Schizophrenia Flashcards
What is meant by Schizophrenia
A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis.
What is meant by Classification of mental disorder
The process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers.
What is meant by Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Atypical symptoms experience in addition to normal experiences. They include hallucinations and delusions.
What is meant by Hallucinations
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.
What is meant by Delusions
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.
What is meant by Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Atypical experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience such as clear thinking or ‘normal’ levels of motivation.
What is meant by Speech poverty
A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech.
What is meant by Avolition
A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels.
What is meant by Co-morbidity
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.
What is meant by Symptom overlap
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.
What is meant by Genetics
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.
What is meant by Dopamine
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.
What is meant by 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 meant by Family dysfunction
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.
What is meant by Cognitive explanations
Explanations that focus on metal processes such as thinking, language and attention.
What is meant by Dysfunctional thought processing
A general term meaning information processing that is not functioning normally and produces undesirable consequences.
What is meant by Antipsychotics
Drugs used to reducer the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms, of psychotic conditions like schizophrenia.
What is meant by Typical antipsychotics
The first generation of antipsychotic drugs, having been used since the 1950s. They work as dopamine antagonists and include Chlorpromazine.
What is meant by Atypical antipsychotics
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.
What is meant by Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)`
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.
What is meant by Family therapy
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.
What is meant by Token economies
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.
What is meant by The interactionist approach
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.
What is meant by The diathesis-stress model
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.
