Schizophrenia - Overview Flashcards
What is acute onset?
Obvious signs such as hallucinations appear quite suddenly
Usually occurs a few days after a stressful event
What is chronic onset?
Often a slow change in an apparently normal young person
Gradually lose drive and motivation and start to drift away from friends
More obvious signs of disturbance including delusions and hallucinations appear after a few months or years of deterioration
What is required to acquire a diagnosis from the ICD-10?
At least 1 symptom from group 1 or 2 symptoms from group 2 for at least a month
List group 1 symptoms
Thought control
Delusions of control, influence, and passivity
Hallucinatory voices
Other persistent delusions
List group 2 symptoms
Persistent hallucinations
Incoherent or irrelevant speech
Catatonic behaviour
Negative symptoms
What is thought control?
Thought withdrawal
Thought insertion
Thought broadcast
What are delusions of control, influence, or passivity?
Delusions are distorted beliefs
Individual does not feel in control of their own thoughts, feelings, or will
What are hallucinatory voices?
Voices that do not exist but feel real to the person experiencing them
Content is very variable
Often takes the form of a running commentary of the individual’s behaviour
What are other persistent delusions?
Distorted beliefs that are culturally inappropriate or involve impossible powers and capabilities
What are persistent delusions?
Distorted perceptions arising from any of the senses
May be accompanied by delusions
Occur in the absence of any external stimuli
What is incoherent or irrelevant speech?
Arises when train of thought is disrupted
Person’s speech is so jumbled that it becomes meaningless
Neologisms are often inserted into conversation
What is catatonic behaviour?
Unusual body language or movements
Includes odd postures, uncontrolled limb movements, and sometimes complete immobility
What are negative symptoms?
Apathy
General lack of drive and motivation
Speech often conveys little meaning and is often repetitive
Flat affect
Issues surrounding the reliability of the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia
Inter-rather reliability
Retrospective information
Different criteria and sub-types
Co-morbidity with depression
Issues surrounding the validity of the classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia
Co-morbidity and symptom overlap
Schizophrenia-like disorders
Dimensional vs categorical systems
Cultural relativism
