Schizophrenia Key Terms Flashcards
Schizophrenia
A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired
Classification of Mental Disorder
The process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
Positive Symptoms
Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences. They include hallucinations and delusions
Hallucination
A positive symptom. They are sensory experiences of stimuli that either have no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there
Delusions
A positive symptom. They involve beliefs that have no basis in reality
Negative Symptoms
Atypical experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience
Speech Poverty
A negative symptom. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech
Avolition
A negative symptom. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
Co-Morbidity
The occurrence of two illness or conditions together, where the two conditions are frequently diagnosed together, it call into question the validity of classifying the disorders separately
Symptom Overlap
Occurs when two or more conditions share symptoms. This can call into question the validity of classifying the disorders separately
Genetics
Genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produce instructions for general physical features of an organisms, and also specific physical features. These may impact psychological features. Genes are inherited
Dopamine
A neurotransmitter that generally has an excitatory effect and is associated with the sensation of pleasure, Unusually high levels are associated with schizophrenia and unusually low levels are associated with Parkinson’s disease
Neural Correlates
Patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occurs in conjunction with an experience and may be implicated in the origins of that experience
Family Dysfunction
Abnormal processes within a family such as poor communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion
Dysfunctional Thought Processing
A general term meaning information processing that is not functioning normally and produces undesirable consequences
Antipsychotics
Drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms, of psychotic conditions
Typical Antipsychotics
The first generation of antipsychotic drugs. They work as dopamine antagonists and include chlorpromazine
Atypical Antipsychotics
Drugs for schizophrenia developed after typical antipsychotics. They typically target a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. It aims to deal with challenging negative thoughts
Family Therapy
A psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of a family with the aim of improving their communications and reducing the stress of living as a family
Token Economy
A form of behavioural therapy where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use if selective reinforcement
The Interactionist Approach
A broad approach to explaining schizophrenia, which acknowledges that a range of factors, including biological and psychological factors, are involved in the development of schizophrenia
The Diathesis-Stress Model
An interactionist approach to explaining behaviour. Schizophrenia can be explained as the result of both an underlying vulnerability and a trigger, both which are necessary to cause schizophrenia. Genes and traumas are seen as diatheses, and stress can be psychological or biological in nature
