Psychology chapter 16 schizophrenia

thoughts and actions are disorganized and thinking loses touch with reality; people see and worry about things that do not exist

Psychotic disorders

psychological disorder in which people exhibit multiple psychotic symptoms

Schizophrenia

include mental events experienced by people with schizophrenia, but rarely by others. → hallucinations 

positive schizophrenia symptoms 

include psychological experiences common among most people; → Flat affect 

Negative symptoms 

include reduced ability to perform everyday thinking tasks → difficulty concentrating

Cognitive impairments

Experiences of people or things that are not really there 

Hallucinations 

personal convitions that contraduct known fcats about the world but that a person clings to even when faced with conflicting evidence

Delusional beliefs

an absence of normal emotional expression

Flat affect

a symptom of schizophrenia in which thoughts and speech are not properly structured , and speech is thus unintelligible

Disorganized thinking

stores memory in mind for brief period of time

aids in manipulation of stored information

Working memory

is impaired and works less effectively

involves disorganized thinking

Working memory in schizophrenia

involves thinking and emotion

Decision making 

characterized by lack of emotion-induced changes in decision making

decision making in schizophrenia

neurotransmitter most central to schizophrenia; affects multiple aspects of mental life

Dopamine

Abnormal dopamine levels are responsible for schizophrenia

True or false?

True

drug therapy

antipsychotics

side effects (tardive dyskinesia)

Therapy for schizophrenia

schizophrenia impairs people’s decision making ability

person level

emotional state directly influence decision making processes. 

mind level 

enable emotional processes to influence thinking

brain level

Michaela’s description of why the aliens are monitoring her thoughts makes sense if you suspend your disbelief in aliens.  Which of the following statements is true of her schizophrenic symptoms?

 

She has a positive symptom, delusional thinking, but does not suffer from disorganized thinking, a positive symptom.

What qualifies flat affect as a negative symptom of schizophrenia?

It is an absence of a psychological experience (affect) that is valued by others.

Shayna wanted to get over her fear of dogs so she employed the help of a therapist who asked her to imagine different situations that included dogs. In these situations, she got successively closer to interacting with a dog. Throughout this process, her therapist helped her to remain calm.  Eventually, Shayna learned that she could pet a dog without any negative consequences.  What therapeutic technique did her therapist use?

exposure therapy

Dr. Reed met with his client for a couple of weeks before determining that the cause of her symptoms, including a marked disinterest in activities and a deep sadness, was depression.  Dr. Reed’s approach, characterized by a search for the inner causes of outward symptoms, is commonly referred to as:

the medical model