SCHIZOPHRENIA PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

RATE FROM 1 (TOTALLY DISAGREE) TO 5 (TOTALLY AGREE) I HAVE … Felt so nervous that it affected my concentration and made me difficult to be around Woke up feeling very low for no obvious reason, and this feeling stayed with me for a large part of the day. Been on a high for no apparent reason, where everyone else seemed to be in a ‘boring mood’. Felt as if people are talking and laughing about me behind my back. Felt for a long time that I have a very special purpose in life that I don’t think others would understand.

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY Psychopathology is the study of mental illnesses. Mental common mental problems include:  Anxiety  Phobias  Eating disorders  Bipolar disorder  Schizophrenia

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY Psychopathology is of interest to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, medical doctors, prison officer, social workers etc. Insight into psychopathology is also something that is important for people who are suffering from mental illness, as well as their families. Psychopathology is an area that has many cultural and political implications.

KEY ISSUES IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: EXAM REQUIREMENTS In relation to schizophrenia, develop knowledge and understanding of:  Clinical characteristics  Issues surrounding the classification and diagnosis, including reliability and validity.  Biological explanations, e.g. genetics, biochemistry.  Psychological explanations, e.g. behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and socio-cultural.  Biological therapies, including their evaluation in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness.  Psychological therapies for example, behavioural, psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural, including their evaluation in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness.

PREVIOUS EXAM QUESTIONS

SCHIZOPHRENIA: A BRIEF HISTORY The earliest descriptions of symptoms associated with the diagnosis of schizophrenia date back to pre-classical cultures. Such symptoms were then considered to be the manifestations of supernatural forces invading the individual, often as punishment for immoral behaviour. In ancient Greece the focus for studying and understanding mental illnesses moved towards a naturalistic standpoint.

SCHIZOPHRENIA: A BRIEF HISTORY In 1911, Eugen Blueler suggested the term ‘schizophrenia’ ( splitting of the mind ). He believed that schizophrenia represented a syndrome consisting of several disorders that shared a common psychopathology. The condition is not a split personality. This better describes multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder (DID).  The ‘split’ can be seen as the split from reality, or the ‘fragmented’ nature of a sufferer’s mind.  It is a distortion of reality, combined with distorted thinking, impaired emotional responses and poor interpersonal skills.

CURRENT DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA Whether or not schizophrenia can be classified as a disease has been much debated. Strictly speaking schizophrenia is a syndrome – a disorder for which there is no objective test or pathology, but which is identified by a characteristic cluster of symptoms for a certain time.

CURRENT DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA Since 1994, the two main classification systems in use worldwide are DSM-IV, developed by the American Psychiatric Association, and ICD-10, developed by the World Health Organisation and mainly used outside North America.

CURRENT DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA Symptoms include:  Delusions  Hallucinations (auditory or visual)  Disorganised speech (e.g. frequent derailment or incoherence)  Thought insertion, withdrawal or broadcasting (the experience of one’s thoughts being put into or taken out of one’s head, or broadcast to others).  Negative symptoms (affective flattening, alogia, or avolition).  The above symptoms must not be due to the physiological effects of a drug of abuse or medication.

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OUTLINE THE CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA (5 MARKS)