1. Psychiatry

2. Schizophrenia
• A disorder of thoughts, feelings and perceptions which usually result
in a disturbance of behaviour. Some patients present a variety of
typical symptoms, others overall pattern of symptoms and outcome
confirms the diagnosis.
• Presentation varies with each pt, symptoms may change over time in a
pt.
• Diagnosis often by exclusion of other possible causes of psychosis
• Precise cause unknown. ? Disturbance of brain structure and function
due to Genetic&Environmental factors
• Devastating social and emotional consequences for the pt. Reduces
potential in school, relationships etc
• Large burden on families
• Suicide in 5-10%
• High economic cost due to early age of onset and chronic nature ( ill for
40-50 years)
• Men: onset late teens/early 20s. Women: later 20s.
• Young onset, though starts much earlier, takes time to nuild up and
present as acute psychosis
Prevalence 1/100

3. Epidemiology
• Age of onset:
– Mean: 28
– Most cases: 18-30
– Late onset: >60
• Social drift occurs: drift down social scale and
into inner city areas
• Population figures:
– Lifetime prevalence 1/100
– Inception rate 15-20/100,000/year
– Point prevalence 3/1,000

4. Diagnostic Criteria ICD-10
A. Two or more of the following, present for at least one month:
delusions
hallucinations
disorganised speech
grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour
negative symptoms
B. Social / occupational dysfunction.
C. Continuous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months – this may
include prodromal symptoms or attenuated symptoms from ‘A’.
D. Mood disorder with psychotic features ruled out.
E. Not due to substance abuse or a general medical condition.
• LOSS OF INSIGHT
• ‘POSITIVE’ SYMPTOMS
• ‘NEGATIVE’ SYMPTOMS
• OTHER SYMPTOMS

5. Positive Symptoms
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Disorder of thought form
• Incongruous affect
• Catatonic symptoms
• Respond well to medications
• Sheltered accommodations with carers very
important in treatment and rehab
Negative Symptoms
•Blunted/flat affect
•Loss of volition (drive)
•Poverty of speech
•Anhedonia
•Psychomotor retardation
Other Symptoms
•Perplexity
•Anxiety
•Depression of mood
•Obsessional behaviours/thoughts
•Irritability
•Hostility
•Mannerisms

6. Delusions
• May be
– Primary: autochthonous delusion: fully formed delusion ,
unconnected to previous ideas/events that is psychologically
reducible
– Secondary: arises from, and is understandable in the context
of previous ideas or events
• Often bizarre
• Different themes: persecution, reference, grandiose, religious,
control, jealousy, love, hypochondriosis
Hallucinations
•May lead to 2ary delusions
•Can be of any sensory modality:
•auditory (2nd or 3rd person),
•visual, (catatonic schiz)
•olfactory/gustatory,
•tactile,
•somatic

7. Consequences
1. Affects relationships, people distance themselves from pt in reaction
to their emotionlessness. Changes dynamics of most relationships
2. Leads to depression  suicide risk 10% but decreasing
3. Physical wellbeing decreases. Generally pts live 15years less than
average (discounting suicide). Excessive smoking, lack of self care,
not eating well. Anti-psychotics can stimulate appetite and
contribute to raised cholesterol and DM
4. Lack of achievement. Cognitive symptomsa nd decreased abilities so
no qualifications. Lac of concentration, focus and information
processing
5. Absolute isolation
6. Inappropriate behaviour and they don’t realise it. Generally
hallucination related
7. Family: looking after children, no drive or motivation. ?Bad
hallucinations about children? Danger to them?
8. Being able to live on their own is a challenge, lots of support
required

8. Schizophrenia
• Disorder of thought form. Important to distinguish disorder of form
from content
• This is determined by careful observation of how the pt presents their
thoughts
• Various different levels:
• ‘concrete’ thinking
• Idiosyncratic use of words: NEOLOGISMS
• Loosening of associations: thoughts hard to follow
• Thought block
Disturbance of Affect
•Blunting of flattening of affect: reduced range of
emotional expression, flat vocal intonation, loss of facial
expression
•Incongruity of affect: usually inappropriate
laughing/smiling, occassionally inappropriate depression
Disturbance of Drive
•Loss of volition/drive: main
cause of disability, causes
social drift and impairs self
care abilities
•Ambivalence/indecisiveness

