Schizophrenia Spectrum Flashcards
Onset of Schizophrenia is noted to be when?
Late adolescence
Early adulthood
Use of what substance is associated with a 6x increased risk of schizophrenia?
Cannabis
Are positive symptoms associated with a better or worse prognosis?
Better
Are negative symptoms associated with a better or worse prognosis
Worse
Observed concordance rate of schizophrenia is monozygotic twins
40-50%
Observed concordance rate of schizophrenia in dizygotic twins
10-15%
Schizophrenia has been associated with a number of early life complications, including what?
Potentially adverse events that occur during pregnancy and labor, at delivery and early in neonatal life
- ELCs increase risk of schizophrenia by 1.5-2 fold
What drives the interaction between polygenic risk score and early life complications on schizophrenia risk?
Genes highly and differentially expressed in placenta
Pre-natal exposure to what during the 1st trimester appears to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia by 7-fold?
Influenza
What maternal infection encountered at any point in pregnancy is associated with a threefold increased risk of schizophrenia?
URI
What does the “revised dopamine hypothesis” for schizophrenia propose?
- Hyperactive dopamine transmission in mesolimbic areas
- Hypoactive dopamine transmission in prefrontal cortex
In addition to the mesolimbic areas, dopamine dysregulation is also observed in what brain regions important for emotional processing?
- Amygdala
- PFC
Where in the brain is the dopamine system particularly overactive in schizophrenic pt’s?
Hippocampus
What changes in cortisol have been seen in patients with schizophrenia?
Both heightened and decreased secretion
What 4 “positive” sx’s define psychotic disorders?
- delusions
- hallucinations
- disorganized thinking (speech)
- grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior
- including catatonia
Delusions
- Definition
- Types
Fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence
- Persecutory
- Grandiose
- Referential
- Erotomanic
- Nihilistic
- Somatic
Which types of hallucinations are the most common in Schizophrenia?
Auditory
- experienced as voices (familiar or unfamiliar)
- perceived as distinct from the individual’s own thoughts
Hallucinations that occur while falling asleep
Hypnagogic
Hallucinations that occur while waking up
Hypnopomic
Are hypnagogic and hynopomic hallucinations indicative of psychosis?
No
What is catatonic behavior?
Marked decrease in reactivity to the environment