schizophrenia- introduction

what is schizophrenia

a highly debilitating mental health disorder characterised by episodes of psychosis

what do patients with schizophrenia suffer with

• distortions in perception (hallucinations, delusions)

• disorganised behaviour

what does schizophrenia manifest due to

• neurochemical imbalance in the brain

• imbalance of dopamine, glutamate, acetylcholine, 5-HT, GABA

what are the 3 groups that schizophrenic symptoms can be characterised into

• positive symptoms

• negative symptoms

• cognitive symptoms

what are positive symptoms in schizophrenia

• hallucinations (auditory, visual)

• delusions

• thought insertion

• disorganised thought processes

• disorganised speech

• disorganised behaviour

• agitation

• catatonia

what is catatonia

a person being awake but unresponsive to normal stimuli

what are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia

• flattening of emotional responses

• low mood

• loss of motivation

• lack of energy

• social withdrawal

• anhedonia

• speech and language deficits

• poor self-care

what is anhedonia

loss of interest in pleasurable activities

what are cognitive symptoms associated with schizophrenia

• impaired working memory

• loss of attention

• impaired decision-making

what is the typical age of onset of schizophrenia

• late adolescence/early adulthood (15-25 years)

• onset relates to seeing the positive symptoms, often negative symptoms will already be there just hard to tell if its schizophrenia

why is life expectancy reduced in patients with schizophrenia

• increased cardiovascular risk

• lifestyle

• suicide

what percentage does genetics have a play in schizophrenia

70-80%

what percentage does environmental factors have a play in schizophrenia

20-30%

what are the risk factors associated with schizophrenia

• family history- 50% concordance in identical twins, 20% non-identical twins, 10% sibling, 15% parent

• developmental- pre-natal factors (maternal stress e.g. viral infection, birth trauma), neurodevelopmental abnormalities

• environment- stressful life evens, urban environment