Schizophrenia - AQA A Level Psychology EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS|LATEST 2025
Schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-A severe mental illness where contact with reality and
insight are impaired and example of psychosis
classification of mental disorder -CORRECT ANSWER-The process of organising symptoms
into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
more commonly diagnosed in -CORRECT ANSWER-men than women
two major systems for the classification of mental disorder -CORRECT ANSWER-- World
Health Organisations International Classification of Disease edition 10 (ICD-10)
- American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual edition (DSM-5)
How many symptoms must be present? (ICD-10) -CORRECT ANSWER-Two or more negative
symptoms
How many symptoms must be present? (DSM-5) -CORRECT ANSWER-One positive symptom
positive symptoms of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-atypical symptoms experienced in
addition to normal experiences - include hallucinations and delusions
hallucinations -CORRECT ANSWER-a positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are the
sensory experiences of stimuli that either have no basis in reality or are distorted
perceptions of things in nature
,delusions -CORRECT ANSWER-a positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve the beliefs
that have no basis in reality
negative symptoms of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-Atypical experiences that represent
the loss of a usual experience such as clear thinking or 'normal' levels of motivation
speech poverty -CORRECT ANSWER-a negative symptoms off schizophrenia which involves
the reduced frequency and quality of speech
speech disorganisation -CORRECT ANSWER-Speech becomes incoherent or the speaker
changes topic mid sentence
avolition -CORRECT ANSWER-a negative symptom of schizophrenia which involves the loss of
motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
positive symptoms examples -CORRECT ANSWER-- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Speech disorganisation
Negative symptoms examples -CORRECT ANSWER-- Avolition
- Speech poverty
Evaluation points for classification of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-- Reliability
- Validity
- Co morbidity
- Symptom overlap
- Gender bias
- cultural bias
,Co morbidity -CORRECT ANSWER-the occurrence of two illnesses or conditions together.
Where two conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of
classifying the two disorders separately
Symptom overlap -CORRECT ANSWER-Occurs when two or more conditions share the same
symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls to question the validity of
classifying the two disorders separately
Reliability (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-Realiability means
consistency - inter rate reliability used to measure extent to which two different assessors
agree on assessments.
- the case of a diagnosis this edna the extent rio which two or more mental health
professionals arrive at the same diagnosis for the same patients
- Ellie Chenaux et al had two psychiatrists independently diagnose 100 patients using DSM
and ICD
- inter rater reliability as poor -
v
1. 26 (DSM)
2. 44 (DMS)
1. 14 (DSM)
2. 24 (ICD)
Validity (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-The rent to which we are
measuring What we intended to measure
- there are a number of validity issues
- criterion validity can assess validity of a diagnosis - do different assessment systems drive
at these are diagnosis for the same patient
- figure in Cheniaux et al study - schizophrenia more likely to bee diagnosed sing ICD
- suggests schizophrenia is either over diagnoses ICD or under diagnosed DSM - poor validity
, Co morbidity (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-- 'morbidity' = medical
condition or how common it is
- co morbidity is phenomenon that two or more conditions occur together
- if conditions occur together a lot then questions validity of diagnosis and classification
because may be single condition
- Schizophrenia commonly diagnosed with other reconditions
- Peter Buckley concluded that a round half patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia also had
diagnosis of depression (50%) or substance abuse (47%_
- PTSD also occurred in 29% cases and OCD 23%
-challenges both classifications
- might be bad at telling difference between schizophrenia and depression
Symptom overlap (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-eg. booth SZ and
bipolar disorder involve delusions and abolition
- this questions the validity of the classification of the diagnosis of sz
under ICD -10 - patient may be diagnosed sz however, under dim, sesame patient may be
diagnosed bipolar disorder
- suggests sz and bd may not be two different conditions
gender bias in diagnosis (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-- Julia
Longenecker et al reviewed studies of prevalence of schizophrenia and concluded that since
1980s men have bee diagnosed with schizophrenia rather more often than women
- may be because men are more genetically vulnerable to developing schizophrenia than
women
- whoever another possibility is gender bias in diagnosis
- female patients typically function better than men and work more and good family
relationships
- high functioning may explain why some women have not bee diagnosed with schizophrenia
where men with similar symptoms would've been
- better interpersonal functioning may boas practitioners to under diagnose schizophrenia
either because symptoms are masked all together by good interpersonal function or because
