Chapter 12 PSYC

Schizophrenia

A severe mental illness characterized by negative symptoms such as emotional withdrawal and flat affect, by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, and by cognitive symptoms such as poor attention span.

Positive Symptoms

Refers to symptoms that are present but typically should not be—representing an abnormal behavioral state. Examples include psychosis, such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, and bizarre behaviors.

Negative Symptoms

(Emotional and motivational impairments) Refers to characteristics that are absent but should be present. These symptoms reflect a reduction or loss of normal functions, such as diminished emotional expression or social withdrawal

Dopamine Hypothesis

The theory that schizophrenia results from an excess of dopamine transmission in the brain.

Antipsychotic Drugs

Medications used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders by blocking dopamine receptors.

Genetic Component

The hereditary aspect of schizophrenia, where relatives of affected individuals show a higher incidence of the disorder.

Ventricular Abnormalities

Enlarged cerebral ventricles found in many individuals with schizophrenia, indicating loss of brain tissue.

Cognitive Impairments

Difficulties with processing and acting on information, commonly seen in individuals with schizophrenia.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

A treatment for severe depression that involves inducing a seizure through electrical stimulation of the brain.

Major Depressive Disorder

A mood disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and lack of interest in previously enjoyed activities.

Selectively Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

A class of antidepressants that increase levels of serotonin in the brain by preventing its reuptake.

Lithium

A mood stabilizer used primarily to treat bipolar disorder, discovered by accident to be effective.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A form of psychotherapy used to treat depression that focuses on altering negative thought patterns.

Anxiety Disorders

Mental health disorders characterized by excessive fears or worries that interfere with daily activities.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A condition marked by obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors) that individuals feel driven to perform.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, involving flashbacks and heightened arousal.

Dysfunction in the Amygdala

Changes in the brain structure involved in fear processing, commonly observed in anxiety disorders.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A movement disorder caused by long-term use of antipsychotic medications, characterized by repetitive, involuntary movements.

Benzodiazepines

A class of drugs primarily used to treat anxiety disorders by enhancing the effects of the neurotransmitter GABA.

Stress Inoculation

A cognitive-behavioral approach used to help individuals cope with stress and reduce anxiety.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

A neurosurgical procedure used to treat various psychiatric disorders by applying electrical stimulation to specific brain regions.

Anhedonia

The inability to experience pleasure in activities usually found enjoyable, often seen in depressive disorders.

Norepinephrine DRI (Norepinephrine-Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors)

A class of antidepressants that increase synaptic levels of norepinephrine and dopamine.

Polymorphism

Variations in genes that can affect an individual's risk for developing psychiatric disorders.

Grandiosity

An unrealistic sense of superiority often seen in manic episodes of bipolar disorder.

Tics

Involuntary, repetitive movements or sounds common in Tourette’s syndrome.

Hippocampal Volume Loss

Reduction in the size of the hippocampus often observed in individuals with PTSD and depression.

Mood Stabilizers

Medications used to control mood swings in individuals with bipolar disorder, such as lithium.

Cingulotomy

A surgical procedure that involves making lesions in the cingulate cortex, used as a last resort for severe OCD cases.

Euphoria

An intense feeling of happiness and well-being, often experienced during the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

Neurotransmitter Dysregulation

Imbalances in the brain's chemical messengers that play a role in the development of mood and anxiety disorders.

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections, important in the treatment of depression and other disorders.

Intrusive Thoughts

Unwanted, distressing thoughts that are a core symptom of OCD.

Environmental Factors

External influences, such as stress or trauma, that can contribute to the development of psychiatric disorders.

paralytic dementia

Characterized by the sudden onset of delusions (false beliefs strongly held in spite of contrary evidence), grandiosity (boastful self-importance), euphoria, poor judgment, impulsive behavior, and disordered thought, the disorder was originally believed to be caused by “weak character,” but postmortem analyses of their brains revealed that their illness had a physiological cause: syphilis.

Cognitive Symptoms

Refers to difficulties in processing and responding to external information. (NEUROCOGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT) Common symptoms include memory problems, poor attention span, difficulty with planning, reduced decision-making ability, impaired social cognition, and abnormal movement patterns

Concordance

Sharing of a characteristic by both individuals of a pair of twins

hypofrontality hypothesis

The idea that schizophrenia may reflect underactivation of the frontal lobes.

lobotomy

The surgical separation of a portion of the frontal lobes from the rest of the brain, once used as a treatment for schizophrenia and many other ailments.

chlorpromazine

(Thorazine)- An early antipsychotic drug that revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenia.

dyskinesia

Difficulty or distortion in voluntary movement.

firstgeneration antipsychotics

Also called typical antipsychotic or neuroleptic. Any of a class of antipsychotic drugs that alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia, typically by blocking dopamine receptors.

supersensitivity psychosis

An exaggerated “rebound” psychosis that may emerge when doses of antipsychotic medication are reduced.

second-generation antipsychotics

Also called atypical antipsychotic. An antipsychotic drug that has primary actions other than or in addition to the dopamine D receptor antagonism that characterizes the first-generation antipsychotics.

clozapine

A second-generation antipsychotic that blocks 5-HT receptors.

Phencyclidine (PCP)

Also called angel dust. An anesthetic agent that is also a psychedelic drug. PCP makes many people feel dissociated from themselves and their environment.

psychotomimetic

A drug that induces a state resembling schizophrenia

habenulae

a pair of small nuclei located adjacent to the pineal gland, with widespread links through the limbic system, basal forebrain, and midbrain.

glutamate hypothesis

The idea that schizophrenia may be caused, in part, by understimulation of glutamate receptors.

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)

A noninvasive treatment in which repeated pulses of focused magnetic energy are used to stimulate the cortex through the scalp.

monoamine oxidase (MAO)

the enzyme that normally inactivates monoamines in the synaptic cleft.

ketamine

A dissociative anesthetic drug, similar to PCP, that acts as an NMDA receptor antagonist.

learned helplessness

an animal is exposed to a repetitive stressful stimulus, such as an electrical shock, that it cannot escape.

Bipolar disorder

A psychiatric disorder characterized by periods of depression that alternate with excessive, expansive moods

anxiolytics

A substance that is used to reduce anxiety. Examples include alcohol, opiates, barbiturates, and the benzodiazepines.

fear conditioning

A form of classical conditioning in which a previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unpleasant stimulus, like foot shock, until the previously neutral stimulus alone elicits the responses seen in fear.

Tourette’s syndrome

A disorder involving heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli that may be accompanied by verbal or physical tics.

genome-wide association studies (GWAS)

A genetic research technique in which the genomes of many participants are screened to identify specific gene variants associated with a trait or disease of interest.