Symptoms And Features Of Schizophrenia

Question 1

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 1

-a long term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality, and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation

-it makes it difficult to distinguish between what is real and unreal, think clearly, manage emotions, relate to others, and function normally. It is classed as a psychotic disorder as ‘psychosis’ means a disorder where a persons thought process and emotions and so impaired that they have lost contact with reality.

Question 2

What are some of the features of schizophrenia?

Answer 2

-males are more likely to suffer than females, leading to more hospitalisations
-males are usually aged between 14 and 25 when symptoms begin appearing
-females are usually aged between 24 and 35 when symptoms begin appearing

Question 3

What is meant by the term symptom?

Answer 3

-an individual, personal experience with a disorder

Question 4

What is meant by positive and negative symptoms?

Answer 4

-positive symptoms are those that are added to normal behaviour, in addition
-negative symptoms are things that are taken away from normal behaviour

Question 5

List and explain some of the positive symptoms people with schizophrenia may experience

Answer 5

1. Hallucinations = involuntary, vivid, and clear perceptual experiences that occur in the absence of any external stimuli. They can be visual, olfactory (smell) and also somatosensory (bodily feelings), but auditory are most common through the hearing of voices distinct from one’s own inner voice
2. Delusions = are fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in the light of conflicting evidence. They may relate to everyday life e.g always being monitored by the police, or they may be bizarre e.g believing an alien is trying to eat your brain. They can be persecutory (harm you) referential (environment has special/ personal meanings) or grandiose (you’re superior)
3. Thought insertion = when a person believes their thoughts do not belong to them and have been implanted by an external source. This can lead to the belief that thoughts, feelings, and experiences can pass from one person to another.
4. Disordered thinking = inferred from a persons speech. Person may switch from one topic to another and jumble seemingly unrelated ideas making it difficult to follow their train of thought. Word salad refers to random and incoherent stringing together of words and neologism refers to blending of words together to create new words. Only symptomatic if it leads to dysfunctional communication

Question 6

List and explain some of the negative symptoms people with schizophrenia may experience

Answer 6

1. Social withdrawal = disinterest or lack of drive to engage with others, or active motivation to fear and distrust of others
2. Poverty of speech = may speak incoherently, respond to questions with unrelated answers, say illogical things, or shift topics frequently
3. Apathy = a reduction of voluntary behaviours directed toward one or more goals
4. Flattening of emotion = emotional expressions don’t show. You may speak in a dull flat voice with no change in facial expression, and also have trouble understanding emotions in other people.