PSY 215: Psychopathology/Abnormal Psych - Ch. 12

Schizophrenia

A psychotic disorder in which personal, social, and occupational functioning deteriorate as a result of unusual perceptions, odd thoughts, disturbed emotions, and motor abnormalities.

Psychosis

A state in which a person loses contact with reality in key ways.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders

A group of disorders in the DSM - including schizophrenia - that share similar symptoms including psychosis.

Downward drift theory

Theory that proposes schizophrenia causes its sufferers to fall from a higher to a lower socioeconomic level or to remain poor because they are unable to function effectively.

Positive symptoms

Symptoms of schizophrenia that seem to be excesses of or bizarre additions to normal thoughts, emotions, or behaviors.

Delusion

A strange false belief firmly held despite evidence to the contrary.

Delusions of persecution

The false belief that one is being plotted or discriminated against, spied on, slandered, threatened, attacked, or deliberately victimized.

Delusions of reference

The illogical/false attachment of special and personal meaning to the actions of others or to various objects or events.

Delusions of grandeur

The illogical belief that one is some kind of especially empowered person, such as a religious savior.

Delusions of control

The illogical/false belief that one’s feelings, thoughts, and actions are being controlled by other people.

Formal thought disorder

A disturbance in the production and organization of thought.

Loose associations

A common thinking disturbance in schizophrenia, characterized by rapid shifts from one topic of conversation to another. Also known as derailment.

Neologisms

Made-up words that typically have meaning only to the person using them.

Perseveration

Repeating words and/or statements over and over again.

Clang

The use of rhyme to think/express oneself 

Hallucination

The experiencing of sights, sounds, or other perceptions in the absence of external stimuli.

Inappropriate affect

Displays of emotions that are unsuited to the situation.

Negative symptoms

Symptoms of schizophrenia that seem to be deficits in normal thought, emotions, or behaviors.

Alogia

A decrease in speech or speech content; a symptom of schizophrenia. AKA “poverty of speech.”

Blunted affect

When one displays less anger, sadness, joy, or other feelings than most people.

Flat affect

When one shows almost no emotions at all.  

Avolition

Apathy; feeling drained of energy and of interest in normal goals and unable to start or follow through on a course of action. 

Catatonia

A pattern of extreme psychomotor symptoms, found in some forms of schizophrenia, which may include catatonic stupor, rigidity, or posturing.

Catatonic stupor

When one stops responding to their environment, remaining motionless and silent for long stretches of time.

Catatonic rigidity

When one maintains a rigid, upright posture for hours and resist efforts to be moved.

Catatonic posturing

When one assumes awkward, bizarre positions for long periods of time.

Catatonic excitement

When one moves excitedly, sometimes wildly waving their arms and legs.

Prodromal phase of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia symptoms are not yet obvious, but deterioration is already beginning.

Active phase of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia symptoms become apparent.

Residual phase of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia symptoms calm, and one returns to a prodromal-like level of functioning. 

Dopamine hypothesis

The theory that schizophrenia results from excessive activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Antipsychotic drugs

Drugs that help correct grossly confused or distorted thinking.

Phenothiazines

A group of antihistamine drugs that became the first group of effective antipsychotic medications.

Second-generation antipsychotic drugs

A relatively new group of antipsychotic drugs whose biological action is different from that of the first-generation antipsychotic drugs.

First-generation antipsychotic drugs

Older group of antipsychotic drugs that includes phenothiazines.

Schizophrenia-related brain circuit

Currently incomplete brain structure that (may be) related to schizophrenia, its symptoms, and its other related disorders.

Schizophrenogenic mother

A type of mother—supposedly cold, domineering, and uninterested in the needs of her children—who was once thought to cause schizophrenia in her child.

Expressed emotion

The general level of criticism, disapproval, and hostility expressed in a family.

Diathesis-stress relationship

People with a biological predisposition to schizophrenia will develop it if they further experience significant life stress or other negative events. 

Pro-inflammatory cytokines

Proteins that cause chronic inflammation throughout the brain.

State hospitals

State-run public mental institutions in the United States.

Milieu therapy

A humanistic approach to institutional treatment based on the premise that institutions can help patients recover by creating a climate that promotes self-respect, responsible behavior, and meaningful activity.

Token economy program

A behavior-focused program in which a person’s desirable behaviors are reinforced systematically by the awarding of tokens that can be exchanged for goods or privileges.

Neuroleptic drugs

Another name for first-generation antipsychotics, specifically because they often produce undesired movement effects similar to the symptoms of neurological diseases.

Extrapyramidal effects

Unwanted movements, such as severe shaking, bizarre-looking grimaces, twisting of the body, and extreme restlessness, sometimes produced by antipsychotic drugs.

Tardive dyskinesia

Extrapyramidal effects involving involuntary movements that some patients have after they have taken antipsychotic drugs for an extended time.

Agranulocytosis

A life-threatening drop in white blood cells; a specific problem with the antipsychotic drug Clozapine.

Cognitive remediation

A treatment that focuses on the cognitive impairments that often characterize people with schizophrenia—particularly their difficulties in attention, planning, and memory.

Coordinated specialty care

A treatment approach for people with severe mental disorders in which clinicians—often a team of health care specialists—provide interventions ranging from psychotherapy and practical advice to medication monitoring, housing guidance, and vocational counseling.

Deinstitutionalization

The practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals.

Assertive community treatment

A community approach for people with severe mental disorders in which a multidisciplinary team provides interventions ranging from medications, psychotherapy, and social skills building to residential and vocational guidance.

Community mental health center

A treatment facility that provides medication, psychotherapy, and emergency care for psychological problems and coordinates treatment in the community. 

Mentally ill chemical abuse (MICA)

Behavioral pattern marked by both a severe mental disorder and a substance abuse disorder

Aftercare

A program of posthospitalization care and treatment in the community.

Day center

A program that offers hospital-like treatment during the day only.

Halfway house

A residence for people with schizophrenia or other severe problems, often staffed by paraprofessionals.

Sheltered workshop

A supervised workplace for employees who are not ready for competitive or complicated jobs.

Case manager

A community therapist who offers and coordinates a full range of services for people with severe mental disorders, including psychotherapy, advice, medication supervision, coordination of community services, guidance through the community system, and protection of patients’ rights.

National interest groups

Groups around the world that push for better community treatment for those with severe mental disorders