Studies

Question 1

Luhrmann et al

Answer 1

• interviewed patients from Ghana, India and US about hearing voices
• the US subjects were more likely to report the voices heard were violent and hateful
• Hearing voices may be more acceptable in African cultures due to cultural beliefs of communication with ancestors

Question 2

Copeland

Answer 2

-Found 69% of US psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia compared to only 2% of British psychiatrists using the same patient description

Question 3

Cheniaux et al

Answer 3

• More likely to be diagnosed using the ICD than DSM-V

- assessment criteria different= poor validity

Question 4

Loring and Powell

Answer 4

• 56% of psychiatrists gave a diagnosis of schizophrenia when a patient in a case study was described as male or given no info about gender
• But when the same case was described as female only 20% gave a diagnosis

Question 5

Longenecker et al

Answer 5

-Since the 1980s men have been diagnosed with schizophrenia more often than women

Question 6

Buckley et al

Answer 6

• 50% of patients with schizophrenia also have depression
• 47% suffer from substance abuse
• 23% suffer with OCD

Question 7

Ellason and Ross

Answer 7

-people with DID have more schizophrenic symptoms than people with schizophrenia

Question 8

Read

Answer 8

-most people diagnosed with schizophrenia have sufficient symptoms to get diagnosis for another disorder

Question 9

Whaley

Answer 9

-Inter-rater correlations for the DSM were as low as 0.11

Question 10

Gottesman

Answer 10

• 48% concordance rates for MZ twins, 17% for DZ twins and 9% for siblings (Far from 100%)
• Shows that there is a strong relationship between the degree of genetic similarity and the shared risk of schizophrenia

Question 11

Tienari et al (1)

Answer 11

-Adoptees with biological mothers who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia were x3 more likely to receive the same diagnosis than those whose biological mother did not have schizophrenia

Question 12

Ripke et al

Answer 12

• Compared the genetic makeup of 37,000 patients with 113,000 controls
• Found 108 separate genetic variations which were associated with higher risk of schizophrenia

Question 13

Juckel et al

Answer 13

• Found that reduced activity in the ventral striatum was associated with avolition
• This area is involved with the anticipation of reward, which creates motivation
• Without this people won’t engage in goal directed behaviour

Question 14

Allen et al

Answer 14

-Found lower levels in the superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate in patients experiencing auditory hallucinations

Question 15

Goldman-Rakic et al

Answer 15

-Found low levels of hypodopaminergia in the prefrontal cortex associated with negative symptoms

Question 16

Leucht et al

Answer 16

• Meta-analysis of 212 studies that analysed the effectiveness of different antipsychotic drugs compared with a placebo
• Found all drugs tested were significantly more effective than the placebo in treating positive and negative symptoms

Question 17

Noll

Answer 17

-Claims that there is strong evidence against the dopamine hypothesis as antipsychotic drugs do not alleviate hallucinations and delusions in about 33% of patients

Question 18

Fromm-Reichmann

Answer 18

-Schizophrenogenic Mother
-A cold, rejecting and controlling mum
-This can create a family environment of secrecy and tension
-Lead to distrust and paranoid delusions
(Psychodynamic approach)

Question 19

Bateson et al

Answer 19

• Double-bind hypothesis
• Shows the role of communication within a family
• A child receives mixed messages about what to do and feels trapped in a situation where they fear doing the wrong thing
• Can’t ask for clarification
• Punished through withdrawal of love
• Leads to a view of the world as a confusing and dangerous place
• Causes disorganised thinking and paranoid delusions

Question 20

Frith et al

Answer 20

• Identified 2 types of dysfunctional thought processing;
  1) Metarepresentation= ability to reflect on thoughts and behaviour, allowing us to insight into our own intentions and goals and interpret others actions. Dysfunctional when inability to recognise our actions as our own (hallucinations)
  2) Central Control= ability to suppress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions. Causes disorganised speech → inability to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts.

Question 21

Read et al

Answer 21

-Reviewed 46 studies of child abuse and schizophrenia
-Concluded that 69% of women and 59% of men inpatients had a history of childhood abuse
(Early trauma affects the developing brain)

Question 22

Tienari et al (2)

Answer 22

• Genetic vulnerability wasn’t sufficient in causing schizophrenia in the adoptees
• Children with schizo bio mums were only rated as more likely to develop schizo if their adopted family was rated as disturbed

Question 23

Stirling et al

Answer 23

• Compared 30 patients with schizo with 18 non-patient controls on cognitive tasks including the Stroop Test
• Patients took over twice as long to name the ink colours as the control group

Question 24

Jauhar et al

Answer 24

-Reviewed 34 studies of CBT for schizo and concluded that it had significant but fairly small effect on both positive and negative symptoms

Question 25

Leucht et al

Answer 25

• Analysed the effectiveness of different antipsychotic drugs compared with a placebo and found that all drugs were significantly more effective than the placebo for both positive and negative symptoms
• Patients with placebo where significantly more likely to relapse within 12 months (64% on placebo relapsed)

Question 26

Meltzer

Answer 26

-Clozapine is more effective than Typical antipsychotic medication, at it was effective 30-50% of treatment-resistant cases where typical antipsychotics have failed

Question 27

Crossley et al

Answer 27

-No significant differences between atypical and typical antipsychotics in terms of their effects on symptoms, but did notice a difference in side effects

Question 28

Ross and Reid

Answer 28

• When people are prescribed antipsychotic medication it reinforces the view that there’s ‘something wrong with them’
• Preventing the individual from thinking about possible stressors that might be a trigger for their condition
• Reducing their motivation to look for solutions

Question 29

Pharoah et al

Answer 29

-Identified strategies to reduce likelihood of relapse (Family studies);
-forming therapeutic alliances with all fam members
-reduction of stress for carers
-reduction in guilt and anger
-improvement of belief towards schizo
-reduces relapse
=Found fam therapy significantly reduces hospital admissions

Question 30

Dickerson et al

Answer 30

• Reviewed 13 studies, 11 reported beneficial effects attributed to the use of token economies
• HOWEVER had significant methodological shortcomings

Question 31

McMonigal and Saltana

Answer 31

• Only 3 studies into token economies featuring random allocation
• Only one of these showed improvement in symptoms

Question 32

Meehl

Answer 32

-Vulnerability is due to schizogene, without the gene no amount of stress will cause the disorder

Question 33

Houston et al

Answer 33

• Stress is anything which risks triggering schizo

- Childhood sexual trauma is a vulnerability factor whilst cannabis is a trigger

Question 34

Tienari et al (3)

Answer 34

• Investigated combo of genetic vulnerability and parenting style (trigger) in adopted children with schizo bio mums
• Adoptive parents were assessed for child-rearing style and rates of schizo were compared to a control group
• A child-rearing style characterised by high levels of criticism and conflict and low empathy levels was implicated in the development of schizo

Question 35

Tarrier et al

Answer 35

• Randomly allocated 315 patients to a (1) medication and CBT group, (2) medication and counselling group or (3) medication only= control group
• Patients in 1 and 2 showed lower symptom levels than those in the control group BUT no difference in rates of hospital readmission