schizophrenia

Question 1

what are the two sources used for diagnoses of mental disorders

Answer 1

DSM 5

ICD 10

Question 2

What are the two types of symptoms and outline them

Answer 2

POSITIVE
- hallucinations
- delusions
NEGATIVE
- avolition
- speech poverty

Question 3

hallucinations

Answer 3

Sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis or are distorted perceptions of reality

Question 4

delusions

Answer 4

Beliefs that have no basis in reality.

Question 5

avolition

Answer 5

Loss of motivation to carry out tasks and lowered activity levels

Question 6

speech poverty

Answer 6

Reduced frequency and quality of speech. Speech disorganisation can also occur which is when speech becomes incoherent

Question 7

co morbity

Answer 7

the occurrence of two or more illnesses or together.

Question 8

symptom overlap

Answer 8

when two or more illnesses share the same symptoms

Question 9

evaluation of classification of schizophrenia

Answer 9

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

Question 10

outline the genetic basis for schizophrenia - family

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

outline the genetic basis for schizophrenia - candidate genes

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

outline the dopamine hypothesis, including hyperdopaminergia and hypodopaminergia

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

neural correlates

Answer 13

patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occur in conhunction with an experience.

Question 14

outline neural correlates of schizophrenia - negative and positive symptoms

Answer 14

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

Question 15

evaluation of biological explanations of schizophrenia

Answer 15

• 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?

Question 16

what are the three components of family dysfunction

Answer 16

schizophrenogenic mother
double bind
expressed emotion

Question 17

describe the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 17

cold
rejecting
controlling

Question 18

describe the double bind theory

Answer 18

role of communication
children are scared to communicate because of negative consequences
leads to confusion and paranoia

Question 19

outlineexpressed emotion

Answer 19

verbal criticism
hostility
emotional over involvement

Question 20

what is dysfunctional thought processing

Answer 20

information processing is not acting normally and results in undesirable consequences

Question 21

what is metarepresentation

Answer 21

the ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviours

Question 22

what is the central control

Answer 22

the ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions

Question 23

evaluate research into psychological explanations for schizophrenia (family dysfunction)

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

evaluate research into psychological explanations for schizophrenia (dysfunctional thought processing)

Answer 24

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.