Schizophrenia Key Words Flashcards
Schizophrenia
A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis
Classification of mental disorder
The process of organising symptoms of categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences, including hallucinations and delusions
Hallucinations
A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are sensory experiences of stimuli that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are
Delusions
A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve beliefs that have no basis in reality, for example, that the sufferer is someone else or that they are the victim of conspiracy
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
A typical experiences that represent the loss of usual experience such as clear thinking or ‘normal’ levels of motivation
Speech poverty
A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech
Avolition
A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
Co-morbidity
The occurrence of 2 illnesses of conditions together, for example, a person has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder. Where 2 conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of classifying the 2 disorders separatley
Symptom overlap
Occurs when 2 or more conditions share symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls into question the validity of classifying the 2 disorders separately.
Criterion validity
A means of assessing validity by considering the extent to which people who do well on a test do well on other things that you would expect to be associated with the test
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A disabling reaction to stress following a traumatic event. The response doesn’t always appear immediately after an event. The reactions are long-lasting and include reliving the event recurrently in flashbacks and dreams, emotional numbness and general anxiety which may result in lack of concentration
Bipolar disorder
A mental disorder which includes both manic and depressive episodes. Mania is characterised by an elevated and expansive mood, rapid speech which may be hard to understand, delusions, over activity and impulsive behaviour
Genetics
Genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produces ‘instructions’ for general and specific physical features of an organism. Genes may impact on psychological features and are transmitted from parent to offspring
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 occur in conjunction with an experience and may be implicated in the origins of that experience
Candidate genes
Studying genetic influence by focusing on one particular gene that is thought to be of interest
Genome
Your genotype
Hyperdopaminergia in the subcortex
Original versions of the dopamine hypothesis which was based on the high levels of dopamine in the subcortex
Hypodopaminergia in the cortex
More recent version of the dopamine hypothesis which is based on low levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex
Superior temporal gyrus
Contains the primary auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing sounds
Anterior cingulate gyrus
Frontal part of the cingulate cortex that resembles a ‘collar’ surrounding the frontal part of the corpus collasum
Ventral striatum
Major portion of the basal ganglia and functions as part of the reward system. It includes the nucleus accumbens
Mutation
A change which can then be inherited by any offspring
Family dysfunction
Abnormal processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion. These may be risk factors for both the development and maintenance of Schizophrenia
Cognitive explanations
Explanations that focus on mental processes such as thinking, language and attention
Dysfunctional though processing
A general term meaning information processing that isn’t functioning normally and produces undesirable consequences
Schizophrenogenic mother
A psychological explanation of schizophrenia. A mother who is both cold and rejecting and overprotective and domineering create the potential for schizophrenia in her child
Expressed emotion
A measure of the family environment related to the extent that family members express critical, hostile and emotionally over-involved attitudes toward a family member with a disorder
Diathesis-stress model
An interactionist approach to explaining behaviour
Antipsychotics
Drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms, of psychotic conditions like schizophrenia
Typical antipsychotics
The first generation of antipsychotic drugs, having been used since the 1950s. They work as dopamine antagonists and include Chlorpromazine
Atypical antipsychotics
Drugs for Schizophrenia (a psychotic disorder) developed after typical antipsychotics. they typically target a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Examples include Clozapine and Risperidone
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. From the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims deal with thinking, such as challenging negative thoughts. The therapy also includes behavioural techniques
Family therapy
A psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of a family with the aim of improving their communication and reducing the stress of living as a family
Token economies
A form of behavioural therapy, where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement. For example, patients are given rewards as secondary reinforcers when they engage in correct/socially desirable behaviours. The tokens can then be exchanged for primary reinforcers - favourite foods or priviledges
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
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system (HPAS)
This controls how the body responds to a chronic stressor. The hypothalamus triggers the pituitary gland to release the hormone ACTH which, in turn, stimulates the release of cortisol
