Abnormal Psychology Chapter 13 Notes
The risk of developing schizophrenia is around _______.
0.7%
What non-genetic risk factors are associated with schizophrenia?
1. Older father 2. Virus exposure 3. Obstetric complications 4. Urban upbringing 5. Head Injury 6. Cannabis use (younger) 7. Migrant status
Blunted affect
A reduction in the range of affective expression commonly found in patients with schizophrenia. The difference between blunted affect and flat affect is one of degree. When the reduction in affective range is more pronounced and extreme (such that the person is almost expressionless), the patient may be said to have flat affect.
Alogia
A term referring to poverty of speech; a symptom that often occurs in schizophrenia.
Brief psychotic disorder
Brief episodes (lasting a month or less) of otherwise uncomplicated delusional thinking
_____ genes are genes that are involved in processes that are believed to be aberrant in schizophrenia.
Candidate
Schizophreniform disorder
Category of schophrenic-like psychosis less than 6 months in duration - Lasts at least a month but does not last for 6 months and so does not warrant a diagnosis of schizophrenia
What evidence is noted in your textbook to support the following statement: "It is unlikely that the cognitive impairments seen in people suffering from schizophrenia are due to the effects of extended hospitalization or medication"?
Cognitive difficulties often occur at the start of the illness, or even before it is diagnosed.
Endophenotypes
Discrete, measurable traits that are thought to be linked to specific genes that might be important in schizophrenia or other mental disorders.
Schizophrenia
Disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, as well as problems in self-care and general functioning.
The most well-studied neurotransmitter implicated in schizophrenia is _______.
Dopamine
_____ has been a very important topic in the study of psychosocial factors that contribute to schizophrenia. High levels of this quality in families have been found to predict relapse in patients with the disorder.
Expressed emotion
Hallucinations
False perceptions such as hings seen or heard are not real or present.
Schizoaffective disorder
Form of psychotic disorder in which the symptoms of schizophrenia co-occur with symptoms of a mood disorder
Research suggests that people with schizophrenia are missing inhibitory interneurons, including ________, which are involved in _______.
GABA; regulating the excitability of other neurons
Torrey and colleagues compiled concordance rates for schizophrenia in monozygotic twins. The overall concordance rate was around 28 percent. For disorders believed to be exclusively genetic, one would anticipate a concordance rate of 100 percent. What do these numbers suggest about the genetic base of schizophrenia?
Genes alone are not what determines the development of schizophrenia.
Candidate genes
Genes that are of specific interest to researchers because they are thought to be involved in processes that are known to be aberrant in that disorder (e.g., serotonin transporter genes in depression, or dopamine receptor genes in schizophrenia).
Marcus, age 19, is a college sophomore who has recently begun demonstrating the symptoms of schizophrenia. What might explain this?
His mother worked as a dry cleaner.
Antipsychotics
Medications that alleviate or diminish the intensity of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.
Dopamine
Neurotransmitter from the catecholamine family that is initially synthesized from tyrosine, and AA common in the diet. Dopamine is produced from L-DOPA by the enzyme dopamine decarboxylase.
Delusional disorder
Nurturing, giving voice to, and sometimes taking action on beliefs that are considered completely false by others; formerly called paranoia. - Can behave quite normally
Avolition
Refers to a psychological state that is characterized by a general lack of drive or motivation to pursue meaningful goals
Psychosis
Severe impairment in the ability to tell what is real and what is not real
What statement supports the notion that a hallucination is a sensory experience that is internally rather than externally generated?
Some deaf people with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations.
Positive symptoms
Symptoms that are characterized by something being added to normal behavior or experience. Includes delusions, hallucinations, motor agitation, and marked emotional turmoil.
Negative symptoms
Symptoms that reflect an absence or deficit in normal functions (e.g., blunted affect, social withdrawal).
Marlon is transitioning between his adolescent and early-adulthood years. His brain is, therefore, going through a lot of structural changes. Give an example of one of those changes?
The number of excess synapses are being reduced, or "pruned."
What is the most accurately describes some sex differences observed in schizophrenia?
The onset of schizophrenia occurs earlier in men than in women.
Why are assertive community treatment programs a cost effective way to provide treatment to those with schizophrenia?
They reduce the amount of time that patients spend in a hospital.
Why are symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking categorized as positive symptoms?
They reflect an excess or distortion in a normal repertoire of behavior or experience.
Genome-wide association study (GWAS)
This type of study allows researchers to scan the entire genomes of large numbers of individuals to search for genetic variants associated with specific diseases. DNA is usually obtained from blood or from cheek swab samples. The DNA is then placed on tiny chips and scanned on highly specialized automated machines. Genetic variations in people with and without the disease or disorder are then compared.
Expressed emotion, or EE
Type of negative communication involving excessive criticism and emotional over involvement directed at a patient by family members.
Why would it be accurate to say that a "cure" for schizophrenia has yet to be uncovered?
When stringent criteria are used to define recovery, only about 14 percent of those with schizophrenia recover.
