Psychology Project

1. Alex Nichols
Pd. 4-5

2.  A serious mental disorder characterized by:
 Disordered thoughts
 Delusions of persecution or grandeur
 Hallucinations
 Behaviors (withdrawn or detached)

3. Symptoms
Positive:
 delusions, hallucinations, abnormal actions,
or thought disorders.
Negative
 social withdrawal, lack of affect, and reduced
motivation.

4. Possible Causes
 Heritability
 Children born to parents with schizophrenia have a better
chance of inheriting the disease themselves, than if a second
or third degree relative had it.
 If identical twins are born, and one has schizophrenia, there is
a 60% chance of the other twin having the disease as well

6. Possible Causes
 Biochemical
 Dopamine Hypothesis: schizophrenia is caused by
excessive dopamine activity in the system.
 This can be worsened by abusing drugs such as
cocaine or amphetamines, as these drugs further
increase dopamine levels
 Evidenced from the observation that a large number
of antipsychotics have dopamine-receptor
antagonistic effects

7. Epidemiology
 Research suggest several environmental
factors:
 -Season of birth: greatest during winter months
 -Viral epidemics: associated with viral diseases
 -Latitude: increased incidence further from equator
 -Prenatal malnutrition: ?
 -Maternal stress: ?

8.  The cause of schizophrenia now appears to be a
disturbance of normal brain development.
 Genetic predisposition may make individuals more
susceptible
 Obstetric complications may cause individuals without
genetic predisposition to develop schizophrenia

9. Pharmacology of Schizophrenia
 Chlorpromazine: A phenothiazine
 A “typical neuroleptic”; a nonspecific
dopamine receptor blocker; first prescribed
antischizophrenic drug.
 Clozapine:
 An “atypical neuroleptic”; an antipsychotic
drug that blocks D4 receptors in the nucleus
accumbens. Little effect on D2 receptors

10. Consequences of Drug Treatment
of Schizophrenia
 Supersensitivity:
 Increased sensitivity of neurotransmitter
receptors
 Tardive dyskinesia:
 A movement disorder characterized by
involuntary movements of the face and neck.

11. Comparisons to Head Trauma
 Schizophrenics with have similar symptoms as
those with frontal lobe damage.
 Frontal lobe size
 Ventricle size
 Cerebral gray matter decreases

12. Famous Schizophrenics
 John Nash-
mathematician
 Eduard Einstein- son of
Albert Einstein
 Mary Todd Lincoln- wife
of Abraham Lincoln
 Jack Kerouac- author
 Louis Wain- artist