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1.1.Psychosis Overview
What is psychosis?
It is any impairment that interferes with the
capacity to function normally in a daily life.
Historically psychosis is a term that is used with
many different definitions, without any universal acceptance of a
single definition. The definitions of psychosis range from
schizophrenia to depression.
What are the characteristics of psychosis?
The characteristics of psychosis are:
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Distortion of reality and disturbances in: perception
(hallucinations)
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inferential thinking (delusions)
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language (disorganized speech)
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social interaction (withdrawn)
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motor behavior (stereotyped movements)
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motivation (avolition – inability to initiate
goal-directed activities)
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intellectual functioning (alogia – impoverished
mental creativity)
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emotional expression (flattened/blunt affect)
-
pleasure experience (anhedonia – inability to
experience pleasure)
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cognitive functions (impairments in attention, memory
and executive functions).
Distortion of reality or exaggeration of reality is
characteristic of psychosis, both in schizophrenia and depression.
Schizophrenia is marked by the sense of altered reality, while
depression is marked by the loss sense of reality and mania by the
exaggerated sense of reality.
What are the two general classes disorder in
psychosis?
They are:
Thought disorder is the disturbance in the thought
process, and affective disorder is the disturbance in the affect
(mood) of an individual.
What are the three major classes of affective
disorder?
The three major classes of affective disorder
are:
Major depression is characterized by the
incapacitate sense of helpless and hopeless. It is also called
unipolar disorder because it only has the depression component.
Mania is characterized by the flight of ideas,
speech and activities of invincible, indiscretions and reckless
behaviors without worrying about dire consequences.
Manic-depressive is also called bipolar disorder
because of the mood swing between mania and depression. A person
usually oscillates between the manic phase and the depressive phase
of the disorder periodically.
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1.2.Characteristics of Schizophrenia
What are the characteristics of schizophrenia?
It is a thought disorder characterized by:
Delusion is a common example that the thought process is bizarre which is not based on facts or reality.
What are the characteristics of persecutory delusion in schizophrenics?
Persecutory delusion is the belief that others are spying on them or planning to harm them. They are paranoid. They believe that their thoughts are imposed on them externally which they don’t have control of.
This pattern of thoughts often leads to confusion and illogical communications. The speech may be vague, incoherent, drift from subject to subject or repetitive.
What are the characteristics of the disturbances in perception in schizophrenics?
The characteristics are:
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Auditory hallucination
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Tactile hallucination
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Visual hallucination
Most hallucinations in schizophrenics are auditory in nature. They often hear a little demon in the head saying insulting and commanding things. Tactile hallucination can occur with tingling or burning sensations. Visual hallucination is seen as images of figures superpositioned on real background.
What are the characteristics of disturbances of emotions in schizophrenics?
The emotions are often:
