This biological illness is not a single psychiatric condition but is rather a group of disorders comprising 6-month periods of distrubance of communication, perception and/or thought

Schizophrenia

This biological illness is not a mood disorder, is almost certainly due to biological causes, is not multiple personality disorder but is a disorder of the apprehension of reality

Schizophrenia

Models of this biological illness include the inability to segregate and/or differentiate between relevant vs. irrelevant sensory stimulation and that sensory abnormalities produce "false" realities which may lead to hallucinations or synesthesia

Schizophrenia

This standard-bearer attempts to draw contrast between disorders that are biological in nature and those that are psychological in nature

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM-V, fifth edition)

This disease is characterized by progressive mental deterioration later on in life and is characterized by memory loss, confusion and disorientation

Alzheimer's disease

This is the step-like deterioration in intellectual function and results from a decrease in blood flow to the hemispheres due to strokes

Multi-infract dementia

How are psychological problems best treated?

With therapy

What are problems of the brain best treated with?

Drugs (since the brain is part of the body)

Florid symptoms including disorganized thinking, paranoia, delusions of grandeur and bizarre ideation (such as thoughts of persecution or being controlled by God) are characteristic of what?

Schizophrenia

Negative symptoms including neglect of personal hygiene, odd behavior and ideas, social isolation, withdrawal and catatonia are associated with what biological disease?

Schizophrenia

In schizophreniaa, do florid symptoms precede negative symptoms or do negative symptoms precede florid symptoms?

Negative symptoms precede florid symptoms

Spontaneous remission and spontaneous relapse are challenges to the effective treatment of what biological disease?

Schizophrenia

What is the "rule of thirds"?

It states that after the onset of schizophrenia, one third of people spontaneously recover, one third spontaneously remiss/relapse and one third are chronically ill

There was an upward trend in the institutionalization of schizophrenic individuals in the early 1900's thanks to better diagnostics but this trend took a sharp downturn in 1956. Why did this happen?

This happened because of the introduction of the first drug therapies for schizophrenia

What are neuroleptics such as chlorpromazine (thorazine)?

They reduce florid symptoms of schizophrenia but they leave the negative symptoms unaffected

What effect do neuroleptics have on people who don't have schizophrenia?

They have a sedative effect; they reduce the rewarding quality of stimuli like less pleasure from eating, socializing and sex

These act as dopamine receptor (DAR) antagonists in the treatment of schizophrenia

Neuroleptics

What is the dopamine hypothesis in regards to schizophrenia?

It suggests that the underlying cause of schizophrenia is too much dopamine transmission in certain parts of the brain

What impact does the dopamine hypothesis have on the treatment of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia treatments are focused on maintaining proper levels and ratios of dopamine

Is there a correlation amongst identical twins raised apart in regards to the development of schizophrenia?

Yes

A larger-than-average cerebral ventricle is a potential indicator of what disease?

Schizophrenia

What did some Denmark studies show in regards to the potential correlation between schizophrenics and the flu?

Women who developed the flu during the second trimester of pregnancy were more likely to have schizophrenic children

This is the illness where a person perceives reality normally but their feelings about that reality may be distorted

Affective illness

Symptoms of this include accelerated thought process, euphoria, exaggerated sexual or physical appetite, illusions of invincibility and grandiose ambitions (effectively treated by lithium)

Mania

Symptoms of this disease include suicidal thoughts, anhedonia (lack of pleasure in food, sex or exercise), psychomotor retardation, expressions of helplessness, hopelessness + worthlessness and sleep disturbances resulting in lost REM sleep

Depression

These illnesses are characterized by either depression or mania alternating with normal periods

Unipolar illnesses

This illness is characterized by brief periods of mania that swing with periods of depression and lengths of normalcy of varying degrees

Bipolar illness

True or false: most people experience some level of depression at some point

True. Traumatic events lead to short-term depression (reactive depression)

This theory states that an abnormality in monaminergic transmission underlies almost all mental illness

The monoamine hypothesis

What is the main problem with the monoamine hypothesis?

The hypothesis doesn't state which monoamine, which location and which mode of action are involved. In addition, depression is caused by too little brain catecholamine

How do monoamine oxidase inhibitors work?

MAO's A&B breakdown catecholamines, MAOIs block this action (which inhibits the breakdown of catecholamines) and this increases catecholamine levels. Since catecholamines prevent depression, this lack of breakdown increases catecholamine levels and therefore maintain emotional stability

Accelerated heart rate and hypertension are two of the side effects of what class of drugs?

MAOIs

These were developed as an effort to find a drug affecting only receptor sites central to depression; these are structurally related to neuroleptics, block monoamine re-uptake, elevate extracellular monoamines and have less cardiovascular effects

Tricyclic antidepressants

These selectively block serotonin re-uptake, raise extracellular levels of serotonin, include Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft and their therapeutic effects take weeks even though the biochemical effects are practically immediate

SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors)

Symptoms of these disorders include intense dread and generalized avoidance but are not attributable to any real cause

Anxiety disorders

Anxiolytics (of the benzodiazepine family) act as tranquilizers; what disorders are they used to treat?

Anxiety disorders