schizophrenia

Question 1

what is classification

Answer 1

the process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers

Question 2

what are the 2 classification systems used for schizophrenia

Answer 2

• world health organisation’s international classification of disease edition 10 - ICD 10
• american psychiatric association’s diagnostic and statistical manual edition 5 - DSM 5

Question 3

what is diagnosis

Answer 3

the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms

Question 4

what is a positive symptom

Answer 4

something that adds to ‘normal’ behaviour. schizophrenia sufferers experience something more than non-sufferers do

Question 5

what is a negative symptom

Answer 5

something that removes aspects of ‘normal’ behaviour. sufferers experience a loss of behaviour compared to non-sufferers

Question 6

examples of positive schizophrenic symptoms

Answer 6

• hallucinations (visual or auditory)
• delusions

Question 7

examples of negative schizophrenic symptoms

Answer 7

• avolition/apathy
• speech poverty/alogia

Question 8

what are hallucinations

Answer 8

• sensory experiences of stimuli that have no basis in reality or are distorted
• visual hallucinations - seeing things that arent there
  auditory hallucinations - hearing things that arent there

Question 9

what are delusions

Answer 9

• involve irrational beliefs that have no basis in reality
• delusions of grandeur = beliefs that the sufferer is someone else like an important historical, political, or religious figure
• delusions of persecution = beliefs that the sufferer is a victim of conspiracy like being persecuted by the government or aliens

Question 10

what is avolition/apathy

Answer 10

• involves a loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
• sufferers find it difficult to begin or keep up with goal directed activity
• poor hygiene and grooming
• lack of persistence in work or education
• lack of energy

Question 11

what is speech poverty/alogia

Answer 11

• involves reduced frequency and quality of speech
• the sufferer may be delayed in responding verbally during conversations

Question 12

reliability in diagnosis

Answer 12

• inter-rater reliability concerns whether different clinicians make identical, independent diagnoses of the same patient
• test-retest reliability concerns whether a clinician makes the same diagnosis on separate occasions from the same information

Question 13

validity in diagnosis

Answer 13

• criterion validity can assess the validity of diagnosis, do different assessment systems arrive at the same diagnosis for the same patient?
• predictive validity = correctly predicting the prognosis of the illness

Question 14

outline the methods, results, and conclusions of cheniaux et al’s 2009 study into criterion validity and inter-rater reliability

Answer 14

method: had 2 psychiatrists independent diagnose 100 (all schizophrenic) patients using both the DSM 5 and the ICD 10 criteria
results: inter-rater reliability and criterion validity was poor
- 1 psychiatrist diagnosed 26 patients using the DSM 5 and 44 using the ICD 10
- the other diagnosed 13 using the DSM 5 and 24 using the ICD 10
conclusions:
- reliability: psychiatrist 1 gave more diagnoses than 2 regardless of the classification system. shows clinicians arent consistent in using the systems to diagnose people, meaning it is unreliable
- validity: ICD 10 led to more diagnoses than the DSM 5. suggests using the ICD 10 is likely to over-diagnose people with schizophrenia while the DSM 5 is likely to under-diagnose people, suggesting neither classification may be accurate