Schizophrenia Flashcards
Schizophrenia
disorder characterized by disturbances in thought, emotion, and behavior [BET]
Clinical Symptoms
Two or more of the following symptoms for a significant
portion of time for at least 1 month: delusions,
hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or
catatonic behavior, negative symptoms
- Social and occupational functioning have declined since
onset
- Signs of disturbance for at least 6 months; at least 1 month duration for delusions,hallucinations, disorganized
speech, disorganized catatonic behavior; during the remaining time either negative symptoms or other symptoms in attenuated form
In Schizophrenia, the symptoms are divided into two types, what are they?
Positive and negative
Positive Symptoms
comprise excesses and distortions, such as hallucinations and delusions
Persecutory delusions
The belief that everybody hates you and are plotting to torment you. Including your friends, and everyone. Hence you feel angry and anxious.
persecutors have sophisticated listening devices that let them tune in on your most private conversations and gather evidence in a plot to discredit you.
thought insertion.
A person may believe that thoughts that are not his or her own have been placed in his or
her mind by an external source
Thoughts broadcasting
A person may believe that his or her thoughts are broadcast or transmitted, so that others
know what he or she is thinking
Other delusion examples
believe that their thoughts are being controlled and they are being persecuted by the CIA
grandiose delusions
a person has an exaggerated sense of his or her own importance, power, knowledge, or identity. So believe that they can control the wind.
ideas of reference
overheard segments of
conversations are about them, that the frequent appearance of the same person on a street
where they customarily walk means that they are being watched, and that what they see
on television or read in magazines somehow refers to them.
Define Hallucinations
sensory experiences in the absence
of any relevant stimulation from the environment. In skzo more auditory. Hallucinations are annoying and frightening
What type of hallucination to be considered to diagnose clinically?
Hearing their own thoughts spoken by another voice
Other people may claim that they hear voices arguing,
and others hear voices commenting on their behavior
Which part of the brain is associated with auditory hallucinations?
great activity in the broca’s area/productive language area of the brain. A problem in the connections
between the frontal lobe areas that enable the production of speech and the temporal lobe
areas that enable the understanding of speech.
Negative Symptoms
The negative symptoms of schizophrenia consist of behavioral deficits; they include avolition,
alogia, anhedonia, flat affect, and asociality
How does negative symptoms effect people?
the presence of many negative symptoms is a strong predictor of a poor quality of life (e.g., occupational impairment, few friends) 2 years following hospitalization (Ho et al., 1998).
What is Avolition or Apathy?
refers to a lack of motivation and a seeming absence of interest in or an inability to persist in what are usually routine activities, including work or school,
self-care, hobbies, or social activities.
Give me an example of avolition.
dirty nails, unbrushed teeth, Do nothing all day and have difficulty persisting at work, school and household chores,
Alogia
refers to a significant reduction in the amount of speech.
Give an example of alogia
Do not talk much. Give one or two word answers. Fail to elaborate when asked for additional information.
What is anhedonia?
A loss of interest in or a reported lessening of the experience of pleasure
What is consummatory pleasure?
refers to the amount of pleasure experienced in-the-moment or in the presence of something pleasurable. For instance, when you eat.
Define anticipatory pleasure.
refers to the amount of expected or anticipated pleasure from future events or activities. For example pleasure thinking about killing others and them suffering.
What do people with this disorder seem to have which pleasure and which not pleasure?
Have : consummatory pleasure
Not Have : anticipatory pleasure
What is flat affect?
refers to a lack of outward expression of emotion.
Give an example of flat affect.
-may stare vacantly,
-face is motionless.
- eyes = lifeless
- flat and toneless voice
- doesn’t look at the speaker when conversing
(Like they feel the emotions but doesn’t show it)
Asociality
severe impairments in social relationships,
Give an example of asociality
- have few friends,
- poor social skills,
- very little interest in being with other people.
- doesn’t desire close relationships.
- prefer to spend much of their time alone
What does Disorganized symptoms include?
include disorganized speech and disorganized behavior.
Define Disorganized Speech
A.k.a formal thought disorder
refers to problems in organizing ideas and in speaking so that a listener can understand
loose associations, or derailment,
person may be more successful in communicating with a listener but has difficulty sticking to one topic.
Disorganized behaviour
People with this symptom may go into inexplicable bouts of agitation, dress in unusual clothes, act in a childlike or
silly manner, hoard food, or collect garbage. have difficulty performing the tasks
of everyday living.
Catatonia
Several motor abnormalities define catatonia
Give me an example of catatonia
may gesture repeatedly, using peculiar and sometimes complex sequences of finger, hand, and
arm movements
catatonic immobility
people adopt
unusual postures and maintain them for very long periods of time.
waxy flexibility
another person can move the patient’s limbs into positions that the patient will then maintain for long periods of tim
What is inappropriate affect? Give an example?
emotional responses are out of context.
Laugh upon hearing that mother just died or become enraged when asked a simple question about how a new jacket fits.
Genes
Very much! especially the negative symptoms.
Neurotrasmitter
dopamine receptors
are greater in number or are hypersensitive in some people with schizophrenia
what is the dopamine theory?
There is Brain injury to prefrontal cortex.
Dopamine neuron underactive in prefrontal cortex causes negative symptoms
Release of mesolimbic dopamine neurons from
inhibitory control leads to positive symptoms
Evaluation of dopamine theory?
It is unlikely that a single neurotransmitter could account for all of them
Other neurotransmitters
Low levels of glutamate have been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of people with schizophrenia
In the brain what do they have?
enlarged ventricles = loss of brain cells.
Prefrontal cortex is associated with what?
The prefrontal cortex is known to play a role in behaviors such as speech, decision making,
and goal-directed behavior,
All of this is disrupted in schizophrenia
What does the patients have reduction in?
Grey matter
What do they perform poorly on?
perform more poorly on neuropsychological tests designed to tap functions promoted by the prefrontal region, including working memory or the
ability to hold bits of information in memory
They also have low what?
low metabolic rates in the prefrontal cortex and this leads to related to the severity of negative symptoms
another birth cause?
birth abnormalities during birth. virus invades, lack of oxygen destroyes grey matter
what does current research show?
reduction in cortical gray matter in both temporal and frontal regions.
reduced volume in basal ganglia
hippo campus and limbic structures
How does psychological stress play?
Psychological stress plays a role by interacting with
a genetic or neurobiological vulnerability to produce this illness
