COGS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Stimulus Modality, Reduced Affect Display, Social Cognition
18 May 2018
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SCHIZOPHRENIA
WHAT IS SCHIZOPHRENIA?
• Severe psychiatric illness.
• Affects ~1%.
• Roughly equal in males and females.
• Typically onsets in late adolescence to early adulthood.
• Earlier onset in males, on average.
SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS
Traditionally associated with 'psychotic' symptoms.
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
Current understanding
• 'Negative' symptoms (e.g., apathy) as important as
• 'Positive' symptom
o Negative = something missing
o Positive = something unusual present
Diagnosis requires:
• Any 2 or more of characteristic symptoms:
1. Delusions (mistaken beliefs)
2. Hallucinations (misleading percepts)
3. Disorganised speech and/or behaviour
4. Negative symptoms (e.g., apathy, flat affect, anhedonia)
(At least one of first three must be present)
• Drop in social and occupational functioning
• Signs present for at least 6 months.
Characteristic symptoms: Delusions
• Content can be 'bizarre' or 'ordinary'
• Scope can be widespread or narrow
• Common delusional themes:
o Persecutory;
o Delusions of reference;
o Grandiose and religious;
o Delusions of control;
o "Loss of Boundary": Mind-reading, thought broadcast;
o Somatic delusions, other themes (e.g., jealousy, guilt).
Characteristic symptoms: Hallucinations
• Occur in any sensory modality
• Sometimes only one of the senses involved; sometimes several
• Auditory
-Non-verbal (bumps, music);
-Verbal hallucinations (voices commenting or conversing);
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