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Psychiatry 104
Psychiatry 104
Psychiatry 104
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
• Environment
• Those with history of childhood central nervous
system infection.
• history of obstetric complications •
Dopamine Hypothesis
DOPAMINE HYPOTHESIS
The Dopamine hypothesis states that the brain of
schizophrenic patients produces more dopamine
than normal brains.
– Evidence comes from
– studies with drugs
– post mortems
– pet scans
Dopaminergic pathways in the brain
• 1 – Mesolimbic
• 2 – Mesocortical
• 3 – Nigrostriatic
• 4 - Tubero-infundibular
• Mesolimbic pathway: reward-related cognition
• incentive salience ("wanting")
• pleasure ("liking") response from certain stimuli
• positive reinforcement
• aversion-related cognition
• Mesocortical pathway: executive functions
Neurons that use the transmitter ‘dopamine’ fire too often and transmit too
many messages or too often.
Certain D2 receptors are known to play a key role in guiding attention.
Lowering DA activity helps remove the symptoms of schizophrenia
ROLE OF DRUGS
Falkai et al 1988
Autopsies have found that people with schizophrenia have a
larger than usual number of dopamine receptors.
Increase of DA in brain structures and receptor density (left
amygdala and caudate nucleus putamen)
• Concluded that DA production is abnormal for schizophrenia
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
In general, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into
three catogories:
Positive
Negative
cognitive symptoms.
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganised speech/thinking (thought disorder or loosening of
associations)
Grossly disorganised behaviour
Catatonic behaviours
Other symptoms:
• Affect inappropriate to the situation or stimuli
• Unusual motor behaviour (e.g. pacing and rocking)
• Depersonalisation
• Derealisation
• Somatic preoccupations
Negative symptoms are less obvious and often persist even after the
resolution of positive symptoms.
COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS
2. Psychotic
• Perceptual disturbances, delusions, and disordered thought process/content
3. Residual
• occurs between episodes of psychosis
• It is marked by flat affect, social withdrawal, and odd thinking or behaviour
(negative symptoms)
• Patient can continue to have hallucinations even with treatment
Scheinder’s symptoms of first rank’
The sensation of alien thoughts being put into the subject’s mind by some external
agency (thought insertion) or of their own thoughts being taken away (thought
withdrawal)
The sensation that the subjects thinking is no longer confined to their own mind,
but is instead shared by, or accessible to, others (thought broadcasting)
The sensation of feelings, impulses, or acts being experienced or carried out under
external control, so that the subject feels as if they were being hypnotised or had
become a robot (delusion of control)
DSM-V Criteria
Two or more of the following must be present for at least 1 month:
1. Delusions
2. Hallucinations
3. Disorganized speech (e.g Frequent derailment or incoherence)
4. Grossly disorganized or catatonic behaviour
5. Negative symptoms (e.g Diminished emotional expression or avolition)
- One of the two symptoms must be delusions, hallucinations,
or disorganized speech.
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• Criteria for hospitalization:
o Risk of harm/ neglect to self or others
o Deterioration in psychosocial functioning
o Serious/ life- threatening drug reactions
Pharmacological treatment
• Anti- psychotics are the mainstay of pharmacological
treatment in schizophrenia
• These medications treat the symptoms of disorder and
do not cure shcizophrenia
• The anti- psychotic drugs include two major classes:
i) dopamine receptor antagonists.
ii) Serotonin- dopamine antagonists (SDA)
• All APs are different in their efficacy and side effects
Dopamine receptor antagonists
• Effective in treatment of positive symptoms of
schizophrenia
• Cause extrapyramidal side effects such as
parkinsonism and hyperprolactinaemia.
• Eg: haloperidol (haldol), chlorpromazine
(thorazine), perphenazine, sulpride,
trifluoperazine, fluphenazine, zuclopenthixol,
flupenthixol
Serotonindopamine antagonists (SDA)
• Known as atypical antipsychotic drugs
• Effective against negative symptoms
• Fewer neurological and endocrinological side effects. But
causing metabolic syndrome (weight gain, dyslipidemia,
and glucose intolerance)
• Eg: clozapine, risperidone (risperdal), olanzapine,
quetiapine, ziprasidone, aripriprazole, paliperidone,
amisulpride
Other biological therapies
• Electroconvulsive therapy
o To achieve rapid and short- term improvement of
severe symptoms after an adequate trial of other
treatment options has proven ineffective and/ or when
the condition is considered to be life- threatening. Eg:
i) catatonic schizophrenia
ii) shcizophrenia with prominet affective symptoms
iii) schizophrenia with previous improvement with
ECT
Psychosocial therapies
• Objectives:
o Enable persons who are severely ill to develop social and vocational
skills for independent living
o To improve individual’s ability to handle stressful life events
o Increase adherence to medications
o Promote better communication and coping skills
o Enhance quality of life
o Promote recovery
• Types of psychosocial therapies:-