Erotomania
a disorder involving the fixed (but incorrect) belief that one is loved by another, which persists in the face of strong evidence to the contrary
Neuroimaging studies comparing the scans of hallucinating persons to those of non-hallucinating persons reveal that those who have speech hallucinations tend to have _______.
a reduction in brain (gray matter) volume in the left hemisphere auditory and speech perception areas
Glutamate
an excitatory neurotransmitter that is widespread throughout the brain
Kevin was hospitalized after a report from his college that he was hallucinating and delusional. After 3 days in the hospital with no medication, his behavior returned to normal. He returned to college and has continued in his studies with no further episodes being noted. Kevin's behavior is consistent with the DSM-5 diagnosis of ______.
brief psychotic disorder
Research suggests that using ________ during adolescence more than doubles a person's risk of developing schizophrenia at a later stage of life.
cannabis
Matthew was hospitalized after being found sitting in a fountain in a park for several hours with his arms extended outward. Since coming to the psychiatric unit, he remains seated in the same position for several hours at a time and is mute. Matthew's behavior is an example of _______.
catatonia
Walker and colleagues viewed family home movies made during the childhoods of 32 people who eventually developed schizophrenia. Facial, emotional, and motor movements were rated by the viewers. The results revealed that _____.
children who later developed schizophrenia showed more motor abnormalities, including unusual hand movements, compared to their healthy siblings
A Danish adoption study compared at-risk adopted children who had biological mothers with schizophrenia to a control group of adoptees whose biological mothers did not have schizophrenia. When the environmental factor of communication deviance was assessed and compared with the two groups, it was noted that ______.
children who were at genetic risk and who lived in adoptive families with high communication deviance showed higher levels of thought disorder when compared to control children
Which problem, recently identified in the white matter of people with schizophrenia, explains a lot of the clinical features of the disorder?
disconnectivity
The common factor noted in all of the medications used to treat schizophrenia is their ability to block ________ receptors in the brain.
dopamine D2 receptors
Although Shelby has never met Donald Trump, she firmly believes he is in love with her because of the way he looks at her when he appears on the television. Her efforts to contact him have never been successful, which Shelby attributes to his need to keep their love secret "for now." Shelby has covered the walls of her bedroom with Trump photographs and posts long essays about their mutual love on her blog and social media accounts. Shelby works full-time, lives alone in an apartment, and exhibits no unusual behavior apart from her "secret affair" with Trump. Shelby's behavior is consistent with the DSM-5 diagnosis of _______.
erotomania
Brown developed a construct called ________, which measures family environment based on how a family member speaks about the patient during a private interview with a researcher.
expressed emotion
Delusion
false belief about reality maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary
This chapter stresses the point that schizophrenia is a(n) ________ disorder.
genetically influenced, but not a genetically determined
Dr. Mickens is conducting a study in which the entire genetic code of two groups—one with schizophrenia and one without the disorder—is investigated. What kind of study is this?
genome-wide association study (GWAS)
Research by Heston in 1966 suggested that a diagnosis of schizophrenia in one's mother was associated with an increased probability of being diagnosed with several other conditions, including ______.
intellectual impairments, neurosis, and psychopathy
What is the hallmark of schizophrenia?
losing contact with reality, referred to as psychosis -psychosis
Whereas _______ in mothers are associated with higher rates of schizophrenia, _______ in mothers are associated with reduced risk of schizophrenia in their offspring.
proinflammatory cytokines; anti-inflammatory cytokines
During adolescence through to young adulthood, the following processes tend to take place as the brain develops and matures: _______.
pruning of excess synapses and a reduction in gray matter volume
A person experiencing a delusion of ________ might believe that the billboard that she saw while driving down the highway was speaking directly to her instead of simply advertising a product.
reference
What disorder (of schizo) would provide the greatest challenge for a clinician to accurately diagnose?
schizoaffective disorder
A person who exhibits schizophrenia-like psychoses that last at least a month but less than 6 months would most likely be diagnosed with _______.
schizophreniform disorder
In the area of auditory processing, people with schizophrenia show deficits in a process called _______. This may interfere with their ability to habituate to similar stimuli that are presented in rapid succession.
sensory gating
People with schizophrenia often have trouble with a visual task involving tracking the movement of a pendulum. This skill is called _______.
smooth-pursuit eye movement
Marcus's therapist is helping him to work on his interpersonal relationships, self-care skills, and medication management. He is also working on maintaining eye contact with people, speaking at a moderate pace, and maintaining a conversation. What form of treatment is Marcus likely receiving?
social-skills training
When Eugen Bleuler used the word schizophrenia to describe a "splitting" he observed in patients, he used the term to represent a _______.
splitting of the intellect from emotion and external reality
Use a term which refers to marked involuntary movement of the lips, tongue, hands, and neck, is a side effect that sometimes accompanies the use of antipsychotic medications?
tardive dyskinesia
In young adulthood, females have lower rates of schizophrenia than males. The lower rate may be a result of __________.
the hormone estrogen providing a protective factor
While the symptoms of brief psychotic disorder may last for ________, the symptoms of a schizophreniform disorder can persist for ________.
up to 1 month; between 1 and 6 months
In an examination of environmental factors contributing to the development of schizophrenia, researchers in Denmark found that children who spent the first 15 years of their lives living in _______ environments were 2.75 times as likely to develop the condition as children who were raised in ________ settings.
urban; rural
