Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
Speech Poverty (lessening of speech fluency and productivity, reflects slow thoughts), avolition (inability to initiate goal directed behaviour)
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Hallucinations (false perceptions, auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile), delusions (false beliefs, delusions of reference or inflated beliefs, paranoid)
What is reliability in terms of schizophrenia?
The consistency of a measuring tool used in diagnosis.
What is affective flattening?
A reduction in emotional response
What are the two types of reliability?
Test retest reliability and inter rater reliability
What is test retest reliability in terms of schizophrenia?
Doctors must reach same conclusion about patient at two different points in time, ensures not ‘labelled’ with a diagnosis which then changes.
Describe the study for the reliability of schizophrenia.
Two psychiatrists, 100 patients, used DSM criteria, first thought 26, second thought 13.
Suggests inter rater is poor as the same amount should be found
What are the 2 types of diagnosis for schizophrenia?
DSM and ICD
What 5 symptoms must a person have for a month to be schizophrenic?
Delusions, Hallucinations, Disorganized speech, catatonic behavior, negative symptoms
What is validity in terms of schizophrenia?
The extent to which a diagnosis is accurate and meaningful
What are the three evaluative points of schizophrenia validity?
Gender bias, symptom overlap, co mobility
What do genetics suggest schizophrenia is?
Hereditary, polygenic, made of candidate genes
What is the definition for polygenic?
Determined by a few genes
What is the definition for candidate genes?
A gene thought to have been implicated in the development of schizophrenia
What are the three ways of studying the genetic explanations for schizophrenia?
Family studies, twin studies, adoption studies
How can family studies be used to study the genetic explanations of schizophrenia?
Show its more common in biological relatives, than non biological. The closer the degree of genetic relatedness the greater the risk
How can twin studies be used to study the genetic explanations of schizophrenia?
If monozygotic twins more concordant than dizygotic suggests greater similarity is due to genetics.
How can adoption studies be used to study the genetic explanations for schizophrenia?
Can truly separate the influence of genetics and the environment, therefore can investigate individuals genetically related but reared apart.
What are the biological explanations for schizophrenia?
Genetics, The Dopamine Hypothesis, Neural Correlates
Describe the dopamine hypothesis.
Excess dopamine related to positive symptoms of schiz. Too many D2 receptors. Neurons fire more easily/often
What are the 2 dopamine hypotheses?
Hyperdopaminergia (excess = + symptoms) and hypodopaminergia (lack = - symptoms)
What are the 5 neural correlates?
Ventricular space, ventral striatum(avolition), superior temporal gyrus(Auditory hallucinations), amygdala(loss of emotion), pre - frontal cortex
Describe the neural correlate ventricular space.
People with schiz have large ventricles (fluid filled cavities) in brain, meaning their brains are lighter than usual.
Describe the neural correlate pre - frontal cortex.
Many schizs have lower activity in pre - frontal cortex, linked with delusions and disorganized thoughts.
