Schizophrenia Key Terms

• classification of mental disorder

  The process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
• schizophrenia

  a severe mental disorder in which people lose contact with reality and insights are impaired
• positive symptoms of schizophrenia

  atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences. they include hallucinations and delusions
• hallucinations


  a positive symptom of schizophrenia. they are sensory experiences that have either no basis in reality or rare distorted perceptions of things that are there
• delusions


  a positive symptoms of schizophrenia. they are sensory experiences that have either no basis in reality
• negative symptoms of schizophrenia

  Atypical experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience such as clear thinking or 'normal' levels of motivation
• speech poverty


  A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech.
• avolition


  a negative symptom of schizophrenia marked by difficulty initiating or following through with activities
• co-morbidity


  The occurrence of two disorders or conditions together, for example a person has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder. Where two conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately.
• symptom overlap


  Occurs when two or more conditions share symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately.
• genetics


  genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produces 'instructions' for general physical features of an organism and also specific physical features. these may impact on psychological features. genes are transmitted from parents to offspring
• neural correlates


  Patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occur in conjunction with an experience and may be implicated in the origins of that experience
• dopamine


  a neurotransmitter that generally has an excitatory effect and is linked to the sensation of pleasure. unusually high levels are associated with schizophrenia
• family dysfunction


  Refers to processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion. These may be risk factors for both the development and maintenance of schizophrenia
• cognitive explanations


  Explanations that focus on mental processes such as thinking, language and attention
• dysfunctional thought processing


  Information processing that does not represent reality accurately and produces undesirable consequences
• antipsychotics


  drugs used to reduce the intensity or symptoms, particularly in psychotic conditions like schizophrenia
• typical antipsychotics


  the first generation of drugs for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, having been used since the 1950s. they work as dopamine antagonists
• atypical antipsychotics


  Drugs for schizophrenia developed after typical antipsychotics. They typically target a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin.
• cognitive behavioural therapy


  A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. From the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking, such as challenging negative thoughts. The therapy also includes behavioural techniques
• family therapy


  a psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of a family with the aim of improving the communications within the family and reducing the stress of living as a family
• token economies


  A form of behavioural modification, where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement. The tokens are secondary reinforcers and can then be exchanged for primary reinforcers - food or privileges.
• interactionist approach


  A way to explain the development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors, including both biological and psychological ones. Most importantly such factors don't simply add together but combine in a way that can't be predicted by each one separately i.e. they interact.
• diathesis-stress model


  an interactionist approach to explaining behaviour. for example schizophrenia is explained as the result of both an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) and a trigger (stress), both of hwich are necessary for the onset of schizophrenia
• Hypodpaminergia

  Abnormally low dopamine in the brain’s cortex
• Hyperdopaminergia


  High levels of dopamine in the brain’s cortex
• Hypodopaminergia

  Abnormally low dopamine in the brain’s cortex