Schizophrenia Flashcards
Schizophrenia
A psychotic disorder marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions & behaviour
What symptoms do they experience
Positive and negative
Positive symptoms
Enhance their typical experience, an addition to their normal experience
Examples of positive symptoms
- Hallucinations: distorted view of perception
- Delusions: irrational beliefs
- Disorganised speech: abnormal thought processes
- Catatonic behaviour: reduced reaction to the environment
Types of delusions
- Paranoid delusions: a belief the person is being followed
- Delusions of grandeur: they think they are famous or have special abilities
- Delusions of reference: person on TV is stalking them
Examples of negative symptoms
- speech poverty: there is abnormally low levels of frequency, quality of speech
- avolition: reduction interest,desires,goals
Inability to cope with day-to-day tasks - anhedonia: loss of interests or pleasure in all activities
- affective flattening: reduction in emotional expression
What are the two classification systems for mental disorders
- DSM-V: US
- ICD-10: Europe
What are the requirements for a diagnosis by the DSM-V
2 or more symptoms
Co morbidity
When a patient is diagnosed with to or more illnesses.
Patient suffering from SZ and OCD
How does co-morbidity affect validity
If two illnesses are often comorbid, the criteria for diagnosing the two illness might be incorrect- they might not actually be two separate conditions
How does comorbidity affect reliability
Doctors are likely to ignore some symptoms so different doctors might give same patients different diagnoses
Gender bias in diagnosis of SZ
Males are more likely diagnosed as females as they hide symptoms better and may be viewed as a ‘hysterical female’
Cultural bias in diagnosis of SZ
Some African countries see hallucinations as a gift and good thing whereas Western cultures see it as a diagnosis of SZ
System overlap
When two or more illnesses share some of the same symptoms.
- avoliton overlaps with lethargy (depression)
What are the biological explanations
- Genetic explanations
- Dopamine hypothesis
- Neural correlates
Genetic explanations:running in families
Gottesman found that the closer the genetic link between you and someone with SZ, the higher chance of you developing illness
Genetic explanations from twin studies
Shows genetics have a big influence on development of SZ.
Found a concordance rate if 74% in MZ twins when developing SZ , whereas there was a concordance rate of 24% for DZ twins - since CR isn’t 100% it isn’t only caused by genetics so environment plays a role
Genetic explanations: candidate genes
There isn’t one single gene for SZ but a collection of gene locations associated with a higher risk of developing SZ, so SZ is polygenetic (108 genes)
Dopamine hypothesis (high levels)
Symptoms of SZ are due to high levels of dopamine in the subcortex
Hyperdopaminergia (high levels of dopamine) in the Broca’s area may lead to auditory hallucinations.
Dopamine hypothesis (low levels)
Hypodopaminergia (lower levels of dopamine) in the cortex are linked to negative symptoms like avolition and speech poverty.
What research supports the dopamine hypothesis
In meta analysis including 212 studies Leucht found that drug treatments that work by normalising dopamine levels were more effective than a placebo . This treatment directly influences dopamine systems supports the dopamine hypothesis.
Psychological explanations
- Family dysfunctions
- Cognitive explanations
Family dysfunction: the SZ mother
Paranoid delusions result from the influence of a cold, rejecting, controlling mother & a passive father. Creates an atmosphere of tension that triggers psychotic thinking
Family dysfunction: Double bind theory
The child receives mixed messages and they fear doing the wrong thing.
When child hets it’s wrong they are punished w withdrawal of love which leads to disorganised thinking and paranoia
Family dysfunction: Expressed emotions
The level of negative emotions expressed to patients
- verbal criticism
- hostility towards them
- emotional over-involvement in patients life
High levels of EE can cause stress leading to relapse or stress could tigger those vulnerable that have genetic link ( diathesis stress model)
Issues and debates shown in psychological explanations
The SZ mother shows gender bias as it suggests that women play a key destructive role in the onset of SZ in a child (alpha bias)
- SSR
Cognitive explanations
Dysfunctional thought processing - ways in which a person with SZ understands and interprets the world around them
Meta representation
Dysfunctional thought processes involves meta representation
