Symtoms And Classification

Question 1

What is Schizophrenia?

Answer 1

A severe mental illness where contact with reality and insight are impaired.

Question 2

What is paranoid schizophrenia?

Answer 2

Characterised by powerful delusions and hallucinations but relatively few other symptoms.

Question 3

What is hebephrenic schizophrenia?

Answer 3

Involves primarily negative symptoms.

Question 4

What is catatonic schizophrenia?

Answer 4

Disturbance to movement, leaving the sufferer immobile or alternatively overactive.

Question 5

What is sufficient for diagnosis under the DSM-5?

Answer 5

One or more positive symptoms must be present. These can include: hallucinations, delusions or speech disorganisation.

Question 6

What is sufficient for diagnosis under the ICD-10?

Answer 6

Two or more negative symptoms must be present. These include: abolition and speech poverty.

Question 7

What are hallucinations?

Answer 7

Unusual sensory experiences, some are related to events in the environment whereas others bear no relationship to the senses they’re experiencing.

Question 8

What are delusions?

Answer 8

Irrational beliefs, commonly involve being an important historical/religious/political figure. Other classes involve concerns over the body - sufferers may believe a part of them is under external control.

Question 9

What is avolition?

Answer 9

Finding it difficult to begin or keep up with goal-directed activity.
Andreason’s 3 signs: poor hygiene and grooming, lack of persistence in work/education and lack of energy.

Question 10

Andreason (1982):

Answer 10

3 signs of avolition:
Poor hygiene and grooming
Lack of persistence in work/education
Lack of energy

Question 11

What is speech poverty?

Answer 11

Changes in patterns of speech, recognised by the ICD-10 as a negative symptom. Can include a delay in verbal responses during conversation.

Question 12

What is speech disorganisation?

Answer 12

Speech becomes incoherent or speaker changes topic mid-sentence. Classified as a positive symptom in the DSM-5.

Question 13

Cheniaux et al. (2009):

Answer 13

2 psychologists independently diagnose 100 patients using the DSM and ICD.

• 1 diagnosed 26 according to the DSM and 44 according to the ICD.
• Other psychiatrist diagnosed 13 according to the DSM and 24 according to the ICD.
• Poor inter-rather reliability.

Question 14

Buckley et al. (2009):

Answer 14

Half of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia also have a depression diagnosis or substance abuse.

Question 15

Longnecker et al. (2010)

Answer 15

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

May be because men are more genetically vulnerable.

Or could be subject to gender bias.

Question 16

Cotten et al. (2009):

Answer 16

Women typically function better than men. They are more likely to work through symptoms and maintain good family relationships.

This high functioning may explain lack of diagnosis for women.

Question 17

Escobar (2012):

Answer 17

Psychiatrists may tend to over-interpret symptoms and distrust the honesty of black people during diagnosis.

Question 18

A03 points for the classification of schizophrenia:

Answer 18

• Cheniaux et al. - poor inter-rated reliability
• lack of validity, especially criterion validity
• co-morbidity - when two or more conditions occur together, Buckley et al.
• symptom overlap - questions diagnosis validity
• Gender bias - Longnecker et al.
• Gender bias - Cotten et al.
• Culture bias - Escobar
• Nomothetic criticism
• lack of reliability in diagnosis - either over-diagnosed in the ICD-10 or under diagnosed in DSM-5