Schizophrenia and affective disorders Flashcards
What is meant by the term ‘negative symptoms’?
things that are lacking compared to people who are not schizophrenic.
- social withdrawal
- flat emotional response
What is meant by positive symptoms?
Things that schizophrenics have that others don’t
- hallucinations
- delusions
Describe the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia.
Chloropromazine (DA antagonists) diminishes positive symptoms
- over-activity of DA neurons = positive symptoms
Describe Laurell et al (1996) findings about DA and schizophrenia.
There was more DA release in schizophrenics than controls and also an increase in positive symptoms as DA increased
Where are DA neurons in located in the brain and how does it induce positive symptoms?
Ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala.
- DA activity in the accumbens strongly reinforces behaviour.
- over active reward systems
What is the difference between the ventricles in the brains of a schizophrenic and someone who doesn’t have schizophrenia?
The mean ventricle size is greater in those who had schizophrenia
if you are born in which months are most likely to develop schizophrenia?
January may/june
why is schizophrenia seen as a seasonal disorder?
due to viral infection in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy within which a lot of brain development occurs.
Is there an association between schizophrenia and other physical variations?
Yes
- children separated in to low group or high group according to their physical abnormalities.
- those in high group more likely to develop other psychopathologies
Name the 4 affective disorders
depression
mania
bipolar - alternating mania and depression
unipolar - depression without mania
What is meant by the monoamine hypothesis?
Depression is caused by low activity on monoamine neurons.
- DA agonists do not relieve depresssion
