Task 8 - Psychosis, Schizophrenia Flashcards
prodromal symptoms
- present before people go into acute phase of schizophrenia
- negative symptoms especially prominent
residual symptoms
- present after they emerge from acute phase
- negative symptoms especially prominent
Positive symptoms
- delusions
- hallucinations
- disorganized thought and speech
- disorganized7catatonic behavior
delusions
- ideas that an individual believes are true but are highly unlikely and often simply impossible
- people tend to be preoccupied with them
- look for evidence, want to convince others
- highly resistant to arguments/facts that contradict delusions
common type of delusions (6)
- persecutory delusions
- delusions of reference
- grandiose delusions
- delusions of being controlled
- delusions of guilt/sin
- somatic delusions
Persecutory delusions
-believe they are being watched/tormented (belästigt)
Delusion of reference
-believe that comments/events are directed at them
Grandiose delusions
-believe that one is a special being/posses special powers
Delusions of being controlled
- believe that thoughts/feelings/behaviors are imposed/controlled by external factors
- thought broadcasting
- thought insertion
- thought withdrawal
delusions of guilt/sin
-believe that one committed terrible act/is responsible for a terrible act
Somatic delusions
-believe that one’s appearance/part of body is diseased or altered
hallucinations
-unreal perceptual experiences
tactile hallucinations
-perception that something is happening to outside of body
somatic hallucinations
-perception that something is happening inside person’s body
disorganized thought and speech
- slip from one topic to seemingly unrelated one
- answering questions with barely related/unrelated comments
- neologism
- clangs: associations on words are based on sounds
- repeating same word
- men -> more severe deficits in language
disorganized/catatonic behavior
- unpredictable/untriggered agitation
- > maybe response to delusions and hallucinations
- trouble organizing daily routines
- engaging in socially unacceptable behavior
Catatonia
- disorganized behavior reflecting unresponsiveness to the world
- catatonic excitement: person becomes agitated for no apparent reason
negative symptoms
- affective flattening/blunted affect
- alogia
- avolition
- less responsive to medication
- involves loss/deficits in certain domains
affective flattening/blunted effect
- reduction/absende of affective (emotional) responses to environment
- face: immobility
- body language: unresponsive
- speak: monotone, avoid eye contact
- may reflect severe anhedonia ( loss of interest in everything)
Alogia
- poverty of speech -> reduction in speaking
- may be caused by lack of motivation
Avolition
- inability to persist at common, goal-directed activities
- trouble completing tasks
- disorganized, careless, unmotivated
cognitive deficits
- deficits in basic cognitive processes (attention and memory)
- difficulty to pay attention to relevant info and suppress unwanted/irrelevant info
- difficulties concentrating, maintain stream of thought or conversation, perform basic task, distinguish real from unreal
- relatives of schizophrenic people -> also show cognitive deficits
- may show deficits before developing acute symptoms
Prognosis
- 50 to 80 percent hospitalized will be rehospitalized sometime
- life expectancy: 10y shorter
- suffer from infectious and circulatory diseases at higher rate
- 10-15 percent commit suicide
- most stabilize within 5-10y after first episode
women
- better predisorder histories
- onset: late 20s/early 30s
- less often hospitalized, briefer periods
- milder negative symptoms
- better social adjustment
- estrogen may affect regulation of dopamine