Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is meant by Schizophrenia

Answer 1

A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis.

Question 2

What is meant by Classification of mental disorder

Answer 2

The process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers.

Question 3

What is meant by Positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 3

Atypical symptoms experience in addition to normal experiences. They include hallucinations and delusions.

Question 4

What is meant by Hallucinations

Answer 4

A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there.

Question 5

What is meant by Delusions

Answer 5

A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve beliefs that have no basis in reality, for example, that the sufferer is someone else or that they are the victim of a conspiracy.

Question 6

What is meant by Negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 6

Atypical experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience such as clear thinking or ‘normal’ levels of motivation.

Question 7

What is meant by Speech poverty

Answer 7

A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech.

Question 8

What is meant by Avolition

Answer 8

A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels.

Question 9

What is meant by Co-morbidity

Answer 9

The occurrence of two illnesses or conditions together, for example a person has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder. Where two conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately.

Question 10

What is meant by Symptom overlap

Answer 10

Occurs when two or more conditions share symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately.

Question 11

What is meant by Genetics

Answer 11

Genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produces ‘instructions’ for general physical features of an organism (such as eye colour, height) and also specific physical features (such as neurotransmitter levels and size of brain structures). These may impact on psychological features (such as intelligence and mental disorder). Genes are transmitted from parents to offspring, i.e. inherited.

Question 12

What is meant by Dopamine

Answer 12

A neurotransmitter that generally has an excitatory effect and is associated with the sensation of pleasure. Unusually high levels are associated with schizophrenia and unusually low levels are associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Question 13

What is meant by Neural correlates

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

What is meant by Family dysfunction

Answer 14

Abnormal processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion. These may be risk factors for both the development and maintenance of schizophrenia.

Question 15

What is meant by Cognitive explanations

Answer 15

Explanations that focus on metal processes such as thinking, language and attention.

Question 16

What is meant by Dysfunctional thought processing

Answer 16

A general term meaning information processing that is not functioning normally and produces undesirable consequences.

Question 17

What is meant by Antipsychotics

Answer 17

Drugs used to reducer the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms, of psychotic conditions like schizophrenia.

Question 18

What is meant by Typical antipsychotics

Answer 18

The first generation of antipsychotic drugs, having been used since the 1950s. They work as dopamine antagonists and include Chlorpromazine.

Question 19

What is meant by Atypical antipsychotics

Answer 19

Drugs for schizophrenia (a psychotic disorder) developed after typical antipsychotics. They typically target a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Examples include Clozapine and Risperidone.

Question 20

What is meant by Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)`

Answer 20

A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. From the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking, such as challenging negative thoughts. The therapy also includes behavioural techniques.

Question 21

What is meant by Family therapy

Answer 21

A psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of a family with the aim of improving their communication and reducing the stress of living as a family.

Question 22

What is meant by Token economies

Answer 22

A form of behavioural therapy, where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement. For example, patients are given rewards (tokens) as secondary reinforcers when they engage in correct/socially desirable behaviours. The tokens can then be exchanged for primary reinforcers - favourite foods or privileges.

Question 23

What is meant by The interactionist approach

Answer 23

A broad approach to explaining schizophrenia, which acknowledges that a range of factors, including biological and psychological factors, are involved in the development of schizophrenia.

Question 24

What is meant by The diathesis-stress model

Answer 24

An interactionist approach to explaining behaviour. For example schizophrenia is explained as the result of both an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) and a trigger, both of which are necessary for the onset of schizophrenia. In early versions of the model, vulnerability was genetic and triggers were psychological. Nowadays both genes and trauma are seen as diatheses, and stress ca be psychological or biological in nature.