
poor family communication, cold parenting, high expressed emotion
double bind theory
a child is confused by mixed messages and punished with love withdrawal
schizophrenogenic mother
is cold, rejecting and controlling, creating a family climate of tension and secrecy
Father is passive and uninvolved
expressed emotion
high levels of verbal criticism, hostility and emotional overinvolvement
dysfunctional thinking
disrupted though processing in ventral striatum and temporal/cingulate gyri
metarepresentation
disruption of ability to reflect on own thoughts and behaviour- leads to thinking that own actions and thoughts are someone else’s