Schizophrenia - Elizabeth
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Transcript Schizophrenia - Elizabeth
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, disabling
brain disease that interferes with a person’s
ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality
from fantasy, to manage emotion, to make
decisions, and to relate to others.
• Not split-personality disorder
• Greek roots describe the fragmented thinking.
- “schizo” means split
- “prene” means mind
• Schizophrenia can be traced back to old Pharaonic Egypt (2nd
millennium before Christ).
• It was thought to be caused by evil spirits who possessed the
bodies of schizophrenics.
• Treatment was exorcism.
- Innocent methods = playing religious music
- Dangerous methods = trephination
• 1887 – Dr. Emile Krapelin first identified the disorder as a
discrete mental illness called dementia praecox.
• Dementia praecox is Latin and means “out of one’s mind for
one’s time.”
• 1911 - The word schizophrenia was coined by a Swiss
psychiatrist named Eugen Bleuler.
Positive Symptoms
1. “Positive” – extra, beyond what normal people experience
Hallucinations
Hearing voices that are not really there (most common)
Seeing people or objects that are not really there
Smelling scents that do not really exist
Thinking he/she is being touched
Delusions
Delusions of persecution – believe people are trying to harm
him/her
Delusions of reference – believe TV characters or books are
specifically talking to him/her
Delusions of influence – believe he/she are being controlled by
external forces like aliens or demons
Thought disorders
Movement disorders
Negative Symptoms
2. “Negative” – lacking from what normal people experience
Lack of interest
Lack of pleasure
Flat effect
Cognitive Symptoms
3. “Cognitive”
Poor ability to understand information and use it to
make decisions
Trouble focusing or paying attention
Problems with “working memory” (the ability to use
information immediately after learning
Types
1. Paranoid Schizophrenia
#1 type of schizophrenia (40%)
Characterized by delusions and hallucinations
2. Disorganized Schizophrenia
Characterized by very confused speech, social silliness,
and neglect of cleanliness
3. Catatonic Schizophrenia
Becoming rare
Characterized by very disturbed motor behavior
Onset and Prevalence
• Affects 1 in every 100 people
• Men typically develop schizophrenia ages 16-25.
• Women typically develop it ages 25-30.
Possible Causes
• Genes
pregnant
• Cannabis Use
• Infection in womb
• Age of Father
• Stress during childhood or
earlier development
• Being born during winter
months
• Sickness of mother while
• Elevated levels of
neurotransmitters
Paranoia
&
hallucinations
Auditory
hallucinations
Visual
hallucinations
Disorganized
thoughts
Emotional issues
Memory &
learning
problems
More Brain
• Increased blood flow to some areas
• Decreased blood flow to other areas
• Extra grey matter lost
• Enlarged Ventricles
• Reduction in brain tissue
Treatments
• Americans spend nearly 63 billion a year treating
schizophrenia
• Antipsychotics “neuroleptic medications”
1. Typical antipsychotics (affect dopamine)
2. Atypical antipsychotics (affect dopamine & serotonin)
• Shock Treatments
1. Insulin
2. Electroconvulsive
Outlook for Schizophrenics
• There are more untreated schizophrenics on the streets than
receiving care in hospitals.
• 5% of schizophrenics live their lives in hospitals.
• 6% are homeless or live in shelters.
• 6% live in jails or prisons.
• 10% live in nursing homes.
• 20% live in supervised homes.
• 25% live with a family member.
• 28% live independently.
• Schizophrenics have a 50x higher risk of attempting suicide
than the public.
• 40% attempt suicide at least once in their lives.
• 10-13% actually kill themselves.
• Suicide is the #1 premature cause of death among
schizophrenics.
Future Treatments
• Drugs to lower levels of the STEP enzyme
• Drugs to reduce glutamate (a neurotransmitter that excites
dopamine release)
• Drugs that affect the NMDA receptor (deals with glutamate)
• Drugs that affect the mGluR receptors (also deal with glutamate)
• Drugs that play a role in the receptors for
- Serotonin
- Nicotine
- GABA
• Drugs to slow the loss of gray matter during pruning