Back to AI Flashcard MakerPsychology /Y2: Psychology: Clinical Schizophrenia: Key Question Part 1
Y2: Psychology: Clinical Schizophrenia: Key Question Part 1
This deck covers key questions, definitions, causes, and treatments related to schizophrenia, focusing on clinical perspectives and effectiveness of current treatments.
What is the key question?
How effective are the current clinical treatments for treating schizophrenia?
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What is the key question?
How effective are the current clinical treatments for treating schizophrenia?
What is schizophrenia?
A long-term, incurable mental disorder involved in the breakdown of thought and behaviour making it difficult to distinguish between reality and ficti...
What are the two types of symptoms for schizophrenia, give 2 examples for each?
• Positive (echolalia, hallucinations) • Negative (apathy, poverty of speech)
Why is this issue important?
• 1% of the world population suffers from SZ with no cure and so assessing treatments of their effectiveness can help to improve treatment of symptoms...
What are the implications for the future if treatments are found to be ineffective?
• No cure wold lead to… • Waiting lists could lengthen • Hospitals could get more and more full • Systems such as the NHS will be put under a lot of s...
What are three causes of schizophrenia?
1) Brain structure 2) The Dopamine Hypothesis 3) Social Causation Hypothesis
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What is the key question? | How effective are the current clinical treatments for treating schizophrenia? |
What is schizophrenia? | A long-term, incurable mental disorder involved in the breakdown of thought and behaviour making it difficult to distinguish between reality and fiction. |
What are the two types of symptoms for schizophrenia, give 2 examples for each? | • Positive (echolalia, hallucinations) • Negative (apathy, poverty of speech) |
Why is this issue important? | • 1% of the world population suffers from SZ with no cure and so assessing treatments of their effectiveness can help to improve treatment of symptoms instead • The average cost of antipsychotic drugs for SZ is around $26,000 per year per patient which burdens the healthcare system in many countries and may be too much to pay for some if no guarantee they will work • If treatments are ineffective then it puts patients and other who surround them at risk |
What are the implications for the future if treatments are found to be ineffective? | • No cure wold lead to… • Waiting lists could lengthen • Hospitals could get more and more full • Systems such as the NHS will be put under a lot of strain to accommodate everyone’s needs |
What are three causes of schizophrenia? | 1) Brain structure 2) The Dopamine Hypothesis 3) Social Causation Hypothesis |
Briefly describe the dopamine hypothesis as an explanation for SZ. | • Having more D2 receptors than normal increases frequency of dopamine stimulation • Having too much dopamine release in the mesolimbic pathway • Having too little glutamate release in the mesocortical pathway |
Briefly describe brain structure as an explanation for SZ. | • Enlarged ventricles cause areas of the brain to decrease in size and become undeveloped • Damage to frontal lobes can cause negative symptoms as they are frequently seen in patients who have also experience damage to their frontal lobes, such as catatonia • Loss of up to 25% of grey matter in the brain that starts in the parietal lobes and moves inwards over the span of 5 years can cause tissue loss that leads to positive symptoms |
Briefly describe the social causation hypothesis as an explanation for SZ. | • Being of a lower social class has a more stressful environment due to trying to find money and living under poor conditions with differing levels of care • Experiencing social adversity during childhood may put strain on development due to certain pressures experienced • Being a member of the immigrant population due to experiencing stress of living alone from family separation or trying to find work and living under poor conditions |
What are the two treatments currently available for patients with SZ? | 1) Chemotherapy 2) Assertive Community Therapy |
Briefly describe chemotherapy as a treatment for schizophrenia. | • It is based on the dopamine hypothesis which states that over-activity of dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway causes positive symptoms due to being the reward pathway and under-activity in the mesocortical pathway causes negative symptoms due to problems with normal cognitive functioning • Antipsychotics (such as chlorpromazine and clozapine) are used to treat SZ • First generation drugs work by blocking the D2 receptors by binding to them but not stimulating them which prevents over-stimulation • Second generation drugs also bind to D2 receptors but only temporarily to allow normal dopamine function which continues to reduce positive symptoms but has less side effects |
What is a major problem with chemotherapy? | Antipsychotics fail to target negative symptoms effectively as only focus on positive symptoms due to them being easier to treat. |
Give evidence to support that chemotherapy does reduce symptoms of schizophrenia. | P - Meltzer (2014) supports the effectiveness of drug therapy E - Compared with the placebo control group he found that the antipsychotic Haloperidol significantly improved all aspects of functioning in patients with SZ E - This demonstrates the effectiveness of second generation antipsychotics |