Schizophrenia Flashcards
What kind of disorder is schizophrenia classified as?
A psychotic disorder
What were the historical names for schizophrenia?
Back in the olden days, schizophrenia was known simply as madness or lunacy?
Who was the first to thoroughly define the symptoms of schizophrenia?
Emil Kraeplin was the first, he did this by combining several elements of insanity into one. He called it schizophrenia dementia praecox (premature dementia) because this disorder appears late in adolescence
Who introduced the term schizophrenia and what ddi they believe?
Eugen Bleuler introduced the term. He believed that the core problem was not the premature aging of the brain. He believed that the various elements of the individuals mind become disconnected from each other. That thoughts no longer have any logical connection to each other.
What are the 3 basic groups that schizophrenic symptoms can be divided into?
- Positive symptoms: symptoms that go beyond normally occurring experiences
- Negative symptoms: characterized by a deficit or absence in normal behaviour
- Cogntiive Symptoms: symptoms characterized by erratic changes in speech, motor behaviour, and emotions
What are the symptoms of Positive Symptoms?
- Delusions: irrational beliefs or paranoia that misrepresents reality, can be classified as bizarre if if they are clearly implausible but can be also classified as non bizarre is somewhat plausible
- Hallucinations: the experience of sensory events without any inout for surrounding environment, can involve any senses but auditory hallucinations are most common
What are the symptoms of negative symptoms?
- Apathy: inability to get started, to perform basic day-to-day functions (can lead to problems with hygiene, keeping a job, etc)
- Autism: refers to tendency to keep to oneself and lose interest in everything else
- Ambivalence: emotional and social withdrawal
- Anhedonia: without pleasure, indifferent to activities that are considered pleasurable
- Active flattening: absence of visible emotions, facial expressions, and emotional inflections in speech
What are the symptoms of cognitive symptoms?
- Disorganized speech: confusing way of talking , jump around randomly from topic to topic, or go off on illogical tangents
- Inappropriate affect: displaying of emotions inappropriate for current situation
- Disorganized behaviour: motor symptoms ranging from wild agitation to catatonic immobility, the ability to seem frozen in place but display waxy flexibility
What are the key points for the diagnostic criteria?
- Individual must have atleast one of delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech
- Diminished level of function
- Long lasting symptoms
- Not due to drugs or medical condition
When does schizophrenia develop?
It is usually diagnosed in late adolescence or early adulthood, usually preceded by a prodromal stage which is a 1-2 year period where subdued symptoms begin to appear
What are the statistic for remission?
Complete remission is very rare as 78% of schizophrenic patients go through a patten of relapse and recovery.
- Remission is more likely given if:
- Good social adjustment before onset of schizophrenia
- Low proportion of negative symptoms
- Good support system
What are some factors that lead to schizophrenia?
- Through genetics if members in family have it
- Problems shortly after child birth
- Fetal exposure to influenza and viral diseases
- Pregnancy and delivery complications
- Prenatal nutrition and stress
What is seen in the brain of a schizophrenic patient?
- Enlarged lateral ventricles due to lack of development or atrophy and is filled with CSF
- Reduced dendritic spines density in prefrontal cortex
- Reductions in hippocampal size due to degradation, disorganized neurons in hippocampus of brain
What are antipsychotic drugs?
They are drugs that reduce psychotic symptoms without producing too much too much general sedation like chlorpromazine
How do antipsychotics work?
They reduce schizophrenia symptoms. They work by blocking dopamine receptors, especially the D2 variants. They are D2 antagonists