symptoms of SZ Flashcards
what is SZ?
a psychotic disorder which involves loss of contact with reality and typically involves hallucinations or delusions
what are the main symptoms?
disturbances of thought process, emotions and behaviour
what are positive symptoms?
behaviours which are additional to normal behaviours e.g. hearing voices
what are negative symptoms?
behaviours which appear to be absent from normal behaviours e.g. loss of drive
what are the symptoms of SZ?
- hallucinations
- delusions
- thought insertion
- disorganised thinking
what are hallucinations?
false perceptions that affect our senses and cause us to see, hear, taste, smell and touch what others do not
- typically the person will hear voices that tell them what to do or warn them of danger
any attempt to tell them the voices are not there is met with resistance
what are delusions?
false beliefs or misinterpretations of events and their significance
- they are beliefs that seem strange to most people and are easy to prove wrong
they may think that someone is trying to control them through the TV or (delusions of granduer) that they are god
what is thought insertion?
feeling as if one’s thoughts are not one’s own but rather belong to someone else and have been inserted into one’s mind.
e.g. violent thoughts that have come from satan
an individual will be able to tell which are their thoughts and which are the inserted thoughts
what is disorganised thinking?
having a hard time organising thoughts and lose their thread during conversations
- they may zone out or seem distracted
word salad is a typical outcome of this because words may or may not be correct but are confused enough that the listener cannot extract meaning
what is the difference between a symptom and a feature?
Symptoms are the specific experiences or behaviors that indicate the presence of SZ.
Features are general characteristics of SZ, such as prevalence, onset, or course of the disorder.
what is the prevalence and onset of SZ?
the liklihood of developing SZ is between 0.3-0.7% depending on factors such as genetics, ethnicity, gender
- males are more likely to develop more negative symptoms and have a longer duration of the disorder
what is the prognosis of SZ?
~ 20% of those diagnosed will respond well to treatment but a large % will remain chronically ill and require regular treatment and interventions
