Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

These flashcards cover the definition, history, symptoms, subtypes, related disorders, causes, and treatments of Schizophrenia as presented in the Chapter 13 lecture notes.

Schizophrenia

A disorder characterized by a broad spectrum of cognitive and emotional dysfunctions including delusions and hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior, and inappropriate emotions.

Emil Kraepelin

A historical figure who used the term dementia praecox to describe schizophrenic syndrome.

Dementia praecox

The historical term used by Emil Kraepelin to describe what is now known as schizophrenia.

Eugen Bleuler

The individual who introduced the term "schizophrenia" and identified the different variants included within the spectrum.

Positive symptoms

A symptom cluster of schizophrenia that includes delusions and hallucinations.

Delusions

Gross misrepresentations of reality, often called "the basic feature of madness," with common types including delusions of grandeur and delusions of persecution.

Hallucinations

The experience of sensory events without environmental input, which can involve all senses, though auditory is the most common.

Broca’s area

The part of the brain shown by SPECT neuroimaging to be most active during auditory hallucinations; it is involved in speech production rather than comprehension.

Negative symptoms

Symptoms representing an absence or insufficiency of normal behavior, including avolition, alogia, anhedonia, and affective flattening.

Avolition

A negative symptom of schizophrenia characterized by an inability to initiate and persist in activities; also referred to as apathy.

Alogia

A negative symptom characterized by the relative absence or insufficiency of speech.

Anhedonia

A negative symptom involving a presumed lack of pleasure or indifference to typically pleasurable activities.

Asociality

A negative symptom characterized by a lack of interest in social interactions.

Affective Flattening

A negative symptom where an individual does not show emotions in situations where they would normally be expected.

Disorganized symptoms

A symptom cluster including erratic speech and emotions, inappropriate affect, and disorganized behavior.

Cognitive slippage

A type of disorganized speech characterized by illogical and incoherent speech contents.

Tangentiality

A disorganized speech pattern described as "going off on a tangent" rather than answering a question directly.

Loose associations

A disorganized speech pattern where conversation moves in unrelated directions.

Catatonia

Unusual motor responses such as immobility, agitation, or odd mannerisms (e.g., stupor, mutism, or mimicking others' movements) that can be a symptom of schizophrenia or a standalone disorder.

Schizophreniform disorder

A psychotic disorder where symptoms last between $1$ and $6$ months, associated with relatively good functioning and a lifetime prevalence of approximately $0.2\%$.

Schizoaffective disorder

A disorder featuring symptoms of schizophrenia plus the experience of a major mood episode (depressive or manic), where psychotic symptoms must occur outside the mood disturbance.

Delusional disorder

A disorder featuring delusions contrary to reality but lacking other positive or negative symptoms; types include Erotomanic, Grandiose, Jealous, Persecutory, and Somatic.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

The briefest duration of all psychotic disorders, characterized by positive or disorganized symptoms lasting less than $1$ month, typically precipitated by trauma or stress.

Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome

A condition in DSM-5 for further study involving individuals at high risk for schizophrenia who show early signs but often have good insight into their symptoms.

Prodromal phase

A period occurring $1$ to $2$ years before serious symptoms develop, experienced by $85\%$ of individuals, involving less severe but unusual symptoms like ideas of reference or magical thinking.

Endophenotypes

Genetic and behavioral markers, such as smooth-pursuit eye movement, used to identify the multiple genes likely involved in schizophrenia.

Smooth-pursuit eye movement

A behavioral marker where schizophrenia patients and their relatives show a reduced ability to track a moving object with their eyes.

Dopamine hypothesis

The theory that schizophrenia is partially caused by overactive dopamine, supported by the fact that dopamine agonists increase schizophrenic-like behavior.

Hypofrontality

A structural and functional abnormality in schizophrenia characterized by less active frontal lobes.

High expressed emotion (EE)

A style of family interaction characterized by criticism, hostility, and emotional over-involvement that is associated with relapse in schizophrenia.

Neuroleptics

Antipsychotic medications developed in the 1950s that primarily affect the dopamine system to reduce or eliminate positive symptoms.

Tardive dyskinesia

A common and potentially permanent motor side effect associated with long-term use of first-generation antipsychotic medications.

Token economies

A behavioral psychosocial approach used in inpatient units where adaptive behavior is rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for items or privileges.