Schizophrenia and Psychiatric Disorders Flashcards
What is psychosis?
Psychosis = disease of the mind, an inability to distinguish between symptoms of delusion, hallucination and disordered thinking from reality
What are delusions?
Delusion = unshakable idea or belief which is out of keeping with person’s social and cultural background, it is held with extraordinary conviction
What are examples of delusional beliefs?
- Granidiose
- Paranoid
- Hypochondriacal
- Self-referential
Psychosis - presentation
- Hallucinations
- Have full force and clarity of true perception
- Located in external space
- No external stimulus
- Uses all 5 special senses
Describe the hallucinations in psychosis?
- Hallucinations
- Have full force and clarity of true perception
- Located in external space
- No external stimulus
- Uses all 5 special senses
What are some illnesses that can have psychosis?
- Schizophrenia
- Delirium
- Severe affective disorder
- Depressive episode
- Manic episode
Schizophrenia - pathology
- Thinking
- Emotion
- Behaviour
Schizophrenia - aetiology
- Biological factors
- Genetics
- Nruegulin (chromosome 8p)
- Dysbindin (chromosome 6p)
- Di George syndrome
- Neurochemistry
- Dopamine hypothesis – increased level of dopamine in brain
- Revised dopamine hypothesis – mesolimbic hyperdopaminergia and mesocortical hypodopaminergia
- Glutamate
- GABA
- Noradrenaline
- Serotoninergic transmission
- Neurological abnormalities
- Ventricular enlargement
- Reduced frontal lobe performance
- Eye tracking abnormalities
- EEG abnormalities
- Obstetric complications
- Maternal influenza
- Malnutrition and famine
- Substance misuse
- Genetics
- Psychological factors
- Social factors
- Occupation and social class, “drift hypothesis”
- Migration
- Social isolation
- Life events as precipitants
What are some genetic causes of schizophrenia?
- Nruegulin (chromosome 8p)
- Dysbindin (chromosome 6p)
- Di George syndrome
What are some neurological abnormalities linked to schizophrenia?
- Ventricular enlargement
- Reduced frontal lobe performance
- Eye tracking abnormalities
- EEG abnormalities
What are some social factors linked to schizophrenia?
- Occupation and social class, “drift hypothesis”
- Migration
- Social isolation
- Life events as precipitants
Schizophrenia - epidemiology
(how common as cause of psychosis, prevalence, sex)
- Most common cause of psychosis
- 1/100 prevalence
- M:F equally
Presentation - schizophrenia
- Positive symptoms
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disordered thinking
- Negative symptoms (presence of these suggests poorer prognosis)
- Apathy
- Lack of interest
- Lack of emotion
What are the positive and negative symptoms for schizophrenia?
- Positive symptoms
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disordered thinking
- Negative symptoms (presence of these suggests poorer prognosis)
- Apathy
- Lack of interest
- Lack of emotion
Differential diagnosis - schizophrenia
- Delirium or acute organic brain syndrome
- Depressive episode with psychotic symptoms
- Must be categorised as severe
- Mani episode with psychotic symptoms
- Schizoaffective disorder
- Mix of affective and schizophrenia like features