PSYC 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Grandiose Delusions, Psychosis, Personality Disorder
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PSYC 1001 Full Course Notes
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Schizophrenia( a psychotic disorder): is a devastating psychological disorder that is characterized by major disturbances in thought, perception, emotion and behavior where the person cannot function regularly. People experience difficulties in everyday life activities. Hallucinations: a perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of external stimulation (auditory or visual) Delusions: are beliefs that are contrary to reality. Paranoid delusions: involve a false belief that other people are trying to harm you. Grandiose delusions: beliefs that one holds special power or is very important. The dopamine hypothesis: there is an overabundance of dopamine or too many dopamine receptors which are responsible for the onset and maintenance of schizophrenia. Brain imaging studies reveal that people with schizophrenia have enlarged ventricles. (cavities in the brain that contain cerebrospinal fluid) This suggests that the larger than normal ventricles suggest that various brain regions are reduced in size, thus implying that schizophrenia is associated with a loss of brain tissue.
