Schizophrenia and psychotic disorders are abnormalities that involve several symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and abnormal behavior. Psychosis can be caused by psychiatric illnesses and can also be caused by health conditions or a drug and medicinal use. The aim of this paper is to analyze the symptoms, diagnosis and theoretical development of various psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
Question 1. Positive and Negative Symptoms
The difference between positive and negative symptoms are that positive symptoms include things that are added to the life of an individual while negative symptoms involve things that are taken away from one’s life. Positive symptoms thus include symptoms such as delusions, racing thoughts, and hallucinations. Positive symptoms thus involve a twisting of one’s normal functions. Negative thoughts include symptoms such as the lack of emotion, poor social functions, and apathy. Having a poor social function could involve a loss of one’s social skill. The symptom that distinguishes Schizophrenia from other mental disorders is that of the severe disruption of the mind. The disruption of the mind results in several other symptoms such as hallucinations, disorganized speech, hallucinations, and the negative symptoms.
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Question 2. Three Symptom Constellations Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis
The three symptoms that are associated with autism spectrum disorder include social interaction deficit, repetitive behavior, and impaired language and communication. Social interaction deficit involves when an individual cannot function normally like other individuals. For instance, one may have challenges with the control of their emotions. Repetitive behavior involves controlling of specific actions of words. Language and communication challenges can involve having the challenge to speak or one can barely speak. Clinicians usually analyze these symptoms by considering whether they are abnormal or not. For children, the symptoms can be compared with other children of the same age and the development stage of the child specifically identified. This is used to determine whether the child has a normal or an abnormal development.
Question 3. Diagnoses Featuring Psychotic Thought Processes
The different diagnoses that feature psychotic thought include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and grossly disorganized or abnormal behavior. Delusions involves fixed beliefs that cannot be changed even after the presentation of evidence. Hallucinations are false perceptions that people can have without the presence of an external stimulus. Disorganized thinking is usually present through one’s thinking where one can switch between different topics that are completely unrelated. Grossly disorganized and abnormal behavior can manifest through unpredictable and childlike agitation.
Question 4. Dopamine Hypothesis as a Neurochemical Theory of Schizophrenia
The dopamine hypothesis is based on the theory that dopamine activity can be a contributing factor of cognitive, negative, and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The research is supported by the observation that drugs usually reduce dopamine activity and thus raising the psychotic symptoms. The first dopamine hypothesis was based on the hyperdomapinergic activity relating to increase to the level of dopamine where it was observed an increase in the transmission of dopamine and the blocking of receptors to treat psychosis (Maddux & Winstead, 2015). Molecular imaging studies showed that there was hyperactivity of dopamine D2 receptor transmission where the subcortical regions in the brain resulted in the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and dopamine D1 receptor at the prefrontal cortex influenced the negative and cognitive symptoms (Desbonnet, 2016).
References
Desbonnet, L. (2016). Mouse Models of Schizophrenia: Risk Genes. In Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience (Vol. 23, pp. 267-284). Elsevier.
Maddux, J. E., & Winstead, B. A. (Eds.). (2015). Psychopathology: Foundations for a contemporary understanding. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
