Quiz #4 Review: Chapter 13 - Psychotic Disorders

Emphasis on Schizophrenia Spectrum

Schizophrenia

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

Positive Symptoms

Symptoms that reflect an excess or distortion of reality, including delusions and hallucinations.

Negative Symptoms

Symptoms that reflect a decrease or loss of normal functions/behavior, such as avolition, alogia, anhedonia, asociality, and affective flattening.

Disorganized Symptoms

Symptoms characterized by erratic or abnormal speech, behavior, and emotion, including cognitive slippage, tangentiality, and loose associations.

Delusions

Gross misrepresentations of reality/beliefs, often seen in schizophrenia, such as delusions of grandeur or persecution.

Hallucinations

Experiences of sensory events without real environmental input, which can occur in all senses but are most commonly auditory.

Catatonia

A severe state marked by unusual motor responses, including immobility or agitation and odd mannerisms, often seen in psychotic disorders.

*May be considered a psychotic spectrum disorder on its own.

Schizoaffective Disorder

A disorder characterized by symptoms of schizophrenia combined with a major mood episode, such as depression or mania.

Cognitive Symptoms

Symptoms involving difficulties in attention, concentration, or memory, often affecting the ability to process information.

Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome

A condition characterized by individuals at high risk for developing schizophrenia or those beginning to show signs of schizophrenia.

Dopamine Hypothesis

The theory that schizophrenia is partially caused by overactivity of dopamine in the brain.

Antipsychotic Medications

Medications primarily used to treat schizophrenia, with the first line being neuroleptics that reduce or eliminate positive symptoms.

Family Studies

Research that indicates a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, showing that the risk increases with genetic relatedness.

Environmental Factors

External influences, such as stress and family interactions, that may trigger or exacerbate symptoms of schizophrenia.

Psychosocial Interventions

Treatment approaches that focus on behavioral therapies, social and living skills training, and community care for individuals with schizophrenia.

Expressed Emotion (EE)

A term used to describe the emotional climate of family interaction, with high EE being associated with increased relapse rates for those individuals with schizophrenia.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

presentation of the “positive” or “disorganized” symptoms of schizophrenia. Lasts less than 1 month. Often precipitated by trauma or stress.

Dementia Praecox

a term used by Emil Kraepelin to describe schizophrenic syndrome. This term helped distinguished separation from manic depressive illness.

What were the 3 early subtypes of schizophrenia?

Catatonia, Hebephrenia, and Paranoia

Psychotic Behavior

May refer to only hallucinations or delusions or to the unusual behavior accompanying them.

Eugen Bleuler

termed the word “Schizophrenia” and identified the different variants included within the spectrum.

Avolition

(apathy) Inability to initiate and persist in activities.

Alogia

Relative absence of speech.

Anhedonia

Presumed lack of pleasure or indifference.

Asociality

Lack of interest in social interactions.

Affective Flattening

Do not show emotions when you would normally expect them to.

What were the findings of the SPECT studies

Neuroimaging showed that the part of the brain most active during auditory hallucinations is Broca’s area.

Broca’s Area (in the cerebral cortex) function is…

speech production, not comprehension.

Cognitive Slippage

Illogical and incoherent speech.

Tangentiality

Going off on a tangent.

Loose Associations

Taking conversations in unrelated directions.

Schizophrenia Subtyping

Schizophrenia was previously divided into subtypes based on content of psychosis. This is no longer the case according to the DSM-5.

Catatonia is often represented by what behaviors?

Stupor, mutism, maintaining the same pose for hours

Opposition or lack of response to instructions

Repetitive, meaningless motor behaviors

Mimicking others’ speech or movement

Schizophreniform Disorder

Psychotic symptoms last between 1-6 months. Relatively good functioning, most patients resume normal lives.

Delusional Disorder

Has a better prognosis than schizophrenia. Characterized by delusions that are contrary to reality but lacks other “positive” and “negative” symptoms associated with schizophrenia.

The types of delusions associated with Delusional Disorder are:

Erotomanic

Grandiose

Jealous

Persecutory

Somatic

Delusions of Grandeur

The belief that one is particularly famous or important.

Delusions of Persecution

The belief that other people are out to get/harm the individual.

Capgras Syndrome

(aka. Capgras delusion) a delusional misidentification syndrome where individuals believe that loved ones or familiar people have been replaced by identical-looking imposters or doubles.

Cotard’s Syndrome

Delusions that range from a belief that one has lost organs, blood, or body parts or that they have been replaced by someone else’s, insisting that one has lost one’s soul or is dead.

What is the difference between Delusions and Hallucinations?

Hallucinations are false sensory perceptions. Delusions are false beliefs.

Erotomanic Delusion

The irrational belief that one is loved by another person, unusually of higher status (i.e., celebrity stalkers).

Grandiose Delusion

Believing one’s inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a deity or famous person.

Jealous Delusion

The belief that a sexual partner is unfaithful.

Persecutory Delusion

The belief that oneself/someone close is being malevolently treated in some way.

Somatic Delusion

The belief that involves events that could be happening but are not (e.g., believing that one is being followed).