Lecture notes
Schizophrenia condensed notes
Condensed notes for AQA A-level psychology Schizophrenia topic, which includes essay plans and key facts needed for the exam
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Schizophrenia notesSchizophrenia is a psychological illness categorised by the inability to tell the difference
between reality and fantasy, involving both positive and negative symptoms
Negative symptoms, that reflect a reduction or loss in normal functioning:
Speech poverty: reduced frequency and quality of speech
Avolition: loss of motivation to carry out tasks results in lowered activity levels
Affective flattening: reduction in range and intensity of emotional expression (face,
voice tone, eye contact and body language).
Anhedonia: loss interest and pleasure in activities which can be physical sex or social
interacting with mates
Catatonia: reduced reaction to environmental stimuli rigid motionless motor
movements
Positive symptoms, that reflect an excess or distortion of reality and normal functioning
Delusions: beliefs that have no basis in reality (e.g. a victim of conspiracy)
Hallucinations: distortions or exaggerations of perception in any senses (hearing
things)
Experiences of control: believe that they are under control of an alien force
Disordered thinking: feeling that thoughts have been inserted or withdrawn, or may
believe thoughts are being broadcast for people to see
Classification using DSM-5
1. Two or more symptoms present for the significant part of a month and with one
being either delusions, hallucinations or disorganised speech
2. Level of functioning in major areas has decreased (work/ school) and failure to
achieve what’s expected
3. Continuous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months and 1 month of symptoms
4. Other schizophrenic disorders have been ruled out, no depressive or manic episodes
5. Not psychological effects of drug abuse
6. History of autism a diagnosis can only be made if prominent delusions or
hallucinations
Reliability and validity of diagnosing schizophrenia
Reliability:
Tool such as DSM-5 must be consistent (between people or overtime)
Test retest reliability: doctors must reach same conclusion about a patient at two
different points in time
Inter-rater reliability: doctors must reach the same conclusion using the same tools
and resources
Cheniaux 2009, 2 psychiatrists independently diagnosed 100 patients with schizophrenia
using the DSM the first diagnosed 13 and the second diagnosed 26 – poor inter-rater
reliability of classification as isn’t constant.
Validity:
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