quality of interpersonal functioning makes case too mild to warrant diagnosis
ANSWERS|LATEST 2025
Schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-A severe mental illness where contact with reality and
insight are impaired and example of psychosis
classification of mental disorder -CORRECT ANSWER-The process of organising symptoms
into categories based on which symptoms cluster together in sufferers
more commonly diagnosed in -CORRECT ANSWER-men than women
two major systems for the classification of mental disorder -CORRECT ANSWER-- World
Health Organisations International Classification of Disease edition 10 (ICD-10)
- American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual edition (DSM-5)
How many symptoms must be present? (ICD-10) -CORRECT ANSWER-Two or more negative
symptoms
How many symptoms must be present? (DSM-5) -CORRECT ANSWER-One positive symptom
positive symptoms of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-atypical symptoms experienced in
addition to normal experiences - include hallucinations and delusions
hallucinations -CORRECT ANSWER-a positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are the
sensory experiences of stimuli that either have no basis in reality or are distorted
perceptions of things in nature
,delusions -CORRECT ANSWER-a positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve the beliefs
that have no basis in reality
negative symptoms of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-Atypical experiences that represent
the loss of a usual experience such as clear thinking or 'normal' levels of motivation
speech poverty -CORRECT ANSWER-a negative symptoms off schizophrenia which involves
the reduced frequency and quality of speech
speech disorganisation -CORRECT ANSWER-Speech becomes incoherent or the speaker
changes topic mid sentence
avolition -CORRECT ANSWER-a negative symptom of schizophrenia which involves the loss of
motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels
positive symptoms examples -CORRECT ANSWER-- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Speech disorganisation
Negative symptoms examples -CORRECT ANSWER-- Avolition
- Speech poverty
Evaluation points for classification of schizophrenia -CORRECT ANSWER-- Reliability
- Validity
- Co morbidity
- Symptom overlap
- Gender bias
- cultural bias
,Co morbidity -CORRECT ANSWER-the occurrence of two illnesses or conditions together.
Where two conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of
classifying the two disorders separately
Symptom overlap -CORRECT ANSWER-Occurs when two or more conditions share the same
symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls to question the validity of
classifying the two disorders separately
Reliability (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-Realiability means
consistency - inter rate reliability used to measure extent to which two different assessors
agree on assessments.
- the case of a diagnosis this edna the extent rio which two or more mental health
professionals arrive at the same diagnosis for the same patients
- Ellie Chenaux et al had two psychiatrists independently diagnose 100 patients using DSM
and ICD
- inter rater reliability as poor -
v
1. 26 (DSM)
2. 44 (DMS)
1. 14 (DSM)
2. 24 (ICD)
Validity (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-The rent to which we are
measuring What we intended to measure
- there are a number of validity issues
- criterion validity can assess validity of a diagnosis - do different assessment systems drive
at these are diagnosis for the same patient
- figure in Cheniaux et al study - schizophrenia more likely to bee diagnosed sing ICD
- suggests schizophrenia is either over diagnoses ICD or under diagnosed DSM - poor validity
, Co morbidity (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-- 'morbidity' = medical
condition or how common it is
- co morbidity is phenomenon that two or more conditions occur together
- if conditions occur together a lot then questions validity of diagnosis and classification
because may be single condition
- Schizophrenia commonly diagnosed with other reconditions
- Peter Buckley concluded that a round half patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia also had
diagnosis of depression (50%) or substance abuse (47%_
- PTSD also occurred in 29% cases and OCD 23%
-challenges both classifications
- might be bad at telling difference between schizophrenia and depression
Symptom overlap (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-eg. booth SZ and
bipolar disorder involve delusions and abolition
- this questions the validity of the classification of the diagnosis of sz
under ICD -10 - patient may be diagnosed sz however, under dim, sesame patient may be
diagnosed bipolar disorder
- suggests sz and bd may not be two different conditions
gender bias in diagnosis (A03 classification of schizophrenia) -CORRECT ANSWER-- Julia
Longenecker et al reviewed studies of prevalence of schizophrenia and concluded that since
1980s men have bee diagnosed with schizophrenia rather more often than women
- may be because men are more genetically vulnerable to developing schizophrenia than
women
- whoever another possibility is gender bias in diagnosis
- female patients typically function better than men and work more and good family
relationships
- high functioning may explain why some women have not bee diagnosed with schizophrenia
where men with similar symptoms would've been
- better interpersonal functioning may boas practitioners to under diagnose schizophrenia
either because symptoms are masked all together by good interpersonal function or because
quality of interpersonal functioning makes case too mild to warrant diagnosis
