4-Medicine-Disease-Kinds-Organ-Nerve-Mental-Schizophrenia

schizophrenia

Functional psychosis {schizophrenia}| {dementia praecox} can have delusions, hallucinations, memory disturbances, ideas of reference, volition problem, and dementia. Schizophrenics think their minds and wills are not under their control. They think that thoughts are being put into, or removed from, their minds. They suspect that someone is hypnotizing them.

incidence

About 1% of people have schizophrenia. Incidence has been the same for 50 years.

recovery

Individual episodes typically end with previous-personality recovery. Recovered schizophrenics can relapse after contact with critical and involved relatives. 80% of schizophrenic patients recover from first attack. Only 50% remain healthy. 10% of schizophrenic patients are long-term hospital in-patients. People can improve even after years of hospitalization.

properties: 4 A's

Schizophrenia has autistic thinking, emotion ambivalence and withdrawal, apathy and low emotional level with affect lack, inappropriate emotions, and unconnected thought and words with association lack.

properties: behavior

Schizophrenia causes agitation. Schizophrenia can show low spontaneity, simple speech, and slow movement. Schizophrenics have abnormal eye movements. They change mental-function distribution between cerebral hemispheres. They have difficulty processing incoming information.

properties: emotion

Schizophrenics lose interest in, and respond unemotionally to, other people.

properties: memory

Schizophrenics can lose discussion point. Schizophrenia can lessen memory formation and problem solving.

properties: speech

Schizophrenia can involve unusual associations to words or questions, with rambling and incoherent answers.

properties: will

Schizophrenics lose energy and are apathetic.

types

Schizophrenia types are catatonic, childhood, hebephrenic, paranoid, pseudoneurotic, schizo-affective, and simple.

factors

Schizophrenia has same types and frequencies in all environments and cultures. Schizophrenia does not increase in wars or other catastrophes.

causes

Trauma or intense family pressure can cause schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can transmit genetically.

causes: theory

Both nature and nurture cause schizophrenia {diathesis stress model}.

biochemistry

Schizophrenia lowers glutamate and increases NAAG, kynurenic acid, and homocysteine, which all affect NMDA receptors. D-cycloserine, D-serine, and glycine stimulate NMDA receptors. D-amino acid oxidase catabolizes D-serine. Catechol-O-methyltransferase affects dopamine metabolism, mainly in prefrontal lobes. Dysbindin and neuregulin affect number of NMDA receptors.

biochemistry: dopamine

Excess dopamine causes more activity. Low dopamine causes low activity. In schizophrenics, amygdala contains abnormal dopamine quantities. Dopamine D1 receptors are in frontal lobes. Cortex and brainstem receptors differ. A dopamine receptor binds dopamine antagonist drugs. Amphetamines, apomorphine, clozapine, etomidate, ketamine, Levodopa, phencyclidine, and phenothiazines affect schizophrenia.

tests

Tests for actions are Tower of London and Wisconsin Card-Sorting tests.

ambivalence in disease

Schizophrenics can have opposite ideas about same things {ambivalence}.

autistic thinking

People can have intellectual deficits, hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, and disrupted syntax {autistic thinking}.

hallucination in schizophrenia

People can visualize images {hallucination, schizophrenia} as sensations {psychosensory hallucination} or thoughts {psychic hallucination}. Schizophrenics typically hear voices talking to or about them. People can hear sounds {outer voices} or internally hear {inner voices} insistent voices that seem to come from outside. They hear voices telling them what to do, commenting on or repeating their thoughts, discussing among themselves, or threatening to kill them. Voices can give commands {command hallucination}.

ideas of reference

Schizophrenics can have delusions, hallucinations, and memory disturbances, and can attribute incorrect object characteristics {ideas of reference}.

lack of affect

Schizophrenics can have apathy, low emotion, or inappropriate emotions {lack of affect}.

splitting in disease

Schizophrenics can lose coordination between different mental functions {splitting}, particularly between cognitive and emotional personality aspects.

thought insertion

Schizophrenics can feel that thoughts are not their own thoughts, but someone else put them in their minds or they are someone else's thoughts {thought insertion}.

volition problem

Schizophrenics can have little will {volition problem}.