Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

The Image Of Schizophrenia In Spain's Healthcare System, Meghan Webb

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Schizophrenia affects thousands of people in Spain and is one of the most serious mental health disorders in existence. Despite its this characteristic, schizophrenia did not always get the proper attention it deserved within the country’s healthcare system. This was largely due to the influence that the Spanish government had, and continues to have, over the healthcare system, giving it the power to choose how the disorder was represented. Therefore, what does that mean for schizophrenia in Spain’s healthcare system today? This essay will explore the ways in which schizophrenia was represented in Spain’s healthcare system through an examination of …

Data-Driven Neuroanatomical Subtypes In Various Stages Of Schizophrenia: Linking Cortical Thickness, Glutamate, And Language Functioning, Liangbing Liang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The considerable variation in the spatial distribution of cortical thickness changes has been used to parse heterogeneity in schizophrenia. We aimed to recover a ‘cortical impoverishment’ subgroup with widespread cortical thinning. We applied hierarchical cluster analysis to cortical thickness data of three datasets in different stages of psychosis and studied the cognitive, functional, neurochemical, language and symptom profiles of the observed subgroups. Our consensus-based clustering procedure consistently produced a subgroup characterized by significantly lower cortical thickness. This ‘cortical impoverishment’ subgroup was associated with a higher symptom burden in a clinically stable sample and higher glutamate levels with language impairments in …

A Life Lived With Schizophrenia: When Mother’S Love Is Kept In The Dark Exploring Maternal Communication And Attachment Organization In Families With Schizophrenia, Myrsini Stefanidou Marini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research into the transgenerational transmission of attachment styles has shown that a mother’sattachment style often predicts the attachment style of her infant. Fearsome parental behavior has been found to predict disorganized attachment in infants, which is further associated with a range of mental health disturbances in adolescence. Furthermore, regular patterns of disturbed communication between mother and child have also been found to lead to ‘schizophrenic’ thinking and behavior in the child’s life. While acknowledging that genetic and other biological factors contribute to the emergence of schizophrenia, this study focused on disorganized attachment and disturbed communication between mother …

A Meta-Analytic Review Of Cognitive Functioning In Negative And Positive Symptoms Of Schizophrenia, Tiffany Forsythe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to conduct two meta-analytic reviews examining cognitive functioning and schizophrenia. The first review examined the literature comparing the cognitive functioning of schizophrenic patients to healthy controls. A second review examined the cognitive functioning within schizophrenic patients, examining the differences between individuals with primarily positive symptomatology and those with primarily negative symptomatology. The first meta-analysis included 19 studies which assessed 861 schizophrenic patients and 858 healthy volunteers overall. The second meta-analysis included 10 studies comparing the cognitive functioning of 1,263 schizophrenics across positive and negative symptoms. Results of the first review indicated that healthy controls …

The Effects Of Two Novel Anti-Inflammatory Compounds On Prepulse Inhibition And Neural Microglia Cell Activation In A Rodent Model Of Schizophrenia, Heath W. Shelton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown elevated neuroinflammation in a large subset of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. A pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), has been directly linked to this neuroinflammation. This study examined the effects of two TNFα modulators (PD2024 and PD340) produced by our collaborators at P2D Bioscience, Inc., to alleviate auditory sensorimotor gating deficits and reduce microglial cell activation present in the polyinosinic:polycytidylic (Poly I:C) rodent model of schizophrenia. Auditory sensorimotor gating was assessed using prepulse inhibition and microglial activation was examined and quantified using immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy, respectively. Both PD2024 and PD340 alleviated auditory sensorimotor gating deficits …

Effort-Related Decision Making In Comt Variant Mice: Pharmacological Studies And Genetic Susceptibility To Motivational Dysfunction, Suzanne Cayer

Honors Scholar Theses

Effort-related decision making tasks in animals can model motivational symptoms in humans, which are a set of symptoms spanning a multitude of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The present studies aimed to evaluate the effort-related effects of the Val158Met polymorphism of human catechol-methyltransferase (COMT), by testing mice carrying either the human COMT Val (n=8) or Met allele (n=8) with Wild-Type control mice (n=15) by using concurrent FR2 and FR4/pellet choice tasks in a touchscreen operant conditioning apparatus. The Val158Met polymorphism has been repeatedly associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, and the Val allele has …

Direct And Indirect Influences Of Defendant Mental Illness On Jury Decision Making, Marie Sabbagh

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

It is a common misconception that individuals with schizophrenia are significantly more dangerous and violent than individuals free of mental illness. This stigmatization may lead to harsher sentences when people with schizophrenia are involved in criminal activities and sentenced by a jury. This study presented four conditions to which participants were randomly assigned, alone or in a group of three, and were asked to sentence a defendant, either with or without schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that group deliberations would result in more lenient sentences for defendants with schizophrenia as compared to individual deliberations. Furthermore, it was predicted that both group …

