Psychology Teach Yourself Series Topic 17: Psychotic Disorder: Schizophrenia

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1 Psychology Teach Yourself Series Topic 17: Psychotic Disorder: Schizophrenia A: Level 14, 474 Flinders Street Melbourne VIC 3000 T: W: tssm.com.au E: TSSM 2013 Page 1 of 6

2 Contents Psychotic disorder: Psychotic Disorder: Schizophrenia... 3 Schizophrenia... 3 As it appears in Unit Biological contributing factors and management... 5 As it appears in Unit Psychological contributing factors and management... 6 Socio-cultural contributing factors and management... 6 Solutions to Review Questions... 6 TSSM 2013 Page 2 of 6

3 Psychotic Disorder: Schizophrenia Psychotic disorders describe disorders where a person loses touches with reality. People who are experiencing psychosis have difficulty thinking, have distorted perceptions, make poor judgments, have difficulty thinking clearly and experience delusions and hallucinations. Sufferers find it extremely difficult to function effectively in everyday life. Approximately 60% of people who suffer from a psychotic disorder have what the DSM-IV-TR categorises as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorgansied behavior and disturbances with thinking. Schizophrenia As it appears in Unit 4 Anyone can develop schizophrenia; however it is more common in young males. The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into four categories: positive, negative, cognitive and other symptoms. Positive symptoms refer to the addition of symptoms and they include delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations (false sensory or perceptual experiences), lack of insight and the gradual lack of ability to organise thoughts and speech. There are many types of delusions and they include; delusions of persecution where a person believes they are being tormented or followed by others, delusions of reference refers to a belief that the actions of others have special relevance, delusions of control refers to a belief where a person thinks they are being controlled by an external force, delusions of grandeur is a belief that you are an important person or can do something significant, thought broadcasting is a belief that people can read your mind and thought insertion is a belief that thoughts are being inserted into your mind from an outside source. The different types of hallucinations focus around distortions of sensory information of seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling. Negative symptoms refer to the removal of normal behavior and include avolition (lack of drive to do anything), asociality (lack of interest to associate with others), alogia (lack of thought or speech) and apathy (lack of emotional response). Cognitive symptoms are changes to thought patterns and are usually present in all sufferers. Schizophrenics will have a gradual decline in cognitive function and will lose about 5 points in their IQ. Their working memory and attention are affected. Other symptoms that are associated with schizophrenia but may not always be present are substance abuse, depression and suicide. For schizophrenia to be clinically diagnosed an individual must have some disturbances in their thoughts or behaviors for a period of at least six months and present with at least two other symptoms for one month. The different sub-types of schizophrenia include: Disorgansied schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia, catatonic schizophrenia, residual schizophrenia and undifferentiated schizophrenia. TSSM 2013 Page 3 of 6

4 Review Questions 1. a. What are hallucinations? b. Discuss two negative symptoms of schizophrenia. 2. a. Explain what is meant by a cognitive symptom of schizophrenia. b. What is the DSM IV-TR? TSSM 2013 Page 4 of 6

5 3. A delusion of persecution refers to A. Any belief that one is being tormented followed or tricked or spied on by others. B. Any belief they the actions of others have a special relevance. C. Any belief that one is being controlled by an external force. D. Any belief that one is an important person or that they have done something significant. E. Any belief that thoughts are being inserted into one s mind from an outside source. Biological contributing factors and management As it appears in Unit 4 While the specific cause of schizophrenia is unclear it is primarily a brain disorder and therefore biological factors play an important role. Schizophrenia tends to run in families and can therefore be hereditary. People who have a biological relative with schizophrenia have a genetic predisposition or an increased risk for developing the disorder. Schizophrenia can also be induced by taking legal and illegal drugs which is known as drug-induced schizophrenia. Pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed to treat Parkinson s disease have been known to cause psychotic symptoms. There are many illicit drugs that are strongly associated with schizophrenia and they include cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, PHP or angel dust, ketamine, LSD and magic mushrooms. Using these drugs does not cause schizophrenia however people who have a predisposition to the disease are more vulnerable when using these drugs. People with schizophrenia also experience changes in their brain functioning. A person with schizophrenia has reduced activity in their frontal lobe and they have larger ventricles. These changes are in comparison with people without schizophrenia. Review Questions 4. What does it mean that schizophrenia is heredity? TSSM 2013 Page 5 of 6

6 Solutions to Review Questions Answer: A a. Hallucinations are perceptual distortions of sensory information. When a person is experiencing a hallucination they hear, see, feel, taste or smell something that is interpreted as real but which does not really exist. b. Any two of the following: avolition (lack of drive to do anything), asociality (lack of interest to associate with others), alogia (lack of thought or speech) and apathy (lack of emotional response). a. A cognitive symptom of schizophrenia is changes to thought patterns and is usually present in all sufferers. b. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Text Revision 4 th Edition is a categorical system for diagnosing and classifying mental disorders. Explanation: delusion of persecution refers to any belief that one is being tormented, followed or tricked or spied on by others. 4. People who have a biological relative with schizophrenia are more likely to develop the disease. 5. People who are predisposed to suffer from schizophrenia can cause an onset of the disease when they take illicit drugs. 6. Answer : B Explanation: There is a decrease of activity in the frontal lobe of someone suffering from schizophrenia. 7. Increased amount of dopamine in the brain has a contributory role in the development of schizophrenia. 8. Answer: E Explanation: Uncontrollable movement is a side effect of anti-psychotic medication. TSSM 2013 Page 6 of 6