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Psychology A2 > Schizophrenia > Flashcards

Schizophrenia Flashcards

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1
Q

What is schizophrenia?

A

A psychotic disorder.

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2
Q

Describe a psychotic disorder

A
  • Loss of contact with reality
  • Lacks insight of their condition
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3
Q

What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

1- Delusions
2- Hallucinations
3- Thought Disorders
4- Experiences of influence

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4
Q

What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

1- Lack of emotional expressions (flat affect)
2- Lack of motivation (Avolition)
3- Lack of spoken language (Alogia)
4- Social withdrawal (Asociality)
5- Inability to experience pleasure (Anhedonia)

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5
Q

Types of delusions

A

1- Grandeur
2- Persecution
3- Reference

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6
Q

Define grander delusion

A

A person who sees themselves as exceptional in some way.

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7
Q

Define persecution delusion

A

This person may believe that other people want to harm them and may believe they are being spied on / tricked or followed.

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8
Q

Define reference delusion

A

This person believes that any situation or event has personal significance.

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9
Q

What is Aneja et al’s case study?

A

About a 14 year old boy diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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10
Q

Describe the case study history.

A

-The boy came from a troubled home with an aggressive father.
-His parents got divorced when he was 10 and he lived with his grandparents.
-His schoolwork suffered and he stopped attending school by the age of 12.
-He was irritable, sad and often got into trouble for fighting.

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11
Q

Describe the symptoms.

A

-He heard voices that teased him.
-He was suspicious of his mother.
-Muttered, laughed and shouted at unseen people..
-Spoke very little.
-Poor sleep and self care.
-Preferred to be alone away from others.
-Lacked insight of his condition.

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12
Q

Describe his treatments.

A

-He was hospitalised and diagnosed with very early onset schizophrenia.
-Released from hospital with medications that helped his aggression.
-Received 8 sessions of bilateral ECT.
-His positive symptoms decreased but his negative symptoms stayed the same.

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13
Q

What are the three genetic explanations of schizophrenia?

A

1- Family studies
2- Twin studies
3- Adoption studies

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14
Q

Describe family studies.

A

This study shows that if you have a close family member with schizophrenia then you are more likely to develop it too.

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15
Q

Describe twin studies.

A

Mono-zygote twins have higher concordance of schizophrenia suggesting that there is genetic contribution.

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16
Q

Describe adoption studies.

A

Studies found that 6.7% of adoptees who have a schizophrenic biological mother also develop schizophrenia.

17
Q

Describe the dopamine hypothesis.

A

Excess dopamine can be a cause of schizophrenia.

18
Q

Explain dopamine

A

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that enables communication between two neurons.

19
Q

Evidence of the dopamine hypothesis

A

1- Drugs
2- L-Dopa
3- Post Mortem Studies
4- Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

20
Q

Describe the evidence of drugs

A
  • Drug trials were tested on people with and without schizophrenia
  • Drugs that increase the dopamine levels include amphetamine and cocaine.
  • Large increase of dopamine correlates to the increase of hallucinations and delusions.
21
Q

Describe the evidence of L-Dopa

A
  • People with parkipsons disease are treated with a synthetic form of dopamine and if the dosage is too high it creates similar symptoms to those with schizophrenia such as hallucinations.
22
Q

Describe the Post Mortem Studies evidence

A
  • Post mortem studies have found that the brains of deceased individuals with schizophrenia have a larger number of dopamine than those without the disorder.
  • Deceased patients were found to have abnormally low levels of the enzyme that breaks down dopamine, suggesting the presence of excess dopamine.
23
Q

Describe the Positron Emission Tomography evidence

A

Is a scan analysis to measure the amount of dopamine activity in the brain. Those with schizophrenia indicate greater number if receptors.

24
Q

Describe the cognitive explanation

A

Assumes that both positive and negative symptoms result from faulty information processing.

25
Q

What are the errors in self monitoring?

A
  • Have difficulty to distinguish between auditory stimuli occurring outside their own mind and their self-generated inner thoughts.
26
Q

What are the difficulties with mentalizing?

A
  • Difficulties mentalizing may result in persecutory delusions and paranoia.
  • Have difficulties understanding mental states and intentions.
  • People with schizophrenia believe that others have the same opinion they have of themselves therefore if they believe they are a bad person, they think others believe that too which suggests negative symptoms such as social withdrawal.
27
Q

What are thinking errors and bias?

A
  • Schizophrenics tend to for abnormal beliefs and maintain them if people fail to update their understanding based on the new evidence.
  • Tend to draw conclusions based on insufficient evidence and show a bias against counter-evidence (usually that disconfirms their delusions.)
    -These errors are an explanation to why schizophrenics hold such bizarre beliefs.
  • Misinterpretation of perception may also create delusional thinking and may be applying logical reasoning to it. Usually due to mistaking inner thoughts to be coming from an external source.
28
Q

Explain the biochemical treatments of schizophrenia.

A

-Includes the use of antipsychotic medication.
-Reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms in those suffering schizophrenia and related disorders.
-Can be administered orally or given trans-dermally
-People who receive these medications need regular check ups to monitor their symptoms and any side effects.
-Dosages may need to be altered and may be necessary to provide additional medications.

29
Q

State the two types of antipsychotics.

A

1- Antipsychotics (1st generation 1950s)
2- Atypical antipsychotics (second generation 1990s)

30
Q

What is the function of antipsychotics?

A

Reduce severity of psychotic symptoms in those suffering from schizophrenia.

31
Q

Explain typical antipsychotics.

A
  • Work by blocking dopamine receptors.
  • Effective in reducing positive symptoms.
  • Side effect of tradive dyskinesia and extrapyramidal. symptoms.
32
Q

Explain atypical antipsychotics.

A
  • Block both dopamine and serotonin receptors.
  • Side effect of weight gain.
33
Q

What is ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy)

A
  • Involves delivering electrical pulses to one or both sides of the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp.
  • Pulses last up to one second and cause thousands of neurones, inducing a brief controlled seizure up to one minute.
34
Q

How does ECT work?

A
  • The shocks trigger the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.
35
Q

What is CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy)

A
  • A form of talk therapy to help people change by recognising thoughts which link to their behaviours.
  • Aims to reduce distress, disability and hospitalisation.
36
Q

State the three sections of cbt.

A
  • Exploring event, beliefs and feelings; develop self awareness and empowerment.
  • Preventing relapse through stress management; develop coping skills and recognises early warning signs before symptoms worsen.
  • Psychoeducation; educates the individual and their family about .
37
Q

Explain Sensky et al example study.

A
  • Investigated the effectiveness between CBT and befriending with 90 schizophrenic patients.
  • Assessed using blind rater, pre post and follow up (after 9 months) to see symptom progression.
  • Results portrayed that CBT had a significant effect on individuals after 9 months.
  • Suggests that talk therapy, psychoeducation and challenging of thoughts is an effective method and is a good example for CBT as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Psychology A2 (2 decks)

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