chapter 13 Abnormal psychology~ schizophrenia

The first-generation antipsychotics seem to work because they block dopamine. This is supported by the new research findings that

changes in symptoms begin to occur very quickly after starting to the the medications, not weeks later as previously thought.

Most people with schizophrenia

continue to show signs of illness.

Sterling believes that the TV special that was on last night was shown to tell her that she should break up with her boyfriend. She is absolutely certain this is true and plans to do it. This type of belief is an example of a

delusion of reference.

The term "demence precoce" was used by Benedict Morel to describe schizophrenia and to also explain the

difference between schizophrenia and dementias of old age.

People with schizophrenia may have difficulty with the form of thought - in other words, their thoughts do not make sense. The observable sign of this is

disorganized speech.

Over the course of the disorder, most individuals with schizophrenia

display a mix of positive and negative symptoms.

Delusions are

disturbances in the content of thought.

Aberrant salience means that

dysregulated dopamine can cause people with schizophrenia to pay too much attention to stimuli that are not actually important.

The central feature of catatonic schizophrenia is

excited or stuporous motor symptoms.

"Familial" does not mean the same thing as "genetic" because

families share both genes and the environment.

People with schizophrenia often show poor performance on tasks like the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, which is thought to indicate a dysfunction of the

frontal lobe.

Schizophrenia is best described as a

genetically influenced polygenic disorder.

In genetic studies, a "proband" or "index case" is someone who

has the disorder of interest.

Compared to his nonschizophrenic identical twin, Matthew (who is schizophrenic) is more likely to

have been considered "different" or "odd" in childhood

Joe has a delusional belief. When people argue with him.

he doesn't admit he could be wrong, no matter what proof he is shown.

The best predictor of overall functioning over time for someone with schizophrenia is

how severe the person's negative symptoms are.

When adoption studies of schizophrenia contain all the necessary controls and measurements,

index subjects are more likely to develop schizophrenia than the control subjects.

Most of the evidence suggests that, if schizophrenia is inherited, it

involves a multitude of genes that work in concert.

Secondary prevention for schizophrenia

involves trying to intervene early with people who are at high risk of developing schizophrenia.

It has been suggested that the catatonic patient's immobility

is a consequence of the patient's inability to ignore irrelevant stimuli.

Linkage analysis

is being used to help locate genes associated with schizophrenia.

One problem with Kraepelin's use of the term "dementia praecox" is that

it assumed that progressive deterioration of the brain is a universal feature of the disorder.

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that researchers suspect might be involved in schizophrenia because

it can produce schizophrenic-like symptoms in normal subjects.

Neuroimaging studies of hallucinating patients suggest that auditory hallucinations

may reflect a cognitive error.

Studies of monochorionic and dichorionic twins

offer further evidence of the role of the prenatal environment in schizophrenia.

All of the following have been found to lead to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia EXCEPT

prenatal alcohol exposure.

Patients in a catatonic stupor

resist efforts to change their position.

Julia clearly had psychotic symptoms. As she also showed symptoms of bipolar disorder, she was ultimately diagnosed with

schizoaffective disorder.

Virginia exhibits a variety of schizophrenic symptoms including delusions, auditory hallucinations, and formal thought disorder. She has been symptomatic for a little more than a month. Virginia qualifies for a diagnosis of

schizophreniform disorder.

One-on-one psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia

seems to be very effective when combined with medication.

Hallucinations are

sensory experiences with no basis in reality.

Adopted children who were high risk for schizophrenia, who were raised in healthy families,

showed lower risk for schizophrenia than those adopted into dysfunctional families - a good environment may protect people with genetic vulnerabilities from developing schizophrenia

Enlarged brain ventricles

suggest that there has been a loss of brain tissue.

Studies of family concordance patterns for schizophrenia have found

that the more genetically related you are to someone with schizophrenia, the greater your risk of the disorder.

If schizophrenia were exclusively a genetic disorder,

the concordance rate for monozygotic twins would be 100 percent.

Based on developmental studies of children who later developed schizophrenia,

the first signs are usually seen in the way children move.

One aspect of family environment that has been found to be important in schizophrenia is

the level of expressed emotion.

There is a new trend to focus on dopamine receptor sensitivity rather than on dopamine itself because

there is no strong evidence that people with schizophrenia have too much dopamine.

Individuals with delusional disorder differ from those with schizophrenia in that

they behave relatively normally

Social-skills training for people with schizophrenia

tries to help people gain the skills they need for daily living outside the hospital.

Cognitive-behavioral treatment for people with schizophrenia

tries to help people question their delusions to help reduce their intensity.

Kraepelin used the term "praecox" to convey that schizophrenia typically develops early in life. The actual age of onset of the condition

typically is during the mid-twenties.

