Schizophrenia Flashcards
Define validity in terms of schizophrenia
Is schizophrenia being diagnosed when it should be?
Is schizophrenia distinct from other disorders?
Outline one study into the validity of schizophrenia
Cheniaux (2009)
- Two psychiatrists diagnosed 100 cases used DSM and ICD
Psych 1- 26 44
Psych 2 - 13 24
Avg. - 19.5 34
Define comorbidity
When two disorders are frequently diagnosed in the same person
Outline one study into comorbidity
Buchley
% of people with schizophrenia also have:
Depression - 50%
Substance abuse 47%
Outline one study into gender bias in the diagnosis of schizophrenia
Loreng and Powell
- 20 psychiatrists diagnosed 2 cases
- If told the cases were:
Male - 56%
Female - 20%
- Bias does not exist when psychiatrist is female
Define reliability in terms of the diagnosis of schizophrenia
Do different clinicians give the same diagnosis to the same person when using the same criteria?
Is diagnosis consistent between cultures?
Outline one study into the cultural differences in the diagnosis of schizophrenia
Copeland
- Gave one case to 134 US psychiatrists and 194 UK psychiatrists
USA - 69%
UK - 2%
Outline a twin study into schizophrenia
Gottesman
MZ - 48%
DZ - 17%
Siblings - 9%
Outline and adoptions study into schizophrenia
Tienari
- Latge scale Finnish study with 303 adoptees
- Family dysfunction was measured across 3 domains
Dysfunctional family environment only increased risk when a genetic risk is already present (schizophrenic biological mother)
Outline one study into what specific genes cause schizophrenia
Ripke
- Meta analysis of genome studies
- 37,000 patients, 113,000 controls
Found 108 candidate genes including PCM1
What are the features of dopamine
- Excitatory
- Movement
- Reward and reward anticipation
- Learning by association
Outline the effects of hyperdopaminergia
Excessive levels of dopamine the sub cortex is associated with positive symptoms
- In subcortical perception networks = hallucinations
- In striatum = form false associations that contribute to delusions
Outline the effects of hypodopaminergia
Unusually low levels of dopamine in the cerebral cortex are associated with negative symptoms
- In pre-frontal cortex = symptoms like avolition
- In Broca’s area = speech poverty
Outline two studies that support the dopamine hypothesis (drugs)
Curren et al
- Amphetamines acts as dopamine agonists and have been found to worsen psychosis in schizophrenic patrons and induce schizophrenia like symptoms in healthy controls
Tauscher et al
- Antipsychotics that reduce dopamine activity have been found to relieve psychosis
Outline one study that supports the role of abnormal neural activity in schizophrenia
Allen et al
- Schizophrenic patients and controls in fMRI listened to record dings of voices and were asked to recognise their own voice
- Schizophrenic patients struggled to distinguish their own voice and showed no increase in activity in Wernike’s area
- Healthy controls could recognise their own voice and had an increase in activity in Wernike’s area
