Schizophrenia

Positive symptoms are those that happen in addition to the norm – ie delusions, hallucinations Negative symptoms are those that take away from the norm – ie loss of pleasure, motivation, interest Diagnosis – Must have at least 2 of the following 5 symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour, negative symptoms. Must have been present for more than 6 months and seriously affect ability to maintain normal functioning

Delusions Fixed false belief held with certainty. Persecution Reference Control Grandeur Thought broadcasting Thought insertion

Hallucinations Perceptual distortions of sensory information Can affect any of the senses but most often affects hearing (ie hearing voices) Voices are usually critical or unfriendly

Disorganised speech Derailment – rapid shifts from topic to topic Perseveration – constant repetition of words or phrases Neologisms – making up new words only they know Clang – meaningless rhyming words

Grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour Disorganised behaviour – behave inappropriately, dress strangely, poor personal hygiene Catatonic behaviour – can range from extremely agitated behaviour to none at all. Catatonic stupor Catatonic posturing Waxy flexibility

Negative symptoms Affective flattening Avolition (apathy) lack of energy or enthusiasm for anything Alogia (poverty of speech) may not say much or may use a lot of words but convey very little meaning L.A p783 Qu 2, 4, 7,

Biological factors Genetic predisposition Drug induced Changes in brain activity L.A p790 Qu 1a,b, 2, 5

Use of Medication Dopamine hypothesis – read cigarette article Anti psychotics work by blocking dopamine activity. They are therefore antagonists. L.A p793 Qu 1, 2, 3, 4c, 6