Harold and Tanya both have a wide range of schizophrenic symptoms that came on rather suddenly. Harold's symptoms have lasted for eight months; Tanya's have lasted only eight weeks. According to the DSM-IV their diagnoses should be

undifferentiated schizophrenia for Harold; schizophreniform disorder for Tanya.

The individual diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder

usually exhibits symptoms of schizophrenia that would fit only undifferentiated type.

Disorganized schizophrenia

was once called hebephrenic schizophrenia.

The fact that a significant number of monozygotic twins share the same placenta, while no dizygotic twins do, suggests that

we may have overestimated the influence of genetics in schizophrenia.

First-generation antipsychotics

work by blocking dopamine receptors

Schizophrenia occurs in about ________ of the general population.

1 out of 100

Which of the following people has the highest risk of developing schizophrenia?

A person whose father was over 50 when he/she was born

What type of hallucinations are the most common?

Auditory

What is a stressor that has been found to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia?

Being a recent migrant

DeJuan is highly suggestible and automatically obeys the commands of his brother. He sometimes stands in the same strange posture for hours despite his hands and feet becoming swollen due to immobility. Which subtype of schizophrenia does this best illustrate?

Catatonic

Which type of training has an emphasis on helping patients deal with their neurocognitive deficits?

Cognitive remediation training

Which schizophrenic subtype usually has the earliest onset, the greatest indifference to reality, and the worst prognosis?

Disorganized

A mother constantly demands that her son show her how much she is loved, but when he tries to hug her she yells at him to be more discreet. No matter what the child does, he is wrong. Further, the mother prohibits him from commenting on this paradox. What does this interaction pattern best illustrate?

Double-bind communication

Based on current research, which statement is most justified?

Genetics increase a person's vulnerability to develop schizophrenia.

Which of the following is most likely seen in an individual with paranoid schizophrenia?

Have delusions of grandeur

Which of the following is a brain area that has been shown to be involved in schizophrenia?

Hippocampus

Which of the following is an example of the most common type of hallucination seen in schizophrenia?

Sondra tried to ignore the voices in her head.

The finding that prenatal viral exposure, rhesus incompatibility, and early nutritional deficiency are associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia indicates that

anything that interferes with normal brain development might lead to a greater risk of schizophrenia.

Negative symptoms

are characterized as an absence or deficit of normal behaviors.

Lori just found out that she is pregnant. Her husband has schizophrenia. What is her unborn child's risk of developing schizophrenia?

10 percent

Which of the following is an example of a negative symptom?

Emotional unresponsiveness

Why might Kraepelin's idea that schizophrenia was similar to dementia not be as far from the truth as previously thought?

Evidence suggests that there sometimes are progressive changes in brain volume over time in people with schizophrenia.

Which of the following accounts for the belief that schizophrenia is becoming more common in males than females?

Females with schizophrenia have less severe symptoms so may be misdiagnosed.

Which of the following is an example of a negative symptom of schizophrenia?

Karen no longer socialized with her friends.

Which of the following is a plausible explanation for how maternal influenza might lead to schizophrenia later in life?

Maternal antibodies could cross the placenta and interfere with brain development such that the risk of developing schizophrenia is enhanced later in life

Which of the following is suggested by the effectiveness of second generation antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia?

More than one brain area or neurotransmitter is involved in producing the symptoms of schizophrenia.

How common are delusions in schizophrenia?

Over 90 percent of those with schizophrenia experience delusions.

Which of the following suggests a diagnosis of disorganized schizophrenia?

Peter appears to feel no emotion and tends to make odd facial expressions and movements.

After her last episode of schizophrenia, Jill continued to behave a bit eccentrically and she showed little emotion. Which of the following diagnoses should she be given?

Residual schizophrenia

Which of the following could be described as "short-term" schizophrenia?

Schizophreniform disorder

What is the major difference between a diagnosis of undifferentiated schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder?

The duration of symptoms

Ursula has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. If PET scans were done to measure her brain's activity, which area would probably be underactive?

The frontal lobes

Which of the following people with schizophrenia is likely to have the best prognosis?

The woman who believes she is being persecuted because she is Helen of Troy

Studies of adopted children who were at high-risk for developing schizophrenia found that which of the following appeared to increased the likelihood that these children would show high levels of thought disorders?

Vague, confusing, and unclear communication

When Bleuler coined the term "schizophrenia," the kind of split he believed was central to the disorder was

a break with reality.

Studies of the offspring of nonschizophrenic co-twins from discordant twin pairs suggest that

a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia may remain unexpressed in some individuals unless it is released by some unknown environmental factors.

Psychosis is a striking and essential feature of schizophrenia. Psychosis means

a significant loss of contact with reality.