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Terms
Affect
-
Observable behaviors that are associated with subjective feelings.
Agonist
-
Any chemical that increases activity.
Anhedonia
-
The inability to experience pleasure.
Antagonist
-
Any chemical that decreases activity.
Avolition
-
A negative symptom of schizophrenia characterized by indecisiveness and
ambivalence, or a general state of apathy and loss of motivation.
Blunted Affect (flat affect)
-
A negative symptom of schizophrenia that involves restriction of non-verbal
displays of emotional responses or failure to exhibit signs of emotion.
Catatonia
-
Motor symptoms characterized by either immobility, marked muscular rigidity,
or excitement and overactivity.
Delusion
-
A false belief that is maintained despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
Dementia Praecox
-
A now outdated term for schizophrenia, originally coined by Emil Kraeplin to
describe patients who exhibited symptoms starting from an early age that led to
severe mental deterioration.
Disorganized Behavior
-
A symptom of schizophrenia characterized by disruptions in behavior that are
indicative of underlying disruptions in thought processes.
Disorganized Speech
-
A symptom of schizophrenia characterized by disruptions in formal speech and
verbal communication that are indicative of underlying disruptions in thought
mechanisms.
Disorganized Type
-
A type of schizophrenia characterized by a predominance of disorganized
speech, disorganized behavior, inappropriate or flat affect, and
delusions and hallucinations without a coherent theme.
Dopamine Hypothesis
-
A biological hypothesis concerning the cause of schizophrenia, which posits
that schizophrenia is caused by the over-activity of dopamine neurons in the
pathway between the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens in the
brain.
Double-Binding Communication
-
A term used to describe the kind of relationship that exists between the child
and his or her schizophrenogenic (tending to develop schizophrenia) mother.
This relationship is characterized by constant contradictions between verbal and
non-verbal information, leaving the child in a confused state.
Downward Drift Hypothesis
-
A theory that attempts to provide a socio-cultural basis for schizophrenia.
This theory basically states that, given the level of functional impairment that
occurs and is necessary for diagnosis, this impairment will also occur in
functional and occupational areas of life and lead to a downward drift in socio-
economic status (SES).
Elogia
-
A negative symptom of schizophrenia characterized by an absence of speaking.
Expressed Emotion (EE)
-
A concept that describes negative and damaging behavior sometimes exhibited by
the relatives of individuals suffering from a mental disorder. If the relatives
display a lot of criticism and over-involvement towards the patient, then the
family environment is said to be high in EE.
Hallucination
-
A perceptual experience that exists in the absence of any external stimulation.
Hypofrontality
-
A disorder associated with low dopamine activation in the dorsolateral pre-
frontal cortex of the brain.
Hungerwinter
-
An observation that may indicate that neurodevelopmental problems represent
antecedents, not consequences of schizophrenia. This term is used to describe
the observation that periods of severe food shortage are associated with
increased risk of developing schizophrenia.
The term stems from a study in which researchers discovered that children
conceived during the worst months of the 1945 "Hungerwinter" in Amsterdam (a
Nazi-created famine that occurred in the Netherlands at the end of World War II
and caused severe nutritional deprivations) had double the risk of developing
schizophrenia in later life. They theorized that this was due to lack of folic
acid in the little food available at the time.
Inappropriate Affect
-
A form of emotional disturbance wherein there is incongruity and lack of
adaptability in emotional expression.
Latitude Effect
-
An observation that may indicate that neurodevelopmental problems represent
not consequences but antecedents of schizophrenia. This term is used to
describe the observation that higher latitudes demonstrate an increased risk for
developing more malignant forms of schizophrenia.
Negative Symptoms
-
A category of schizophrenia used to describe symptoms such as avolition,
elogia, anhedonia, and flat or blunted affect.
Parkinson's Disease
-
A disorder of the motor systems caused by degeneration in the brain stem
substantia nigra , which results in low levels of dopamine.
Paranoid Type
-
A type of schizophrenia characterized by a predominance of
hallucinations and delusions that surround a coherent theme.
Positive Symptoms
-
A category of schizophrenia used to describe symptoms such as
hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behavior, and
inappropriate affect. These are symptoms that are present that should not
be.
Preservative Error
-
A characteristic of schizophrenic individuals wherein they exhibit the
inability to inhibit a learned response and switch to a new response.
Preservative errors involve continuing to obey an old rule even after a new rule
has been presented and usually indicate low dopamine activity in the pre-frontal
cortex.
Psychotic Symptoms
-
A term used to describe symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions
which involve a severe loss of contact with reality.
Schizophrenia
-
A group of psychological disorders characterized by disrupted perceptual and
thought processes and associated with a deterioration in role functioning.
Schizophreniform disorder
-
A disorder wherein the individual expresses similar symptoms as
schizophrenia but which lasts for less than the six month period required
for a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenogenic mother
-
A leading theory proposing a possible psychological basis for the development of
schizophrenia. This theory states that the mothers of schizophrenic
individuals tend to be cold, rejecting, and yet controlling.
Seasonality Effect
-
An observation that may indicate that neurodevelopmental problems represent
antecedents, not consequences, of schizophrenia. This term is used to describe
the phenomenon that births occurring in late winter or early spring, especially
when temperatures were extremely cold, are associated with an increase risk for
developing schizophrenia.
Social Selection Hypothesis
-
A theory that attempts to provide a possible socio-cultural basis for
schizophrenia. This theory basically states that individuals with lower
socioeconomic standing (SES) exist in environments that are more stressful--such
as more crime, poverty, hunger, less education, and less nutrition, and are
therefore more vulnerable to developing schizophrenia.
Tardive Dyskinesia (TD)
-
A motor syndrome produced as a severe side effect of neuroleptic medication.
Wisconsin Card Sort Test
-
A test measurement that can be used to measure the level of dopamine activation
in the pre-frontal cortex. The individual is asked to decipher rules, such as
shape, concerning the arrangement of cards, and then must sort the cards
according to these rules. Once they have seen the pattern or rule, the
arrangement changes and the individual must then sort the cards according to the
new rule.
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