Computational Modeling Of Contrast Sensitivity And Orientation Tuning In Schizophrenia, Steven M. Silverstein, Docia L. Demmin, James A. Bednar

MODVIS Workshop

Computational modeling is being increasingly used to understand schizophrenia, but, to date, it has not been used to account for the common perceptual disturbances in the disorder. We manipulated schizophrenia-relevant parameters in the GCAL (gain control, adaptation, laterally connected) model (Stevens et al., 2013), run using the Topographica simulator (Bednar, 2012), to model low-level visual processing changes in the disorder. Our models incorporated: separate sheets for retinal, LGN, and V1 activity; gain control in the LGN; homeostatic adaptation in V1 based on a weighted sum of all inputs and limited by a logistic (sigmoid) nonlinearity; lateral excitation and inhibition in …

A Study Of Media Portrayal Of Schizophrenics To Understand How Stigma Associated With Schizophrenia May Be Reversed, Rainielle M. Cua

Undergraduate Research Posters

The news media are one of the most influential sources of information regarding mental illness. Media coverage on schizophrenia, one of the most stigmatized mental illnesses, tends to be negative, focusing on high risks of violence, failure, and unpredictability. Such perceptions may cause a detrimental impact on the mentally ill and cause them to internalize a stigmatizing stereotype and hinder the public’s understanding of mental illness. I studied how media portrayal in newspaper coverage of schizophrenics has evolved to discover how nonfiction media representation has affected people’s perceptions and attitudes towards schizophrenics and to propose an implementable solution to reduce …

Facing Our Demons: Psychiatric Perspectives On Exorcism Rituals, Joel R. Sanford

The Hilltop Review

Belief in possession by malevolent spirits exists in many cultures and religions throughout the world, and such beliefs often serve as explanations for a variety of psychological and emotional afflictions. Traditional remedies in these cases often involve exorcism rituals, which are believed to expel spirits from a person's mind and/or body. Some of the cases commonly attributed to involuntary spirit possession are diagnosed within the psychiatric community as schizophrenia or some sort of dissociative disorder and treated with psychotherapy and/or medicine. For some in the psychiatric community, exorcisms and their use by patients are viewed as problematic due to their …

Neurologists Look At Causes Of Baffling Brain Condition, Maggie Freleng

Capstones

It can be hard getting help for someone with mental illness, but almost impossible when that person doesn't think they are sick. At at least half of people with schizophrenia, for example, insist that the voices they hear are real. People who do not know they are ill often refuse therapy and medication -- and their symptoms can spiral out of control. Doctors call this lack of awareness anosognosia. Neurologists are trying to discover what causes this baffling condition--and how to treat it.

Research Brief: "Receipt Of Employment Services Among Veterans Health Administration Users With Psychiatric Diagnoses", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study found that about four percent (4.2%) of VHA users with psychiatric diagnoses accessed employment services in a given year. VHA patients with a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia had higher odds of accessing employment services relative to VHA users with other psychiatric diagnoses, including PTSD, depression, and other anxiety disorders. In practice, veterans should be aware that receiving VHA employment services should not affect VA benefits and should discuss their medical and financial benefits with benefits advisors and other appropriate advisors. In policy, Policymakers could consider allocating funds to further study the efficacy and effectiveness of various employment services …

Risk, Vulnerability And Resilience: An Epigenetic Trajectory Of Psychiatric Disorders, Amresh Srivastava

Amresh Srivastava

ABSTRACT: Risk, Vulnerability and Resilience: An epigenetic trajectory of psychiatric disorders Amresh Shrivastava. Biopsychosocial model is generally widely accepted for pathogenesis of mental disorder, recent research shows a different concept. . Social, cultural, environmental factors possibly interact in a complex way to give rise to behavioral symptoms in a particular disorder. Such factors are considered 'risk factors'. but their discrete role in causation of illness is less clear. Two main factors appear to play important role which may partially explain this process. 1. risk-vulnerability and stress diathesis model and the 2. Gene-environment interaction. Both may be operating simultaneously. Our understanding …

Affect Identification And Interpersonal Skills: An In-Depth Evaluation Of Social Cognition In Schizophrenia, Griffin Pollock Sutton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The presence of deficits in various sub-domains of social cognition has been investigated to a degree in individuals with schizophrenia. Some of the most commonly researched and documented deficits have included impairments in the identification of affect portrayed in faces. Research has indicated that the performance of individuals with schizophrenia on such tasks is generally impaired as compared to normal controls. However, some have questioned the generalizability of such findings to real-world situations, as day-to-day interactions generally necessitate a constant, fluid assessment of the thoughts and feelings of others and are rarely, if ever, limited to still images of others. …

Using Negative Feedback To Guide Behavior: Impairments On The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Relates To Psychosis, Sally Barney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is increasing controversy regarding the distinction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as separate diagnostic categories because these disorders share many features in common. These and other findings suggest that bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may be better conceptualized along a continuum or within more homogeneous subsets of affective, psychotic, and mixed symptomatology.

