Descriptions of schizophrenic processes

Bleuler’s Four A’s:

o Associations – loose, tangential

o Affect – flat, inappropriate

o Ambivalence

o Autism - social withdrawal

Positive symptoms

o Delusions – e.g., delusions of grandeur, reference, persecution, thought insertion

o Hallucinations – auditory or visual

o Disorganized thought and speech – e.g., incoherent speech, perseveration, attention deficits

Negative symptoms

o Affective flattening or inappropriate affect

o Alogia (poverty of speech)

o Avolition

Models of etiology in schizophrenia

Biological perspectives

o Genetic factors

o Biochemical factors (e.g., dopamine hypothesis)

o Brain abnormalities

o Viral infections

Psychological theories

o Schizophregenic mother

o Family theories – e.g., double-bind communication, expressed emotion

Diathesis-stress theory