1. Schizophrenia - AP Psychology - Andover HS
Mr. Koch
AP Psychology
Andover High School

2. Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
Schizotypal (Personality) Disorder
Delusional Disorder
Brief Psychotic Disorder
Schizophreniform Disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizoaffective Disorder
Substance/Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorder
Psychotic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition
Catatonia
Catatonia Associated With Another Mental Disorder (Catatonia Specifier)
Catatonic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition
Unspecified Catatonia
Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder
Unspecified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder

3. Schizophrenia
A severe and disabling pattern of extremely disturbed thinking, emotion, perception, and behavior that seriously impairs the ability to communicate and relate to others and disrupts most other aspects of daily functioning
One of the most serious disorders
Often involves loss of contact with reality
Symptoms seen in all parts of world

4. Schizophrenia 1-2% of population
Appears equally in various ethnic groups
Equal rates M/F
Usually develops in adolescence, early adulthood
~40% improve w/ treatment and function reasonably well
Rest have continuous or intermittent symptoms that permanently disrupt functioning
10-13% of homeless population have schizophrenia

5. Case Study in Schizophrenia (Gerald)

6. Common Symptoms Disorders of thought/language Disorganization:
“neologisms” (“new words”)
only have meaning to themselves
“loose associations”
Tendency for one thought to be unconnected to another
“Word salad”
Jumble of words reflecting utterly chaotic thoughts

7. Schizophrenic Word Salad

8. Schizophrenia - AP Psychology - Andover HS
Common Symptoms
Disorders of thought/language (cont’d)
Content
Delusions – false beliefs
“delusions of influence”
Believe being controlled (body, thought, or behavior) by external forces
“self-significant delusions”
Exaggerated beliefs about oneself (i.e. delusions of grandeur)
“delusions of persecution”
Others are out to harass/harm them

9. Common Symptoms Disorders of Perception
Inability to focus attention (may feel overwhelmed)
May feel detached from world or own body
Hallucinations – false perceptions
Very common – often takes form of voices
Can also be sights, smells, taste, touch sensations w/o external stimuli

10. Common Symptoms Disorders of emotion Other common symptoms
Flat or inappropriate affect
Other common symptoms
Some are extremely agitated, others move very little
Lack motivation/social skills
Poor personal hygiene
Inability to function in everyday situations

11. Subtypes of Schizophrenia
Paranoid
Disorganized
Catatonic
Undifferentiated
Residual
Some see this classification system as inadequate
Not always accurate picture of behavior (symptoms overlap)
Some show characteristics of multiple symptoms
Instead some suggest describing according to “positive” and “negative” symptoms
Subtypes eliminated in DSM-5
The subtypes were determined to have limited diagnostic stability, low reliability, and poor validity. They also have not shown distinctive patterns of treatment response or longitudinal course. Instead, the DSM-5 is suggesting rating severity of the core symptoms.
The DSM-5 does list Catatonia separately and allows for diagnosis as a specifier for depressive, bipolar and psychotic disorders or as a separate diagnosis.

12. Variations of Schizophrenia
“Positive” symptoms
Presence of inappropriate behaviors (i.e. – hallucinations, delusions)
“Negative” symptoms
Absence of appropriate behaviors (i.e. – lack of emotion, tone, movement)
Chronic (aka – “process”) Schizophrenia
Develops gradually, recovery is unlikely
Acute (aka – “reactive”) Schizophrenia
Sudden onset (reaction to stress), recovery is more likely

13. Causes of Schizophrenia
Strong genetic link
Connected w/ brain abnormalities
Low/unusual activity in frontal lobe
increased activity in thalamus/amygdala
Shrunken tissue in thalamic regions, cortex, and corpus callosum
enlarged fluid-filled ventricles
Connection to dopamine levels
Excess of dopamine receptor sites (especially linked to “positive” symptoms)
Neurodevelopmental problems
(maternal famine, low birthweight, oxygen deprivation, flu/viral exposure, older parental age, etc)
No environmental causes clearly produce schizophrenia
(Diathesis-Stress Model)