HCB 2063

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER:

SCHIZOPHRENIA

INTRODUCTION
Schizophrenia
- Split minds
- Affects 24 million people worldwide
History
- Discovered by Dr. Emile Kraepelin, 1887
- Named by Eugen Bleuler, 1911

SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
There are positive and negative symptoms.
Positive means present. These are symptoms
that appear, which people without
schizophrenia do not have.
Negative means absent. Behaviors that
people without schizophrenia normally
have.

POSITIVE SYMPTOMS
1) Hallucinations
Perceptions that do not correspond to anything in
the objective world.
These symptoms may be caused by mental illness,
the side effects of medications or physical illnesses.
The most common hallucination is to hear voices or
other sounds that no one else hears.

POSITIVE SYMPTOMS
2) Delusion
A delusion is a firmly-held idea that a person has despite clear
and obvious evidence that it isnt true.
Three common types of delusions:
Delusion of persecution - a belief that dangerous
enemies are persecuting you.
Delusion of grandeur - the false belief that one
possesses superior qualities such as genius,
fame, or wealth.
Delusion of reference a belief that insignificant
remarks, events, or objects in one's environment
have personal meaning or significance.

NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS
Lack of emotional expression refers to inexpressive
face.
Lack of interest or enthusiasm.
Lack of pleasure or interest in the world.
Speech difficulties and abnormalities.

TYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

TYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
Five major types.
Based on the most prominent symptoms.
Differentiated depending on the most
significant and predominant characteristics
present in that particular person at each point
in time.
Many people fall on the margin between two or
more types of schizophrenia, perhaps switching
back and forth between them

Catatonic schizophrenia
Characterized by a prominent movement
disorder, including either rigid inactivity or
excessive activity.

Disorganized schizophrenia
Characterized by incoherent speech, absence of
social relationships, and silly or odd behaviour.
Interviewer: How does it feel to have your problems?
Patient: Who can tell me the name of my song? I dont know, but it wont
be long. It wont be short, tall, none at all. My head hurts, my
knees hurtmy nephew, his uncle, my aunt. My God, Im happy .
. . not a care in the world. My hairs been curled, the flags
unfurled. This is my country, land that I love, this is the country,
land that I love.
Interviewer: How do you feel?
Patient: Happy! Dont you hear me? Why do you talk
to me? (barks like a dog).

Paranoid schizophrenia
Characterized by elaborate hallucinations and
delusions, especially delusions of persecution
and delusions of grandeur.

Undifferentiated schizophrenia
Characterized by the basic symptoms but does
not have any of the special features that would
qualify for the catatonic, disorganized, or
paranoid types.

Residual schizophrenia
A diagnosis for people who have had an episode
of schizophrenia and who are partly recovered.

CAUSES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

CAUSES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
Genetics

External environment

Genetics
Homozygous twin
Inheritance
Brain abnormality

External Environment

Unhealthy lifestyle
Serious head injury
Weather and climate
Pre natal development

TREATMENTS FOR
SCHIZOPHRENIA

TREATMENTS FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA

ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTICS

Control the symptoms by affecting brain

neurotransmitters.
Eg. Antipsychotic medicines
o Balance the chemicals in the brain.

Leaving side effects for the patients.

Long-term use can increase the risk of having
tardive dyskinesia.

TREATMENTS FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA

PSYCHOSOCIAL TREATMENTS

Social skills training

Family therapy
o Watching for the return of the symptoms

Vocational rehabilitation and supported

employment
Individual therapy
o Healthy lifestyle

CONCLUSION
Higher rate of death
Need for extensive research and technology
for treatment.
Can be overcome with care from families and
friends.

John Nash, Nobel Prize in

Economics