Schizophrenia Flashcards
Define schizophrenia
A severe mental disorder where contact with reality and insight are impaired
What are positive symptoms
Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences
What are negative symptoms
Atypical experiences that represent the loss of usual experience
What are the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia?
Hallucinations and Delusions
What are hallucinations as a symptom of schizophrenia?
A positive symptom
Sensory experiences that have no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there
What are delusions as a symptom of schizophrenia?
A positive symptom
Involve beliefs that have no basis in reality
E.g. being watched by the government
What is speech poverty as a symptom of schizophrenia?
A negative symptom
Reduced frequency and quality of speech
What is avolition as a symptom of schizophrenia?
A negative symptom
Loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
What is co-morbidity?
The occurrence of 2 disorders or conditions together
E.g. Schizophrenia and a personality disorder
What is symptom overlap?
When 2 or more conditions share symptoms
What are neural correlates?
Patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occur in conjunction with an experience and may be implicated in the origins of that experience
What is Family Dysfunction?
Processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion
What are antipsychotics?
Drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms
What is family therapy?
A psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of family with the aim of improving the communications within the family and reducing the stress of living as a family
What are token economies?
A form of behavioural modification where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement
E.g. people are given rewards when they engage in socially desirable behaviours
