Full topic notes for AQA A-level Schizophrenia. [Optional model]
- Diagnosis and Classification of SZ
- Biological explanations and treatment of SZ
- Psychological explanations and treatments of SZ
- Interactionist approach and treatments to SZ
→ Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder which affects around 1% of the
world population
→ It is a disorder characterised by the blurred line of reality and delusion
→ It is most commonly diagnosed in men than women. Mostly working-
class people will get diagnosed
→ It is characterised by doctors as a type of psychosis
Symptoms of Schizophrenia:
→ Broken down into positive and negative symptoms:
Positive Symptoms: Negative symptoms:
- Adds to the experience of - Takes away from
the individual everyday experience
- Hallucinations; unusual - Avolition; lacking
sensory experiences. Most motivation even to do
commonly, these are basic tasks like keeping up
auditory or visual, but can with basic hygiene
be experienced in elation to
- Speech poverty; ICD
any sense
places emphasis on the
- Delusions; irrational reduction in
beliefs, for example, amount/quality of speech,
thinking they are Jesus or whereas, DSM places
that the Government are emphasis on speech
spying on them etc. disorganisation as speech
becomes incoherent or
topics change mid-
Diagnostic manuals’ classification of SZ:
sentence.
→ The ICD-10:
• An international diagnostic manual for Mental Health Disorders [MHDs]
• Recognised subtypes of SZ
• At least 1 month of symptoms
• Must display one: hallucinatory voices / thought echo
• Must display 2: Catatonic behaviour / incoherent speech
→ The DSM-5
• US diagnostic manual
• Symptoms must be persistent for 6 months
• Display 2: hallucinations / delusions / disorganised speech / catatonic
behaviour
→ The 2 manuals contradict, thus, there is low reliability.
→ Low Validity as ICD offers more diagnosis → Is ICD over-diagnosing or DSM
under-diagnosing?
→ Chiniaux et al [2009]: 2 psychologists independently diagnosed 100 patients
using ICD and DSM criteria. Low inter-rater reliability with 1 psychiatrist
, diagnosing 26 with SZ with DSM and 44 with ICD, while another psychiatrist
diagnosing 13 with DSM and 24 with ICD
Comorbidity and Symptom overlap:
→ 2+ conditions occur together [co-morbidity]
→ 2+ conditions have same/similar symptoms [symptom overlap]
→ Buckley [2009] in a study of SZ patients:
• 50% of cases also diagnosed with depression
• 47% diagnosed with substance abuse
• 29% diagnosed with PTSD
• 23% with OCD
→ There is considerable overlap between SZ and bipolar disorder [both involve
positive symptoms, like delusions, and negative symptoms, like avolition].
Under ICD, a person might be diagnosed with SZ but might receive a bipolar
disorder with DSM. Therefore, validity is questionable.
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