Schizophrenia Flashcards
Define schizophrenia:
A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired
What is classification of mental disorders?
Organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
Does schizophrenia have a single characteristics?
No
How similar is DSM-5 and ICD-10 at classification of schizophrenia?
Not similar at all
How does DSM-5 classify schizophrenia?
One positive symptom must be present (e.g delusions, hallucinations or speech disorganisation)
How does ICD-10 classify schizophrenia?
Two or more negative symptoms must be present (e.g avolition and speech poverty)
What are negative symptoms?
Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences
What is negative symptoms?
Atypical symptoms that represent loss of usual experiences such as clear thinking or ‘normal’ levels of motivation
What are the different types of positive symptoms?
- Hallucination
- Delusions
What are different types of negative symptoms?
- Avolition
- Speech poverty
What are hallucinations?
Sensory experiences have no basis in reality or distorted perceptions of real things
What is an example of hallucinations?
Hearing voices or seeing people who aren’t there
Is hallucinations a positive or negative symptom of schizophrenia?
Positive
What is delusions?
Beliefs which have no basis of reality - person with schizophrenia will behave in away which makes sense to them but not others.
What is an example of delusions?
Belief of being an important person or a victim of a conspiracy
Is delusions a positive or negative symptom of schizophrenia?
Positive
What is avolition?
Severe loss of motivation to do everyday tasks
What does avolition result in?
Lowered in activity levels and unwillingness to carry out goal-directed behaviours
Is avolition a positive or negative symptom of schizophrenia?
Negative
Is speech poverty a positive or negative symptom of schizophrenia?
Negative
What is speech poverty?
Reduction in amount and quality of speech
What may happen if you have speech poverty?
Delay in verbal responses during conversation
What are the key issues with diagnosis of schizophrenia?
- Reliability
- Validity
- Co-morbidity
- Symptom overlap
What is the issue with reliability in diagnosis of schizophrenia?
The extent of which diagnosis of schizophrenia is consistent
What is the issue with validity in diagnosis of schizophrenia?
The extent to which diagnosis and validity techniques measure what they are designed to measure
What is the issue with co-morbidity in diagnosis of schizophrenia?
Occurrence of two illnesses together which confuses diagnosis and treatment
What is the issue with symptom overlap in diagnosis of schizophrenia?
When two or more conditions share symptoms, questioning validity of the classification
Who showed the diagnosis of schizophrenia to have a low reliability?
Cheniaux et al (2009)
What did Cheniaux et al (2009) do?
Had two psychiatrists independently diagnose 100 patients using DSM and ICD criteria
What was the findings of Cheniaux et al (2009)?
- Inter-rated reliability was poor
- DSM diagnosed 26 patients (1st psychiatrists)
- ICD diagnosed 44 patients (1st psychiatrists)
- DSM diagnosed 13 patients (2nd psychiatrists)
- ICD diagnosed 24 patients (2nd psychiatrists)
