My textbook chapter

This file contains the learning objectives that I would like to to be able to have achieved once you have finished the learning for this section: learning-obs-for-s-and-f-of-schizophrenia1

schizd1-pdf This file contains the DSM 4TR criteria for schizophrenia. You need to engage with this before we look at the 4 symptoms named in the specification individually, each of which has a linked page.

schizo1 This PowerPoint gives a brief introduction to some of the features of schizophrenia.

symptoms-table This table helps you to learn about the wide range of symptoms, which sub-types they fit with and whether they are positive or negative symptoms. You may need to look up the definitions of some of the terms.

case-studies: We will look at these case studies of people with schizophrenia in conjunction with the information on different symptoms and the DSM sub-types. You will pick our symptoms which seems to suggest the sub-type that you might diagnose.

schizophrenia-fact-sheet This document summarizes the changes to the diagnosis of schizophrenia in DSM5. Interestingly the sub-types have been removed and replaced with the term specificers. This is because people present different patterns of symptoms over time, meaning that it is difficult to reliably diagnose a schizophrenia sub-type.

schiz-quiz This quiz will help you to check that you have understood and retained some of the important AO1 detail for this topic area.

You need to know all about these 4 symptoms of schizophrenia, all of which are named in the spec:

Thought Insertion

Delusions

Hallucinations

Disordered Thinking

It is also worth remembering, as we study schizophrenia, that social interaction is a well-documented source of stress for schizophrenic clients (Wing, 1983). People with schizophrenia can find social situations very challenging and the stress can exacerbate their symptoms.

Features that you could describe include factual information about; prevalence, age of onset, gender differences, risk factors, prognosis, treatments

This file contains a detailed booklet that is written for people who may have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and is useful in understanding in simple terms the symptoms, causes, treatments and support available for people with schizophrenia:

https://www.mind.org.uk/media/990900/understanding-schizophrenia-2014-.pdf

This documentary is really helpful in understanding the symptoms, causes and treatments for schizophrenia. The section on the British twins with schizophrenia is particularly interesting. It introduces the idea about schizophrenia being genetic in part but that a genetic predisposition is not sufficient on its own to cause this disorder. There is a great section where they talk about the use of twin studies. N.B.: Apologies folks this documentary was taken off Youtube for copyright reasons but I found a 9 minute clip of one section on daily motion but all the good stuff on twin studies I’m afraid is missing 😦

http://file.scirp.org/Html/9-8202038_28617.htm This link takes you to the study mentioned in your eBook by Sjoblom (2013). This is useful paper to know about as it is a case study of a woman whose brother has a diagnosis of schizophrenia and it uses qualitative data which has been analysed using content analysis which you need to know about for Paper 3 Methods and Stats.

http://www.cedarclinic.org/index.php/understanding-early-psychosis/what-is-psychosis/common-symptoms-of-psychosis A helpful webpage on symptoms.

Revision Activites

Explaining the impact of symptoms with reference to the 4 Ds of diagnosis This worksheet prompts you to really think about how the symptoms might impact upon a person’s life and interactions with other people, by encouraging you to make links with the 4Ds of diagnosis; I could see this as a classic exam style question, see Q2 below.

Starter activity useful to revise the features: Revision features

Assessment Questions

1. Describe two symptoms of schizophrenia. (4)
2. Explain two symptoms of schizophrenia and how they might be linked to the any two of the 4 Ds of diagnosis (4)
3. Describe two features of schizophrenia. (4)