schizophrenia Flashcards
Outline the positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Positive symptoms (DSM) - excess of normal functions
Delusions - unrealistic beliefs that appear real, can involve paranoia, inflated beliefs about power and importance (delusions of grandeur)
- may believe the behaviour and comments of others is directed solely at them - sceptical of people
Hallucinations - can be auditory (hearing voices), visual (seeing things), olfactory (smelling things) or tactile (feeling something crawling under their skin)
-many people may hear voices telling them to harm themselves or others
Outline the negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Negative symptoms (DSM) - loss of normal functions
Alogia (speech poverty) - poor speech - not fluent and slow to respond, thought to reflect slow or blocked thoughts
-have difficulty producing words
Avolition - a lack of focussed behaviour - may appear disinterested in doing things (may do nothing for hours)
- show no initiation or persistence with tasks
Outline and evaluate the reliability of classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia in relation to culture
Schizophrenia diagnosis has significant variations between countries
-134 US and 194 British psychiatrists given a description of a patient - 69% of US psychiatrist diagnosed schizophrenia compared to 2% of British
- A study showed African and Indian schizophrenics reported more positive, friendly hallucinations compared to US schizophrenics who had violent and threatening hallucinations - shows symptoms can express themselves differently in different cultures
AO3
- Study between US and British psychiatrists shows very low inter-rater reliability - they all view schizophrenia differently
The prognosis for ethnic groups may be more positive then majority group members (white) due to the ethnic culture hypothesis which states ethnic groups experience less distress with mental disorders due to the protective characteristics and social structures - they are accepting and more open about their symptoms, compared to the majority group who require more help and experience more symptoms
Outline and evaluate the validity of classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia in relation to gender bias
Occurs when the accuracy of the diagnosis is dependent on the gender of an individual, can occur through gender bias of the psychiatrist who bases their judgement on stereotypical gender beliefs, or can occur due to some symptoms favouring one gender over the other - critical of the DSM
-research found US clinicians typically perceived women to be less mentally healthy than men - women less likely to be diagnosed than men
AO3
-study showed out of male and female psychiatrists diagnosing a patient, when they were told the patient was male or gender was not told, 56% diagnosed the disorder
-when the patient was described as female, 20% diagnosed the disorder
-gender bias not as evident in the female psychiatrists, showing that diagnosis is not only influenced by the gender of the patient but also the gender of the clinician
Outline and evaluate the validity of the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia in relation to symptom overlap
Many schizophrenia symptoms are found in other disorders
symptoms that included beliefs that the individuals thoughts are broadcasted to others, or hearing voices that commented on their thoughts/actions were classified as being the most distinguishable symptoms of schizophrenia, however, they can also be found in other disorders e.g. dissociative identity disorders. Most people with schizophrenia could receive atleast 1 other diagnosis
AO3
Research found dissociative identity disorder patients had more schizophrenic symptoms than people with schizophrenia - supports symptom overlap
- shows the classification system has low validity as many symptoms could be diagnosed as other disorders which may suggest people are receiving misdiagnosis’s of schizophrenia - which can lead to people receiving the wrong treatments etc
Outline and evaluate the validity of the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia in relation to co-morbidity
Refers the the extent to which 2 or more conditions can co-occur
- psychiatric co-morbidities are common with schizophrenia - including substance abuse, anxiety and depression - estimated that co-morbid depression occurs in 50% of patients and substance abuse in 47%
AO3
- most research conducted into co-morbidity involved small sample sizes - which questions the validity of the results - however a study looked at 6 million hospital records to calculate co-morbidity rates and 45% of 6 million had 2 psychiatric disorders - supporting co-morbidity
- however many schizophrenics were also diagnosed with a non-psychiatric disorder (physical) including asthma, diabetes etc)
- suggested that this occurs as patients with a psychiatric condition tend to receive a lower standard of care - schizophrenics may not want to take medication due to paranoia/less likely to seek help for physical condition - consequently affecting their prognosis
