Schizophrenia- Characteristics Flashcards
What is SZ?
A disruption of cognition and emotion affects language, thought, perception and sense of self
- cognitive, behaviour and emotional dysfunctions
How can we split each paragraph for SZ symptoms?
1- Positive symptoms
2- Negative symptoms
3- Prodromal symptoms
4- Classification
What are the 3 types of positive symptoms?
1- Hallucinations
2- Delusions
3- Disordered thinking
What are positive symptoms?
Atypical, additional experiences beyond those of ordinary existence
Hallucinations
Unusual sensory experiences
visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile
What tactile hallucinations did Lewandowski identify?
Present in approximately 20% of SZ cases and individuals experience formication which is the nae for a sensation that resembles small insects, such as spiders crawling in or under the skin
- it is so real to the person experiencing it they initially cannot believe it is a hallucination
What are delusions?
Strongly held false beliefs, they persist even when there is evidence against their beliefs
What are the 3 types of delusions?
Grandiosity
- believing they are an important historical/political figure
Reference
- believing people are trying to send you a message/make contact through TV/radio
Persecution
- paranoid delusions were they believe others are trying to harm them/plot against them
What is disordered thinking?
A result of abnormal thought processes
- trouble organising them, manifests in speech
Derailment- quickly switching between topics sometimes mid-sentence or speaking gibberish (word salad)
- often report that their thoughts are not their own (thought insertion)
- inserted by a third party
What are negative symptoms?
Loss of usual abilities or experiences
What are the 5 negative symptoms?
1- Alogia
2- Avolition
3- Anhedonia
4- Flatness of affect
5- Catatonic behaviour
What is alogia?
Reduction in amount/quality of speech, poverty of speech, delay responses in conversation
‘name as many animals as you van in 1 min’
- struggle to spontaneously use words
What is avolition?
Difficulty beginning or keeping up with goal-directed activity, loss of motivation- apathy
What 3 signs of avolition did Andreason identify?
1- Poor hygiene
2- Lack of energy
3- Lack of persistence in work or education
What is anhedonia?
An individual does not react properly to pleasurable experiences
- experience loss of pleasure
- eating, social contact or activities they used to find pleasure in
What is an example of anhedonia?
A football fan doesn’t demonstrate any pleasure in their team winning
What is flatness of affect?
Individual appears to have no emotion
- little to no facial expressions
- speech pattern are monotonous e.g. no intonations
What is catatonic behaviour?
Can range from fast, repetitive movements to no movement at all
Echopraxia- mimicking the movement of those around them
- rigid/unnatural posture, immobile for long periods of time
- unexpected gestures and loud utternaces
What are prodromal symptoms?
Starting point, not used in diagnosis
- early symptoms indicating the onset
What are the prodromal symptoms?
- loss of interest in usual activities
- avoiding the company of others
- staying away from work or school
- being irritable or oversensitive
- lack of interest on person appearance and hygiene
- generalised anxiety
- mild degrees of depression
What are the 2 classifications of SZ?
ICD-10-WHO
DSM-5
ICD-10-WHO
At least 1 positive symptom
OR
At least 2 negative symptoms
DSM-5
2 or more of all of them together
What are the issues with the classifications of SZ?
X lack of consistency in diagnosis
X vary place to place and doctor
