schizophrenia Flashcards
what are the two sources used for diagnoses of mental disorders
DSM 5
ICD 10
What are the two types of symptoms and outline them
POSITIVE - hallucinations - delusions NEGATIVE - avolition - speech poverty
hallucinations
Sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis or are distorted perceptions of reality
delusions
Beliefs that have no basis in reality.
avolition
Loss of motivation to carry out tasks and lowered activity levels
speech poverty
Reduced frequency and quality of speech. Speech disorganisation can also occur which is when speech becomes incoherent
co morbity
the occurrence of two or more illnesses or together.
symptom overlap
when two or more illnesses share the same symptoms
evaluation of classification of schizophrenia
co morbity - 50% depression, 47% substance abuse
lacks reliability - diagnosing 100 patients study
gender bias
culture bias - less diagnosed in africa yet african americans are more likely to be diagnosed
symptom overlap
outline the genetic basis for schizophrenia - family
- the idea that schizophrenia runs in families
- the closer we are related the higher the risk
twins are often used to establish a genetic basis
outline the genetic basis for schizophrenia - candidate genes
- individual genes and combinations of genes cause schizophrenia
- schizophrenia is polygenic
- schizophrenia is aetiologically heterogeneous
- RIPKE ET AL - 108 combinations of genes
- genes associated with risk sometimes coded for certain neurotransmitters like dopamine
outline the dopamine hypothesis, including hyperdopaminergia and hypodopaminergia
- dopamine is believed to be involved in the abnormal cognitive processes in schizophrenics
HYPERDOPAMINERGIA
High levels of dopamine in the subcortex
Associated with speech poverty and auditory hallucinations
HYPODOPAMINERGIA
low levels of dopamine in the subcortex
associated with negative symptoms - It may be that both high and low levels of dopamine could cause schizophrenia
neural correlates
patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occur in conhunction with an experience.
outline neural correlates of schizophrenia - negative and positive symptoms
NEGATIVE
- Motivation involves anticipation of reward and anticipation is correlated with the ventral striatum
- negative symptoms like avolition could occur because of faults in the ventral striatum
- Psychologists found lower activity levels in the ventral striatum in schizophrenics
POSITIVE
- Lowered activity levels in superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus in a hallucination group compared to controls
evaluation of biological explanations of schizophrenia
- evidence for genetic succeptibility- adoption study
- mixed evidence for dopamine hypothesis - both dopamine agonists and antipsychotics suggest dopamine as a cause. other neurotransmitters?
- correlation - causation - neural correlates
- role of mutation
- Environment?
what are the three components of family dysfunction
schizophrenogenic mother
double bind
expressed emotion
describe the schizophrenogenic mother
cold
rejecting
controlling
describe the double bind theory
role of communication
children are scared to communicate because of negative consequences
leads to confusion and paranoia
outlineexpressed emotion
verbal criticism
hostility
emotional over involvement
what is dysfunctional thought processing
information processing is not acting normally and results in undesirable consequences
what is metarepresentation
the ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviours
what is the central control
the ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions
evaluate research into psychological explanations for schizophrenia (family dysfunction)
support for family dysfunction - 69% of women in-patients with schizophrenia had a history of sexual abuse or physical abuse. adults with insecure attachments were also more likely to develop schizophrenia.
weak evidence for family based explanations - both the schizophrenogenic mother and double bind lack scientific validity and are a form of parent blaming which is insulting.
evaluate research into psychological explanations for schizophrenia (dysfunctional thought processing)
strong evidence for dysfunctional thought processing - the stroop test - 30 schizophrenics against control - took twice as long to do the test.
ignores biological factors of schizophrenia - twin studies.