9. Catatonic Symptoms
• Negativism: resist advice/instructions and do the
opposite of what you say
• Echolalia: repeat what you say
• Echopraxia: copy movements
• Reduced food and fluid intake
• Muteness
• Flexibilitas cerea: if you put the patient in an uncomfortable
position they will hold it and stay in it until someone moves them
• Stupor: different to unconsciousness. Patient is able to hear and is
aware of their surroundings. They remember everything. They
experience lots of hallucinations and delusions. HOLD THEIR BODY
IN A DISTINCTIVE WAY. Due to psychomotor inhibitions. Be very
reassuring to the pt!
• URGENT TREATMENT OFTEN NECESSARY: ECT best

10. Abnormal Movements
• Stereotypies: repetitive movements with no purpose.
E.g. Touching their nose
• Manneristic behaviour: Odd movement but with a
purpose, weird way of doing something, e.g. Sticking
arm out at a funny angle to fix their glasses
• Odd posture
• Dyskinesias (involuntary movements): most due to
antipsychotic drugs (old ones). Some seen in drug
naive cases. Commonly around the mouth/blinking.
• Tardive dyskinesias: neuro disorders and elderly
people

11. First Rank Symptoms
• If any of these symptoms is elicited the Dx is very likely to be Schiz.
• Basically all special forms of delusions and hallucinations:
– Audible thoughts
– Voices commenting
– ‘made’ feeling
– ‘made’ impulse
– ‘made’ act
– Voices arguing
– Thought withdrawal
– Thought insertion
– Thought broadcast
– Delusion of control
– Delusional perception
– (passivity)

12. Differential Diagnosis
• Many symptoms occur in other disorders. The diagnosis
tends to be made by excluding all other possibilities
• In a setting of clear consciousness & abscence of evidence
of epilepsy, gross cerebral disease or drugs/alcohol, first
rank symptoms point strongly to Dx.
• Symptoms should be present for 1 month
• Principal DDX:
• Symptomatic schizophrenia: tumour, ecomplete
partial epilepsy, HD, drugs(amphetamines, LSD,
cannabis)
• Mania/Psychotic depression
• Alcohol induced hallucinosis
• Delusional disorder
• Shizo-affective disorder

13. Investigation
• Hx from relatives and friends
• Examine any old notes
• Social work assessment of home circumstances
• Drug screen (young, acute onset)
• Tests for organic illness if clinical suspicion (EEG, CT)
• Investigation of physical health may not help in Dx but
necessary due to probable self-neglect
Course and outcome
Episodes of acute relapse (+ve symptoms) superimposed on overall functional deterioration
(-ve)
Response to Rx variable: -ve symptoms, once present, little response. +ve may respond but
tend to be resistant.
5% one episode, no recurrence **40% PERSISTENT SYMPTOMS and decreasing
20% fairly mild persistent symptoms
33% ‘well’ for long periods with some persistent –ve symptoms. Some residual +ves, worse
on relapse
33% persistent symptoms of moderate severity. +ve and –ve.
10% Early, severe permanent deterioration
Want to try prevent –
ve symptoms ever
developing. Factors
influencing this: length
of time before meds
work, no relapses of
acute psychosis. EARLY
INTERVENTION TEAM
helps prognosis

14. Aetiology
• GENETIC: 50% if monozygotic twin has it
• Environmental: increase in obstetric complications, placental
size, winter births (viral infection of mother/baby?), cannabis
use
• Neuropathology
• Neurochemistry
• Symptomatic schizophrenia: can it become the full
syndrome? Poorly controlled complex partial seizures (or
temporal lobe epilepsy) for >5y may result in a clinical
syndrome similar to schiz but doesn’t respond to Rx. Drug
use/abuse can give long term psychotic symptoms – are they
schizos who abused drugs or drug induced state? Sensory
impairment (esp deafness) can predispose to paranoid
illness, esp in the elderly

15. Neuropathology and Neurochemistry
• CT/MRI demonstrates enlargement of intra-cerebral ventricles
and increased ventricle:brain ratio (VBR)
• Reduced hippocampal volume, reduced brain size and altered
gyral folding
• Dopamine hypothesis: symptoms due to excess of DA
• Therefore aim for an anti-dopamine state in Rx. Blocking all DA
receptors is bad as you induce tardive kinesia, Parkinsons,
cardiac effects, hyperprolactinaemia (breast cancer, OP,
gynacomastia and 2o amenorrhoea)
• Other neurotransmitters that might be important:
– Serotonin
– Glutamate & NMDA receptors

16. Treatment
• Antipsychotics:
– First generation: chlorpromazine, haloperidol
– Second generation: risperidone, clozapine,
olanzipine, quetiapine
• Depot injections, every 2 weeks if issues with
compliance e.g. Risperdal (RISPERIDONE)
• Any med requires frequent lipids, U&E, FBC, LFTs
and TFTs.
• ** clozapine requires monthly FBC due to risk of
agranulocytosis