Module 68 Schizophrenia

LEARNING TARGETS

• 68-1 Describe the patterns of perceiving, thinking, and feeling that characterize schizophrenia.
• 68-2 Contrast chronic schizophrenia and acute schizophrenia.
• 68-3 Discuss the brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia.
• 68-4 Discuss the prenatal events associated with increased risk of developing schizophrenia.
• 68-5 Discuss how genes influence schizophrenia, and identify the factors that may be early warning signs of schizophrenia in children.

During their most severe periods, people with schizophrenia live in a private inner world, preoccupied with the strange ideas and images that haunt them. The word itself means “split” (schizo) “mind” (phrenia). It refers not to a multiple personality split but rather to the mind’s split from reality. People with schizophrenia have disturbed perceptions and beliefs, disorganized speech, and diminished, inappropriate emotions (and actions). Schizophrenia is the chief example of a psychotic disorder, a group of disorders marked by irrationality, distorted perceptions, and lost contact with reality.

schizophrenia

a disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression.

psychotic disorders

a group of disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality.