This document takes you through all the key words for the schizophrenia topic, including positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. I also covered the possible issues with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, such as gender and culture bias, co-morbidity and symptom overlap. It also defines schizo...
Schizophrenia – a psychotic disorder in which the person fails to make the distinction
between reality and delusion.
Psychosis – an episode where an individual’s consciousness breaks from reality.
Diagnosis – the label given to a person based on their symptoms.
Symptoms – the psychological and behavioural experiences of individuals.
Symptoms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is characterised by a number of symptoms:
- Positive symptoms: symptoms which occur in addition to the experiences of ordinary
existence
- Negative symptoms: symptoms which involve the loss of usual abilities and
experiences
Positive symptoms Negative symptoms
- Visual hallucinations - e.g., seeing - Avolition – sometimes called
faces as distorted ‘apathy’, having reduced motivation
- Auditory hallucinations – hearing to carry out activities
voices or noises which are not - Speech poverty – changes in patterns
present in reality of speech or delays in verbal
- Delusions – paranoia or irrational responses during communication
beliefs e.g., having superpowers,
being persecuted by the government
or aliens
- Speech disorganisation
Self-fulfilling prophecy = a person lives up to their label
Issues with diagnosis
Reliability
- Consistency of diagnosis: diagnosis should be given consistently over time and place,
and with the same patients.
-
Validity
- How accurate decisions are for diagnosis
- Cultural bias
o The tendency to over-diagnose members of other cultures
o In Britain, people of Afro-Caribbean descent are much more likely to be
diagnosed as schizophrenic than white people
o Afro-Caribbean schizophrenics are more likely to be compulsorily confined in
‘closed’ hospitals than white schizophrenics
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