Clinical Characteristics of Schizophrenia : Psychology A2

• The term schizophrenia comes from the Greek word for 'split mind' however it is not a split personality nor multiple personality disorder.

• It is a disorder characterised by distorted thinking, impaired emotional responses, poor interpersonal skills and a distortion of reality.

• The prevalence of developing schizophrenia is about 1% all around the world, in the population aged over 18 years.

The cognitive symptoms include:

• Hallucinations,
• delusions,
• disturbed thought processes and
• cognitive flooding.

Mood symptoms include:

• Serious depression and
• inappropriate or inconsistant emotions, for example they may be impassive in the face of death of a loved one.

Individuals with schizophrenia may also show more or less physiological arousal than normal, in heart rate, blood pressure, sweating palms etc.

At one extreme this leads to agitated, repetitive movements, facial grimacing or difficulty in sitting still and at the other the extreme is immobility.

Outline the clinical chacteristics of schizophrenia. (5 marks)

Answer with blue highlighted sentance on card 1 and all of card 2.

Should take around 5 minutes writing time ( A mark a minute).