Suggested Reading
Catatonia is a disruption of motor, thought, and emotional systems resulting in a broad loss of functioning. It is most commonly associated with stupor and posturing, which result in the individual remaining in a statue-like posture for hours or days without the will or the capacity to adjust their body. This inability to move can result in dehydration and, in severe cases, complete renal failure. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Catatonia”
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Thought disorders are dysfunctions of thought which tend to manifest in language. This symptom tends to present itself in one or more of the following forms: language derailment, poverty of speech, strained speech, tangential association, illogical language patterns, and/or word substitutions. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Thought Dysfunction in Schizophrenia”
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Tactile hallucinations, also known as somatic or visceral hallucinations, are a perception of touch which is not consistent with reality. Tactile hallucinations include the feeling of movement under the skin, such as insects crawling under the skin, as well as the feeling of movement or touching on the surface of the skin (Kathirvel & Mortimer, 2013). These hallucinations have a high co-occurrence with olfactory hallucinations, and are much less common than either auditory or visual hallucinations in those experiencing schizophrenia. Individuals who experience childhood-onset schizophrenia are more likely than mid or late-onset sufferers to experience these hallucinations (Mueser et al., 1990). Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Tactile Hallucinations”
Suggested Reading
Auditory hallucinations are the most common form of hallucination for those suffering from schizophrenia. These hallucinations can come in the form of disembodied voices, environmental noises, or static noises. In general these kinds of hallucinations are categorized according to whether the hallucination is internal, it sounds like it’s inside the person’s head, or external, it sounds like it is outside of the person, and whether the hallucination is verbal or non-verbal.
Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Auditory Hallucinations”
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Disorganised behavior is the production of inappropriate or bizarre behaviors, including gestures. These behaviors may be in response to environmental stimuli or may be entirely inappropriate for the situation. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Disorganised Behaviour in Schizophrenia”
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Visual hallucinations are not a very common symptom of schizophrenia, occurring in only 35% of adult-onset cases. The rate of occurrence is much higher in child-onset cases of schizophrenia, with around 80% of child-onset patients experiencing them. The development of visual hallucinations indicates a more severe form of the illness, this explains the higher prevalence in child-onset cases which tend to be more severe and treatment resistant than adult-onset cases. Manifestations of this symptom are highly variable between individual sufferers but can, for example, take the form of partially or fully formed objects like humans or animals, visual distortions such as heat wave patterns, or light distortions such as flashing lights. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Visual Hallucinations”
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Mini-Review: Dendritic Spine Density
Background Information for Mini-Reviews
In the previous mini-review we explored the differences in dendritic spine density of pyramidal neurons in the brains of people with schizophrenia compared to those without schizophrenia. Due to the severity of this dendritic spine deficiency it seemed unlikely that these pyramidal neurons were otherwise unaffected. Having explored this area of research further, it has become clear that not only do the pyramidal neurons of people with schizophrenia present with fewer spines than those without the illness, but these neurons also show deficiencies in soma size, dendrite length, and dendritic branching. Continue reading “Mini-Review: Morphology of Pyramidal Neurons in Schizophrenia”
Delusions of Control centre around an individual believing that their thoughts and/or actions are being controlled or influenced by outside forces. The ICD-10 has indicated that the common beliefs associated with delusions of control (thought broadcasting, thought insertion, and thought deletion) are individual symptoms of schizophrenia, but in this post I will be addressing the delusions as a single unit. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Delusions of Control in Schizophrenia”
Relevant Pre-Reading:
Recently, theories have been circulating about genes related to schizophrenia potentially being selected for during human evolution. While this may explain the prevalence of schizophrenia, with 0.3-0.7% of people developing the illness at some point in their lives, it is probably too simple of a story. The article we discuss below, by Xu et al. (2015), aims to look much more closely at this phenomenon and determine whether or not it is true. Continue reading “Article: The Role of Human Evolution in the Development of Schizophrenia”
Delusions of grandeur manifest as the belief that the individual is of high social importance, or that they possess highly developed skills of some kind. The individual’s belief in their self-importance is similar to the presentation of narcissistic personality disorder, but occurs only during the psychotic period/acute stage of schizophrenia and is not as extreme in the prodromal or residual stages. Continue reading “Symptom Breakdown: Delusions of Grandeur in Schizophrenia”
Speculative Neuroscience 