Schizophrenia Flashcards
What do psychologists use to diagnose?
DSM
What are the 2 types of symptoms of schizophrenia?
positive and negative symptoms
What are positive symptoms?
an excess or distortion of normal functions
What are the examples of positive symptoms?
hallucinations
delusions
disorganised speech
paranoia
What are hallucinations?
are usually auditory or visual perceptions of things that are not present
What are delusions?
are false beliefs
What are negative symptoms?
where normal functions are limited
What are the examples of negative symptoms?
- avolition
- anhedonia
- alogia
- affective flattening
What is avolition?
loss of motivation
What is anhedonia?
loss of pleasure
What is alogia?
speech poverty
What is affective flattening?
loss of emotion
What is diagnostic reliability?
means that a diagnosis of schizophrenia must be repeatable
What is one difference which can affect the reliability?
cultural differences
How does cultural differences affect reliability?
there is a variance between countries in diagnosing schizophrenia
What is the study to support cultural differences in schizophrenia?
Copeland
- gave 134 US and 194 British psychiatrists a description of patients
- 69% of US diagnosed the patient with schizophrenia
- only 2% British did
What are 3 the factors which affects validity?
gender bias in diagnosis
symptom overlap
co-morbidity
What is gender bias in diagnosis?
when accuracy of diagnosis is dependent on gender of the individual
What is symptom overlap?
positive and negative symptoms are found in other mental disorders for example depression.
What is comorbidity?
refers to the extent that two (or more) conditions or diseases occur at the same time for a patient
Why does gender bias in diagnosis happen?
because of diagnostic judgements like gender-biased diagnostic criteria or the doctor bases their judgements on stereotypical beliefs of that gender.
What are examples of comorbidity with SZ?
substance abuse, anxiety and depression
What are the 2 biological explanations for SZ?
genetic factors and the dopamine hypothesis
What does the genetic factor explanation suggest?
that SZ occurs due to heredity
What are the types of studies which support that genes cause SZ?
family, twin and adoption
What is the family study for SZ?
Gottesman
- find individuals with SZ and see whether their relatives are similarly affected more often than non-related relatives
- studied children with two SZ parents
- studies children with one SZ parent
- studied siblings with SZ
What is the twin study for SZ?
Joseph
studied MZ twins and DZ twins
MZ = genetically identical
DZ = share 50% of the same genes
What is the adoption study for SZ?
Tiernai
- studies how genes and environment affected risk of getting SZ
- studied 164 children who had a SZ mother but was reared apart from her
- control group of 190 children
What were the results of the family study?
concordance rate:
2 SZ parent = 46%
1 SZ parent = 13%
sibling with SZ = 9%
What were the results of the twin study?
concordance rate:
MZ twins = 40%
DZ twins = 7 %
What were the results of the adoption study?
- 11 out of 164 (6.7%) were also diagnosed with SZ
- 4 (2%) of the 190 from the control group were diagnosed with SZ
What are the psychological explanations of SZ?
Family dysfunction - double blind theory and expressed emotion (EE)
cognitive explanations to delusions and hallucinations
What is the double bind theory?
- suggests that children who frequently receive contradictory messages from their mother are more likely to develop SZ. The mother is cold/ rejecting and hostile
- which prevents interactions and child knowing what reality is
- and can cause SZ symptoms like affective flattening
What is the expressed emotion theory?
is a family communication style - lot of emotion intensity leads to relapse, and causes stress. Which kicks off you episodes
What are the 2 types of drugs?
atypical antipsychotics and typical antipsychotics
What are typical antipsychotics drugs?
used just to treat positive symptoms
What are atypical antipsychotics drugs?
used just to treat negative and positive symptoms