Answer each of the following questions in a short paragraph (no more than 50-75 words each).  Answers must be in your own words; you may not quote from the readings or take 5 or more words verbatim from the readings, or use the work of another student.

1. Give one example each of an Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive psychotic symptom.

2. In what one way are brief psychotic disorder and delusional disorder similar to schizophrenia, and how are they each distinguished from schizophrenia?

3. Describe two different types of scientific studies used to try to show that schizophrenia is a genetic disorder, and explain how the evidence from these studies supports that view.

4. What was the original dopamine hypothesis, and how does it compare to current neurochemical models of schizophrenia?

5. Explain the concept of expressed emotion and how it is thought to be significant to our understanding of schizophrenia.

The following questions are only for discussion in class.  You should be prepared to offer your thoughts if called on.

6. Explain the difference between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, using one example of each to illustrate the difference.

7. How would you summarize the arguments for and against there being a close link between mental illness and violence? (be sure to look at Lilienfeld, Chapter 18)

8. What are some of the arguments against schizophrenia being a genetic disorder?  Also, saying that schizophrenia is something people are born with does not mean that it must be genetic; what are two other possibilities? (be sure to look at Lilienfeld, Chapter 5)

9. People with schizophrenia often come from families that show evidence of significant dysfunction; explain specifically how this presents us with the correlation-causation problem.

10. Schizophrenia is much more likely to be found among the lower social classes of any society, but this fact has been interpreted in two ways, social causation and social selection; explain these two interpretations and how they differ.

Copyright ©1998 Beverly J. Volicer and Steven F. Tello, UMass Lowell.  You may freely edit these pages  for use in a non-profit, educational setting.  Please include this copyright notice on all pages.