From paper 3 psychology with the exam board AQA. This document includes a wide variety of AO1 and Ao3, incorporating issues and debates into evaluation to enhance your essays.
Schizophrenia
Contents
Classification of SZ Pg
Biological explanations Pg
Psychological explanations Pg
Drug therapy Pg
CBT and family therapy Pg
Interactionist approach Pg
,Classification of Schizophrenia
Diagnostic Criteria
What is schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterised by profound disruption of cognition
and emotion. This affects language, thought, perception, emotions and sense of self.
Believe things that can’t be true (delusions) / feel things when no se stimuli (hallucinations).
Schizophrenia is the inability to differentiate between what is reality and not.
It is a worldwide disease, but both the symptoms and incidence vary from culture to culture.
Approx. 1% of the population develops SZ in their lives – more than 2 million Americans.
To diagnose SZ, clinician would use diagnostic manual like DSM-V (US) or ICD-11 (UK) .
DSM-V has 200+ mental disorders, grouped in terms of common features.
Issues w diagnosing SZ:
- SZ doesn’t have single defining characteristic, it is a cluster of relatively unrelated
- Differences in way manuals diagnose (DSM 1+ve, 2-ve / ICD subtypes like catatonic
o DSM-V: one positive symptom, two negative
o ICD-10: sub types (paranoid or catatonic e.g.)
The types of SZ include:
1. Paranoid
a. Predominantly positive symptoms
2. Disorganised (hebephrenic)
a. Disorganised behaviour and speech w inappropriate emotions
3. Catatonic
a. Reduced physical movements, sometimes statuesque (negative)
4. Residual
a. Past history w the disorder, symptoms are now lingering
5. Undifferentiated
a. Don’t fit into any other category
, Positives and negative symptoms of SZ
Symptom Description
Hallucinations Can relate to any sense, e.g., tactile and olfactory
Some researchers think voices SZs can hear is their own inner speech
McGuigan = patients mistake inner speech for someone else’s voice
Delusions Mistaken interpretations of objects or events
Think they have special powers (delusions of grandeur) e.g., Jesus
Other people or objects are out to get them – delusions of persecution
ideas of reference – personal significance to external objects / events *
Avolition Have no enthusiasm or energy, no personal hygiene or social skills
May want to pts but find it difficult to initiate goal-related behaviour
Disordered speech, difficulty concentrating and maintaining train of
thought, manifests in speech becoming incoherent – brief replies
Inability to speak properly, characterised by lack of ability to produce
fluent words, thought to reflect excess or distortion of normal thinking
Patients’ speech so jumbled it’s like a ‘word salad’ - Eysenck
( * ) e.g., seeing neighbours talking as them plotting to kill the individual
‘Knights move thinking’ can also be seen in some pts w SZ, as the thinking doesn’t move
forward in a typical manner
There are two types of symptoms for schizophrenia:
1. Type 1
a. Positive symptoms
b. Seen as an ‘addition’ to the person
2. Type 2
a. Negative symptoms
b. Normal emotions and actions are affected
c. Things are ‘taken away’ from the person
The peak of incidence for onset is around 25-30 years, and cases prior to adolescence are
extremely rare. There are fewer
For males, the disorder is often found their late teens or early 20s.
For females, the disorder is often found in their late 20s.
Warner
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