SCHIZOPHRENIA

Classification of sz

"psychotic disorder marked by severely impaired thinking emotions and behaviours"

+ve and -ve symptoms

unable to filter sensory stimuli and have enhanced perceptions of siunds colours + other features

+ve symptoms are an excess of normal functions which represent a change in behaviour or thoughts

-ve symptoms are a loss of normal functions, may persist thru periods of low +ve

  • addition to normal experience
  • less than normal experience

delusions, hallucinations, catatonic behaviour, disorganised thinking and speech

avolition, speech poverty, lack of emotions, anhedonia (loss of pleasure or interest)

DELUSIONS: beliefs with no basis in reality.
persecutory, grandeur, reference

HALLUCINATIONS: distorted perception of real stimuli or perceptions of stimuli that have no basis in reality.
auditory (hearing voices), visual, tactile

ALOGIA: (speech poverty) abnormally low level of the frequency and quality of speech

AVOLITION: (lack of motivation) inability to cope with the normal pressures and motivations associated with everyday living

DSM-V requires at least 2 or more +ve symptoms for at least 1 month

Reliability of sz

extent to which a finding is consistent

inter-rater reliability

extent to which different psychiatrists can agree on the same diagnosis when independently assessing the same patient

test-retest

clinician should be able to make the same diagnosis at two points in time when presented with the same symptoms