Download Part VII. Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia
Pages in textbook 646-652
Barron’s Book pages247-249
Schizophrenia
• Most severe and
debilitating of the
psychological disorders.
• Strikes at young
adulthood
• Psychotic disorder –
marked by irrationality
and lost contact with
reality.
Symptom 1: Disorganized
Thinking
• The thinking of a
person with
Schizophrenia is
fragmented and
bizarre and distorted
with false beliefs.
• Disorganized thinking
comes from a
breakdown in selective
attention.- they
cannot filter out
information.
Symptom 2: Delusions (beliefs
that have no basis in reality)
• Delusions of
Persecution – belief
that people are out
to get you.
• Delusions of
Grandeur – belief
that you enjoy
greater power and
influence than you
do.
Symptom 3: Disturbed
Perceptions
• hallucinations- sensory
experiences without
sensory stimulation.
• Auditory most common
Symptom 4: Inappropriate
Emotions and Actions
• Laugh at
inappropriate times.
• Flat Effect
• Senseless,
compulsive acts.
• Catatoniamotionless Waxy
Flexibility
Symptom 5: Odd use of Language
• Make up their own words
(neologisms)
• Clang associations
• Word salad – jumping
from one idea to another
in totally nonsensical
pattern
• Echolalia parrot like
repeating of another’s
speech and
Echopraxia movements
Clang Association Example:
"Imagine the worst
Systematic, sympathetic
Quite pathetic, apologetic,
paramedic
Your heart is prosthetic“
Additional Symptoms
•
•
•
•
Neglect of personal hygiene
Socially withdrawn
Loss of motivation
Inappropriate clothing – layers of clothing in
hot weather
Classifying Symptoms
Positive Symptoms
Negative Symptoms
• Presence of
inappropriate symptoms
Examples:
• Absence of appropriate
ones.
Examples:
Overall Causes of Schizophrenia
Brain Anatomy
- Dopamine hypothesis –
excess dopamine
(hallucinations & paranoia)
- Gray matter in brains less
dense
- Temporal lobe activation
(hallucinations)
- Low activity in frontal
lobes
- Fluid filled areas and
corresponding shrinkage
of cerebral tissue
- Smaller-than-normal
cortex & thalamus
Prenatal Development
• Low birth weights
• Oxygen deprivation during
delivery
• Famine
• Maternal viral infection
• Experience the flu
Environmental
• Double binds – person is
given contradictory
messages which may cause
distorted way of thinking
• Diathesis-stress model –
environmental stressors
can provide circumstances
under which a biological
predisposition for illness
can express itself.
Overall Causes Cont.
Genetic Factor
• higher rates of schizophrenia for people with sibling
or parent with disease
• Twins who shared placenta are more likely than twins
who didn’t to both get disease
Case Study of Schizophrenia
Identify symptoms of schizophrenia
Somatic Therapies AKA Tardive dyskinesia – involuntary
movements of facial muscles
Neuroleptics
Psychopharmacology
• Antipsychotics – most work as dopamine
antagonists (thorazine & Clorzaril)
• Anti-anxiety (valium, barbiturates,
Librium, & Xanax) central nervous system
depressants
Antidepressants - Mood Disorders
• MAOI’s – inhibit MAO enzyme from
breaking down norepinephrine and
seratonin at the synapse (Nardil and
Parnate)
• (SSRI’s)serotonin reuptake inhibitors –
blocks the reuptake of only seratonin
(Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox)
• (lithium Carbonate) Treats bipolar
disorder
• (TCA’s) Tricyclics – blocks the reuptake
of norepinephrine & seratonin (Trofanil,
Elavil, & Norprmin)
Group vs. Individual Therapy
• Group therapy can help more
people and cost less per
person than individual
therapy.
• Knowledge of others similar
problems.
Family Therapy – therapy that
treats the family as a
system.
Advantages of Family therapy
• Opens up communication
within a family
• Learn new ways of preventing
or resolving conflict.