schizophrenia; symptoms + features

Question 1

what is schizophrenia

Answer 1

• it is defined as a psychotic disorder which is characterised by a profound disruption of cognition and emotion, which affects language, thoughts, perception and sense of self.

Question 2

positive symptoms

Answer 2

• any change in behaviour or thoughts ( additional behaviours)
  1. thought insertion= when a person believes their thoughts do not belong to them and have been planted by an external source.
  2. hallucinations= perception of stimuli that are not actually present. can be visual, auditory.
  3. delusions= false beliefs which persist even in the presence of evidence which disconfirms their belief.
  4. disordered thinking= seen in a persons speech which may be unrelated or jumping from topics.

Question 3

negative symptoms

Answer 3

• withdrawal or lack of function that you would not normally expect to see in a healthy person.
  1. disturbances of affect= showing less and less emotion in their general use of non verbal communicating
  2. avolition= a psychological state characterised by a general lack of motivation to complete usual self motivated activities eg. work
  3. speech poverty= when a persons speech is very minimal and typically must be prompted.

Question 4

features; prevalence and onset

Answer 4

• about 1% gets it in their lifetime depending on race and origin
• onset is slightly earlier in males (early to mid 20s) and females is late 20s.
• males are more likely to develop a higher proportion of negative symptoms and have a longer duration - poor prognosis.

Question 5

features; prognosis

Answer 5

• many show general cognitive problems in memory, attention and language.
• most require formal or informal daily living supports
• drugs can reduce the positive symptoms but not negative
• people who have had psychosis before late adolescence often have a worse prognosis than those who develop it later on, with it being more severe.