Dopamine dysregulation has been found in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, particularly those that experience psychosis during the acute phases of their bipolar illness. Dopamine has been found to play a role in reward and reward learning. Recently, research has found that individuals with schizophrenia experience deficits in reward …

Differential Effects Of Acute Amphetamine And Phencyclidine Treatment And Withdrawal From Repeated Amphetamine Or Phencyclidine Treatment On Social Interaction And Social Memory In Rats, Ming Li, Wei He, Rebecca Munro

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although animal models based on amphetamine (AMPH) or phencyclidine (PCP) treatment have been used extensively to study the neurobiological and behavioral characteristics of schizophrenia, there are conflicting reports regarding their validity in modeling the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. The present study examined how acute AMPH or PCP treatment (Experiment 1) and withdrawal from repeated AMPH treatment (Experiment 2) or PCP treatment (Experiment 3) affects social behavior and social recognition memory in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Each subject was tested on two consecutive days. On the first day, the rats were tested four times (5 min/each) at 10-min intervals …

Public Opinions Of Schizophrenia, Amy Guiomard

Honors Theses

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by disturbances in thought, behavior, and communication that last longer than 6 months (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The symptoms of schizophrenia are often so severe that the individual is unable to function normally in society. The resulting erratic behavior, combined with misinformation about the disorder in general, leads to the negative stigma now associated with the disorder. The research presented here evaluates public stigmatization towards schizophrenics; it also explores the similarities between behavior due to racial stereotyping and behavior based on stigmatization of schizophrenics.

The Recovery Of Cognitive And Social Cognitive Functioning In Response To Social Cognition Interaction Training Administered In Community Settings: A Longitudinal Study, Lena Reddy

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Psychosocial rehabilitation for persons with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) encompasses recovery of functioning in a broad array of domains, including neurocognitive, social cognitive, interpersonal, occupational, and self-care abilities. There is extensive evidence that improvements in these domains are possible as a result of targeted interventions, and that these improvements may generalize to other areas of daily functioning. The current study explored rehabilitative change over time among adults with SMI that were attending outpatient day centers. Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT), a cognitive-behavioral skills-training modality, was implemented during the time period in which the data was collected. Forty adults participated …

Effects Of Duration Of Untreated Psychosis On Long-Term Outcome Of People Hospitalized With First Episode Schizophrenia, Amresh Shrivastava, Nilesh Shah, Megan Johnston, Larry Stitt, Meghana Thakar, Gurusamy Chinnasamy

Amresh Srivastava

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) has emerged as a reliable predictor of outcome but continues to remain under scientific scrutiny. The present study examines the effect of differential periods of DUP on long-term outcome of first episode schizophrenia at Mumbai, India. This research was a prospective, 10-year follow-up naturalistic study. Hospitalized patients of first episode schizophrenia were selected and followed up. Results showed that the mean DUP was higher for a group which showed clinical recovery on Clinical Global Impression Scale [14.0 months (SD=8.0) in recovered and 10.8 months (SD=5.7) in non-recovered group (P=0.091)]. DUP was not found to be …

Cognitive Neurosciences: A New Paradigm In Management And Outcome Of Schizophrenia, Amresh K. Shrivastava, Megan E. Johnston

Amresh Srivastava

No abstract provided.

Social Cognition And Interaction Training (Scit) For Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders In Outpatient Treatment Settings, Petra Kleinlein

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The role of social cognition in severe mental illness (SMI) has gained much attention, especially over the last decade. The impact of deficits in socio-cognitive functioning has been found to have detrimental effects on key areas of day-to-day functioning in individuals with SMI, such as gaining and maintaining employment and overall experienced quality of life. Treatment of individuals with SMI is challenging, as the presentation of individual signs and symptoms is rather heterogeneous. There are several treatment approaches addressing deficits ranging from broader social and interpersonal functioning to neurocognitive and more intrapersonal functioning. As research in the domain of social …

A Search For Meaning: The Family’S Response To Serious Mental Illness, Katherine Marie Burrelsman

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

It is a commonly held belief that it is inherent in human nature to strive for coherence and meaning in the midst of adversity. Whether this is short or long term, for immediate or prolonged functioning, we all strive to put experiences within events into a framework that enables us to develop a sense of order leading to acceptance and resolution. Therefore, each individual within a family system may develop a hypothesis in order to make a modicum of sense of what can appear to be an impossible situation. The participants involved in this study were individuals with relatives suffering …

Schizophrenia: A Critical Examination, Charles A. Sanislow, Robert C. Carson

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Schizophrenias, Robert Carson, Charles Sanislow

Charles A. Sanislow

No abstract provided.