Schizophrenia
is a disabling disorder characterized by perceptual, emotional and intellectual deficits; loss of contact with reality and inability to function in life.
psychosis
which simply means that the individual has severe disturbances of reality, orientation and thinking.
acute symptoms of schizophrenia
develop suddenly and are typically more responsive to treatment; the prognosis is reasonably good in spite of belief relapses.
chronic symptoms
develop gradually and persist for a long time with poor prognosis
vulnerability model
some threshold of causal forces must be exceeded for the illness to occur
postive symptoms of schizophrenia
involve the presence of exaggeration of behaviours, such as delusions, hallucinations, though disorder and bizarre behaviour. Are more ofter acute, and they are more likely to respond to antiphyscotic drugs.
negative symptoms of schizophrenia
are characterized by the absence or insufficiency of normal behaviours and include lack of affect (emotion), inability to experience pleasure, lack of motivation, poverty of speech, and impaired attention. Tend to be more chronic; test patients show poore
Crow (1985)
theorized that positive and negative symptoms are due to two different syndromes of schizophrenia, with different causes and different outcomes.
dopamine hypotheis
that schizophrenia involves excessive dopamine activity in the brain
tardive dyskinesia
produced by prolonged use of anti-dopamine drugs. Tremors and involuntary movements caused by blocking of dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia.
glutamate therapy
hypofunction of NMDA receptors results in increases in glutamate and downstream increases dopamine, which tougher produce positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
Wisconsin Card Sorting test
which requires individuals to change strategies in midstream, first sorting cards using one criterion but then changing to another,
winter birth effect
refers to the fact that more people who develop schizophrenia are born during the winter and spring than during any other time of the year
Thompson and Vidal
identified a group of adolescents who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and used MRI's to track their brain development
depression
an intense feeling of sadness
major depression
a person often feels sad to the point of hopelessness for weeks at a time; loses the ability to enjoy life, relationships, and sex; and experiences loss of energy and appetite, slowness of thought, and sleep disturbance. In some cases, the person is also
unipolar depression
depression may appear alone
bipolar disorder
the individual alternates between periods of depression and mania
bipolar symptoms
delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, or bizarre behaviour
brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
a protein that encourages neutron growth and survival
iproniazid
drug initially used for the treatment for tuberculosis, but it was soon discovered that the drug produced elevation of mood and was an effective antidepressant
monoamine hypothesis
that depression involves reduced activity at norepinephrine and serotonin synapses.
monoamine oxidase inhibitor
block the destruction of excess monoamines in the terminals
tricyclic antidepressants
block reuptake at the synapse
atypical (second generation)
antidepressants affect a single neurotransmitter
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
involves applying 70 to 130 volts of electricity to the head of an anesthetized patient, which produces a seizure accompanied by conclusive contraction of the neck and limbs and lasting about a half minute to a minute.
circadian rhythm
the one that is a day in length
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
is the stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs
seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
some peoples depression rises and falls with the seasons
phototherapy
a treatment for winter depression. It includes having the patient sit in front of high-intensity lights for couple of hours or more a day.
lithium
a metal administered in the form of lithium carbonate, is the medication of choice for bipolar illness.
subgenual prefrontal cortex
is particularly interesting because it has been suggested as a possible "switch" controlling bipolar cycling
generalized anxiety
has a feeling of stress and unease most of the time and overreacts to stressful conditions
panic disorder
the person has a sudden and intense attack of anxiety, with symptoms such as rapid breathing, high heart rate, and feelings of impending disaster
phobia
a person experiences fear or stress when confronted with a particular situation, fro instance, crowds, heights, enclosed spaces, or specific objects such as dogs or snakes.
post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD
is a prolonged stress reaction to a traumatic event; it is typically characterized by recurrent thoughts and images (flashbacks), nightmares, lack of concentration and overactivity to environmental stimuli, such as loud noises.
Chad Sylvester
identified four networks whose faulty performance they believe contributes to anxiety
ventral attention network
orients to attention demanding stimuli and in people with anxiety disorders contributes to excessively stimulus-driven attention
salience network
provides error detection by comparing the intended response with appropriate responses
frontoparietial network
a mismatch would signal the need for increased executive control
default mode network
engages in self monitoring, future planning, and emotion regulation; under activity in this network results in poor emotional regulation
OCD
consists of two behaviours, obsessions and compulsions, which occur in the same person
tourette's syndrome
whose victims suffer from a variety of motor and phonic (sound) tics