abnormal psych unit 3 lecture notes

psychosis: severe loss of contact or highly distorted reality with hallucinations and delusions

hallucinations: sensory experiences without external stimuli

delusions: rigidly-held beliefs with pervasive focus

disorders with psychosis

  • schizophrenia

  • dementia

  • delirium

  • schizo-affective disorder

  • substance use disorders

schizophrenia

  • syndrome or group of psychotic disorders

  • major disturbances of thought, emotion, and behavior

  • means splintered or spilt from reality

- heterogeneous —→ many features/types

  • catatonia

  • hebephrenia

  • paranoia

diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia

  • criteria A: two or more of symptoms, each present during a 1 month period

- delusions

- hallucinations

- disorganized speech’

- grossly disorganized/catatonic behavior

- negative symptoms

  • criteria B: social/occupational dysfunction

  • criteria C: lasting at least 6 months, including prodromal and residual symptoms

  • criteria D: exclude mood disorders w/ psychotic features

  • criteria E: rule out other conditions

  • criteria F: if communication disorder of childhood or ASD, requires delusions and hallucinations

other psychotic disorders

  • schizophreniform disorder

- schizophrenic symptoms

- doesn’t meet 6 month criteria

- associated w/ good premorbid functioning

- most resume to normal lives

  • delusional disorder

- delusions contrary to reality

- lack positive and negative symptoms

- rare, better prognosis than schizophrenia but worse than other psychotic disorders

- later age of onset

- average age —→ 40 to 49

- female > male, 55% to 45%

- types

a) erotomaniac: frequently the focus is a celebrity, belief that they are suppose to be with that celebrity/suppose to be their life partner

b) grandiose/grandiosity: belief one is some sort i of figure imbued with special powers or messenger from God

c) jealous and persecutory: oriented around the body in some way

history of schizophrenia

  • stable across time & place

- identified in ancient Egypt

- supernatural paradigm

  • dr. emile kraeplin, 1887 mental illness: “dementia praecox”

- combination of symptoms and the 3 types; cataonia, hebephrenia, paranoia

- distinct from mania of bipolar

  • swiss psychiatrist dr. eugen bleuler 1911

- “schizophrenia” as it doesn’t always lead to dementia, though could occur later

- described symptoms as “postive” and “negative”

- “

  1. catatonia refers to disturbances in…

a) motor function

  1. which describes the gender difference in schizophrenia?

a) men develop earlier and more severe

  • indivduals don’t recover from schizophrenia