NRNP 6635 Final Exam - Walden University Psychopathology and Diagnostic Reasoning

Chapter 7 Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders Schizophrenia-symptoms are variable and include changes in perception, emotion, cognition, thinking, & behavior. The effects of these manifestations vary by person and can change over time, but the illness is always severe and is usually long-lasting. Onset is typically before age 25. Affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Patients and families tend to suffer poor care due to lack of knowledge of schizophrenia. It is one of the most common of the serious mental disorders but its essential nature remains unclear. Sometimes it is referred to as a syndrome, the schizophrenias or the schizophrenia spectrum. There is no lab testing for schizophrenia. History-Symptoms of schizophrenia have been documented throughout history. Early Greek physicians noted patients with delusions of grandeur, paranoia, and deterioration in cognitive function and personality. It wasn’t until the 19th Century that schizophrenia became a medical condition worthy of being studied. Benedict Morel ()-coined the term demence precoce- to identify deterioration in patients who illness began in adolescence Emil Kraepelin ()-Identified dementia precox (from demece precoce)-a condition that identified an early onset change in cognition identified with hallucinations and delusions. He also distinguished manic and depressive episodes as well as paranoia Eugene Bleuler coined the term schizophrenia (replacing dementia precox). He chose the term for the schisms in the thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of the patients. He chose phrenia because he did not believe the disorder was associated with dementia. Schizophrenia is often misconstrued by lay people as multiple personality disorder, which is a separate disorder (schism-can mean split or division, but it can also mean differences in which he was describing the differences). 4As: Associations, Affect, Autism, Ambivalences. Secondary (Accessory): hallucinations, delusions Ernst Kretschmer ()- compiled data to support the idea that people with schizophrenia were more slender, athletic, and dysplastic body types rather than those with short, stocky physiques. Kurt Schneider ()- contributed a description of first-rank symptoms, which he stressed should not be rigidly applied. He stated that diagnoses should not be based solely on first-rank symptoms but if a patient presented with no first-rank symptoms, second-rank symptoms and clinical appearance should be observed. Karl Jaspers ()-psychiatrist and philosopher played a major role in developing existential psychoanalysis. His work paved the way to understand the psychological meaning of schizophrenic signs and symptoms of delusions and hallucinations. Adolf Meyer ()- founder of psychobiology saw schizophrenia as a reaction to life stresses. It was a maladaptation that was understandable in terms of the patient’s life experiences. Meyer’s view was represented in the nomenclature of 1950s, which was referred to the schizophrenic reaction. In later editions of DSM the term reaction was dropped.