Schizophrenia - The Characteristics Of Schizophrenia Flashcards
How would the biological approach explain the cause of schizophrenia
- dopamine hypothesis
- enlarged ventricles
How would the cognitive approach explain the cause of schizophrenia
There’s 2
1) Cognitive triad
- distorted thinking patterns that contribute to the development and maintenance of symptoms
- people with sz have cognitive biases that lead them to misinterpret events, perceive threats where there are none, and maintain maladaptive beliefs.
- therefore reinforcing delusions and hallucinations
2) Preconscious filters
- help us to focus on relevant stimuli while ignoring irrelevant information - influences perception + thought
- filters in SZs may fail to properly screen incoming information, leading to an overload of stimuli
- This cognitive overload can result in confusion, distorted perceptions, and difficulties in distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information.
- leading to delusions and hallucinations in order to make sense of it
How would the psychodynamic approach explain the cause of schizophrenia
Two explanations
1) The Schizophrenogenic Mother
- a parent who is cold, emotional, domineering and overprotective - yet very rejecting
- an inconsistent and emotionally manipulative upbringing causes the child to develop significant anxiety and mistrust
- the child (trying to cope with emotional turmoil) might retreat into a fantasy world —> manifesting as the symptoms of schizophrenia.
2) Fixation in the Oral Stage
- occurs from birth - 18months
- This fixation might occur due to either overindulgence or deprivation during this critical period.
- As a result, the person may regress to this stage later in life when faced with stress or anxiety, leading to behaviors associated with schizophrenia, such as dependency, passivity, or a detachment from reality.
How does the characteristics of schizophrenia manifest itself in individuals
- different individuals will experience different symptoms with variability
- there is no definitive symptoms of the disorder
- involves a range of of cognitive, behavioural and emotional dysfunctions
- diagnosis involves a cluster of characteristics associated with impaired occupational/social functioning
What are the different characteristics of schizophrenia
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Disorganised thinking (speech)
- Grossly disorganised or abnormal behaviour (including catatonia)
- negative symptoms
Describe the characteristic: Delusions
- Beliefs that are unreal with no evidence to offer that supports the delusions. There’s 2 examples
1) delusions of persecution: based on the idea that a person/organisation wants to hurt the individual
2) delusions of grandiosity: suggests the individual is specially in some way, e.g. they think they’re God
Describe the characteristic: Hallucinations
- Perceptions that are unreal, e.g. auditory hallucinations such as hearing voices
- Kathryn Lewondowski (et al 2009) 20% of people with sz have ‘tactile hallucinations’ e.g. perceiving sensations as if something is touching their skin.
- an example of this would be fortification - sensation that small insects are crawling on (or under) the skin. Not seen as just a halusionation
Describe the characteristic: Disorganised thinking (speech)
- evident through examining speech of individuals with sz
- person’s thoughts jump from one topic to another for no apparent reason and show no logical flow of discussion
- speech is muddled and incoherent
- Some may experience thought insertion —> the thoughts in their head aren’t their own and replaced by a 3rd party
Describe the characteristic: Grossly disorganised or abnormal behaviour (including catatonia)
- Catatonic behaviour: range from fast, repetitive useless movements to little or no movement at all. Making unexpected gestures or loud noises for no purpose
- echopraxia may also occur, people with sz mimic the movements of others around them
- on the other end, they may remain immobile for prolonged periods of time even if in uncomfortable postures, resisting even if others try to move them (known as waxy flexibility)
Describe the characteristic: negative symptoms
Made up of 4 main components
1) alogia
2) avolition
3) anhedonia
4) flatness of affect
What is alogia
- Poverty of speech
- speech may be simple, short and lack meaning
What is avolition
- people seem to be independent or unconcerned with the going on in their surroundings
- show on desire to take part in activities (lack of goal-directed behaviour)
What is Anhedonia
Individual doesn’t react appropriately to pleasurable experiences
What is flatness of affect
- Individual appears to have no emotion
- shows little to no facial emotional expressions such as smiling or grimacing
- perceived as apathetic by others + speech patterns are very monotonous
What are positive symptoms
Experiences things that normal people don’t
