Schizophrenia -A-Level Psychology

Diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia:

-is a serious mental disorder.

-symptoms of schizophrenia interfere severely with everyday tasks.

Classification of schizophrenia:

-does not have a single defining characteristic instead it has a cluster of symptoms some of which are unrelated.

-The ICD and DSM-5 differ slightly in their classification of schizophrenia.

Positive symptoms:

-Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are additional experiences beyond those of ordinary existence ,these include hallucinations and delusions.

-Hallucinations are unusual sensory experiences.Some hallucinations are related to events in the environment whereas some don’t.

-Delusions is also known as paranoia and irrational beliefs.Common delusions involve being an important historical or political figure.Delusions also commonly involve being persecuted or having superpowers.Sufferers of schizophrenia may believe that part of them is under external control.Delusions can lead to aggression in some sufferers of schizophrenia.

Negative symptoms:

-Negative symptoms of schizophrenia involve the loss of usual abilities and experiences.

–Avolition is finding it difficult to begin or keep up with goal-directed activities.Sufferers of schizophrenia have sharply reduced motivation to carry out activities. Andreason identified three identifying signs of avolition:poor hygiene,lack of persistence in work/education and lack of energy.

–Speech poverty is when there are changes in patterns of speech.There is a reduction in the amount and quality of speech and delay of responses during conversations in schizophrenia.The DSM system now places its emphasis on speech disorganisation which is a positive symptom.

Evaluation:

Cultural bias in diagnosis-African American and English people of Afro-Caribbean origin are several times more likely than white people to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.Rates in Africa and the West Indies are not particularly high ,this is not due to genetic vulnerability.Positive symptoms such as hearing voices may be more acceptable in African cultures as they have cultural beliefs in communicating with their ancestors so are more ready to acknowledge these experiences.Other cultures may find this irrational.Javier Escobar found that white psychiatrists may tend to over-interpret the symptoms and distrust the honesty of black people during diagnosis.

Reliability-Elie Cheniaux et al had two psychiatrists independently diagnose 100 patients using both DSM and ICD criteria.Inter-rater reliability was poor.This poor reliability is a weakness of diagnosis of schizophrenia.