Classifactions and diagnosis of schizophrenia

what is schizophrenia?

A serious mental disorder that is characterised by disruption in thought processes and perceptions

what are the two major classification systems use of this diagnosed schizophrenia And what’s the difference?

ICD 10 AND DSM 5

DSM five – positive symptoms – delusions, hallucinations or speech disorganisation must be present

Whereas two or more negative symptoms are sufficient for the ICD

May mean misdiagnosis

what are positive symptoms?

can be described as pathological excess

E.g. delusions of control, Persecution

Hallucinations

what are negative symptoms?

Can be described as pathological deficit

Restricted effect

Social withdrawal

avolition

what are some issues with the diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia?

comorbidity – two or more conditions occur together in the same person at the same time

. If conditions are often comorbid than a question the validity of the diagnosis as it may suggest that it is one incorrectly diagnosed condition. buckley et al SZ comorbid with PTSD 29% depression 50%

what are some issues with the diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia?

Symptom overlap – lots of overlap between SZ symptoms and other disorders e.g. bipolar also involves and negative symptoms.

causes issue as patient may get SZ diagnosis using ICD but bipolar using DSM

what are the overall trends in gender and culture?

Gender – more likely to get diagnosed possibly due to women being better and managing symptoms/masking them

Culture – people from African-American/Afro Caribbean origin are more likely to be diagnosed due to bias from psychiatrist