Question

Q # 1: What is schizophrenia? How are positive and negative symptoms defined within schizophrenia?

Q # 2: What is treatment resistant schizophrenia? Who falls into this category?

Q # 3: Describe the differences between: schizophrenia functional outcomes, sensory-gating deficits, cognitive dysmetria, and the prodromal phase of schizophrenia.

Q # 4: Explain both the neurodevelopmental and the neurotransmission hypotheses of schizophrenia.

Q # 5: Describe briefly the history of schizophreina and how drug treatment evolved from typical to atypical antipsychotic drugs

Answer 1

• 1.Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects about one percent of the population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration, and lack of motivation. However, when these symptoms are treated, most people with schizophrenia will greatly improve over time.People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality.
• The symptoms are classified into four categories:
• Positive symptoms - also known as psychotic symptoms. For example, delusions and hallucinations.
• Negative symptoms - these refer to elements that are taken away from the individual. For example, absence of facial expressions or lack of motivation.
• Cognitive symptoms - these affect the person's thought processes. They may be positive or negative symptoms, for example, poor concentration is a negative symptom.
• Emotional symptoms - these are usually negative symptoms, such as blunted emotions.
• The difference between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia is what they do to the person who is living with schizophrenia. Both types of symptoms impact the way he interacts with the world around him and within him. Schizophrenia positive symptoms create distortions and new ways of experiencing the world, while schizophrenia negative symptoms take things away.
• The positive symptoms of schizophrenia involve hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and disorganized or catatonic behavior.
• Hallucinations add things to sensory perceptions. Someone with schizophrenia might see, hear, feel, smell, or taste things that aren’t real.
• Delusions add distortions to someone’s thoughts. She will think and believe things that aren’t logical or real.
• Disorganized speech means that someone’s speech is difficult to follow or understand. He might get off track during a conversation or respond in ways that don’t make sense. Processes added to what usually happens in the brain cause this disorganization and difficulty in communication.
• Disorganized behavior can be erratic, inappropriate, or bizarre. Patterns of interacting with the world are added to her “normal” patterns of interaction.
• Catatonic behavior is withdrawn, can involve unusual positioning of the body, sitting in silence, staring at nothing. As with disorganized behavior, a different behavior pattern has been added to the person’s way of being in the world.
• The negative symptoms of schizophrenia diminish the brain’s ability to process certain experiences and to respond or behave in particular ways. This can lead to:
• Flat affect, where someone can’t show emotion and even the ability to smile is taken away
• Decreased motivation and goal-driven behavior
• Inability to make and pursue goals
• Slowed reaction to other people, events, and happenings
• Diminished speech (instead of disorganized, it is barely there; known as alosia)
• Loss of ability to fully care about people or events (apathy)
• Loss of ability to feel pleasure or happiness (anhedonia)
• Due to time limit,remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answerd,thankyou for your cooperation