Schizophrenia

Front 1

Describe history/ facts of Schiz

Back 1

-Schizophrenia is NOT a split personality disorder
- Schizophrenia means ‘split mind’ but does NOT imply a split or multiple personality.


- One percent of the worlds population is affected by schizophrenia.
- Typically begins in adolescence or early adulthood.
- Comorbid with depression, anxiety and substance abuse.
- Social problems include long-term unemployment, poverty and homelessness.
- Reduced life expectancy and high suicide rate.

Front 2

What are the 3 positive symptoms of Schiz? (just state)

Back 2

1) thought disorders
2) Delusions
3) hallucinations

Front 3

describe thought disorder (irrational, disorganized thinking)

Back 3

loose associations, incoherence, neologisms (making up words)

Front 4

describe delusions and give ex.

Back 4

false belief that is held with absolute conviction.
- Grandeur- ones power and importance (i am god)
- control- think fbi controlling them for ex.
- delusional jealousy- think gf having affair
- erotomania- think someone famous is in love with them
- somatic delusions- body infested with parasites

Front 5

describe hallucinations and ex

Back 5

false sensory perception in the absence of sensory stimulation.
- auditory- hear voices in head or out
- visual- see patterns or lights
- olfactory, tactile and gustatory ones exist but very unlikely

Front 6

What are the negative symptoms of schiz? (6)
negative symptoms not seen solely in schiz **

Back 6

absence of behaviours
- flattened affect- reduced emotional response
- Alogia- lack of speech
- Avolition- lack of motivation and energy
- Anhedonia- lack of pleasure
- Social withdrawal
- Cognitive symptoms -Failure to sustain attention low psychomotor speed deficits in learning and memory poor abstract thinking poor problem solving

Front 7

Chloroprmazine

Back 7

- initially used to reduce surgical shock, was found to have a calming effect on difficult-to-handle psychotic patients.
- agitated schizophrenics were calmed by it whereas blunted schizophrenics were activated by it.

Front 8

How do antipsychotics work?

Back 8

- Chloropromazine and other antipsychotics (e.g. reserpine; α- methyl p-tyrosine) reduced positive symptoms by antagonising dopamine transmission

Front 9

Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia

Back 9

- Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are caused by high levels of activity at dopamine receptors
- Schizophrenia caused by hyperactivity specifically at dopamine D2 receptors, not D1

Front 10

Where are D1 and D2 receptors located?

Back 10

- D2 receptors are found in abundance in the nucleus accumbens and striatum and D1 receptors are found in high quantities in the prefrontal cortex, and thus it is thought that the nucleus accumbens and striatum were involved in the positive symptoms
- Amphetamine causes more dopamine release in striatum in schizophrenic patients, and this release is associated with a change in positive symptoms

Front 11

Haloperidol

Back 11

drug used which binds to D2 receptors and not D1

Front 12

long term treatment of schiz?

Back 12

- these patients show parkinsons like symptoms
- cant stop moving
- Atypical antipsychotic medications are a new drug class that are being tried out when other drugs fail

Front 13

relationship between schiz and reinforcement

Back 13

- Positive symptoms may be caused by overactivity of synapses between dopaminergic neurons of the VTA and neurons in the nucleus accumbens (the mesolimbic pathway)
- if our reinforcement mechanisms became active while we were having irrational thoughts, if is plausible that this would continue and aggregate into delusions- theory

Front 14

What part of brain is enlarged in schiz patients? Which is often smaller?

Back 14

ventricles due to loss of brain tissue;
smaller anterior hippocampus and reduced volume of gray matter in the temporal lobe.

Front 15

What are some signs of schiz in children?

Back 15

- Although schizophrenic symptoms are not seen in childhood, the early brain development of children who later become schizophrenic is not entirely normal.
-showed poor social functioning and adjustment, low psychomotor speed and performed poorly at school
-showed more negative affect in their facial expressions relative to their siblings

Front 16

Hypofrontality- causes, definition, effects

Back 16

-decreased activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex - - caused by decrease in dopamine release in frontal cortex
-causes negative symptoms
- patients do bad on neuropsych tests like Wisconsin card sort

Front 17

Effact of PCP and Ketamine (NMDA receptor antagonists) on cognitive symptoms of schiz

Back 17

- PCP treated monkeys show ‘barrier reaches’ (hit the barrier) in the object retrieval task instead of normal detour reaches (reach around a barrier to get food). Behaviour not adapted. Symptom of disinhibition
- PCP causes hypofrontality by inhibiting NMDA receptors and thus suppressing frontal activity via dopamine receptors

Front 18

Seasonality effect

Back 18

increased incidences of schiz in people born in winter or early spring , especially in cities!

Front 19

How do atypical drugs work?

Back 19

atypical drugs increase domain activity in the prefrontal cortex AND reduce it in the mesolimbic system !

Front 20

Partial Agonist

Back 20

drug that has a very high affinity for a particular receptor but activated it less than the normal ligand does, so it serves as an agonist when there is low ligand concentration, and as an antagonist in regions of high concentration

Front 21

Glycine

Back 21

NDMA receptor agonist and reduces negative symptoms

Front 22

What are some non-genetic factors that may promote Schiz?

Back 22

Deficency in vitamin D may be a risk factor for schiz because it promotes normal brain development,
or sudden refeeding after a thiamine deficiency as seen in WW2,
or substance abuse