Schizophrenia Flashcards
In order to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, patients must have two symptoms and at least one of these must be:
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Disorganised Speech
Other symptoms that patients may experience aside from the first 3 are…
- Disorganised or catatonic behaviour
5. Negative symptoms
What are delusions?
False beliefs that do not corrospond to reality, e.g delusions of persecution or grandeur
What are hallucinations?
Seeing or hearing things that are not really there, there are visual - distorted vision
or auditory which are usually voices commenting on behaviour or thoughts - often critical or harsh
What is disorganised speech?
Frequent derailment, jumping from one conversation topic to another at random
What is disorganised/catatonic behaviour?
Repetitive movements or gestures, e.g psychomotor agitation - repetitive/fixed gestures or catatonic stupor - keeping in the same position for a long period of time
What are negative symptoms?
Lack of emotion, inability/unwillingness to speak, they may be apathetic, characteristics taken away from the individual
What are cognitive symptoms?
Disruption to thought processes, attention deficits, thought passivity, lack of concentration, poor executive functioning and working memory
Who is at rick and when does it occur?
1% risk and first episode is usually in late adolescence early adulthood
Are there differences between men and women?
Men - average age of onset 18
Women - average age of onset 25
How are people affected?
> 1/4 recover and don’t relapse
1/4 never recover
1/2 have periods of recovery and periods of symptoms
Life expectancy reduced by 10 years
What are the three types of symptoms?
Type 1 - positive, Type 2 - negative, Type 3 - cognitive
Definition?
A chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves, they may feel like they have lost touch with reality
