Schizophrenia and its causes symposium Flashcards
Symptoms of psychosis
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Disorganised speech
- Catatonia
Cognitive effects of schizophrenia
- Attention
- Memory
- Executive functions(eg abstraction)
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
- Affective flatterning
- Alogia
- Avolition
- Anhedonia
Mood symptoms of schizophrenia
- Dysphoria
- Suicidality
- Helplessness
How are relatives of schizophrenic patients affected
- Increased risk of psychosis
- Increase in rate of schizotypal relatives
%risk - parent
5
%risk - sibling
10
%risk child
13
%risk child of 2 affected parents
46
Obstetric complications that increase risk
- Premature birth
- Low birth weight
- Perinatal hypoxia
Effect of migration on risk
- Increases risk of psychosis
Macro neurodevelopmental abnormalities reported in schizophrenia
Ventricular enlargement
widening cortical sulci
cortical grey matter loss
loss of asymmetry
↓limbic structure and thalamic volume
Progressive deficits in some, not all
Micro neurodevelopmental abnormalities reported in schizophrenia
Cortical glial loss Increase in neurone density Aberrant neurone migration Synaptic loss Decrease in dendritic complexity
Neuropsychology abnormalities in schizophrenia
Deficits in Attention Arousal (too much) Working memory Executive function Eye movement (saccadic, smooth pursuit) Social cognition (recognising facial emotions / social cues) Theory of mind Loss of functional asymmetry Receptive language function Subtle motor function, Speech, IQ
Where is dopamine synthesis and storage increased in schizophrenia
- Striatal dopamine synthesis and storage increased in schizophrenia
What is associated with the increased dopamine secretion in the striatum in schizophrenia
- Reduced glutamate function in frontal lobes
What symptoms are reduced frontal glutamate levels associated with
- Negative symptoms
What symptoms are increased striatal dopamine levels associated with
- Positive symptoms
What is glutamate dysfunction particularly associated with in schizophrenia
- Cognitive symptoms