DISORDERS INVOLVING COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING

A. Cognitive Functioning
1. Basic foundations
   a. Reason and logic
   b. Reality-testing
   c. Organized and purposeful behavior
2. Distinguishing normal from abnormal
   a. Universal manifestations of “madness”
   b. Quantitative aspects
   c. Qualitative aspects
      (1) The 4 Ds
      (2) Bizarreness
   d. Distinguishing psychopathology from “being different”
      (1) The “Joan-of-Arc” problem
      (2) Madness and creativity

B. Psychotic Disorders in DSM
1. What is psychotic?
   a. Affective symptoms
      (1) Blunted and inappropriate affect
      (2) Anhedonia
      (3) Apathy and avolition
   b. Behavioral symptoms
      (1) Catatonic symptoms
      (2) Disorganized speech and poverty of speech
      (3) Social withdrawal
      (4) Bizarre, disorganized and unpredictable mannerisms and actions
   c. Cognitive symptoms
      (1) Hallucinations
      (2) Delusions (bizarre, non-bizarre)
      (3) Loose associations and thought blocking
   d. Somatic Symptoms
2. Positive symptoms vs. negative symptoms
3. Schizophrenia
   a. History of the concept
      (1) Kraepelin and Bleuler
      (2) Modern refinements: focusing/narrowing the diagnosis
   b. DSM criteria
      (1) Symptoms
      (2) Duration
      (3) Deterioration of functioning
   c. Clinical subtypes
      (1) Paranoid
      (2) Catatonic
      (3) Disorganized
      (4) Undifferentiated
      (5) Residual
   d. Epidemiology
      (1) Cultural variations and comparisons
      (2) Gender
      (3) Age
   e. Course and prognosis
      (1) Onset: the process-reactive distinction
      (2) Prodromal, active and residual phases
      (3) Varied courses over time
4. Other psychotic disorders
   a. Brief psychotic disorder and schizophreniform disorder
   b. Delusional disorder and shared psychotic disorder
   c. Schizoaffective disorder
   d. Delirium, dementia and amnestic disorders

C. Etiology
1. The biomedical perspective
   a. Genetics
      (1) Family studies
      (2) Twin and adoption studies
      (3) Genetic markers and linkage studies
   b. Neurobiological factors
      (1) The dopamine hypothesis
      (2) Brain structure
      (3) Viral infections and other pre-natal factors
   c. Organic brain syndromes
      (1) Substance-induced psychotic disorders
      (2) Psychotic disorders due to medical condition
2. The intrapsychic perspective
   a. Freud and narcissism
   b. Laing and the divided self
3. The cognitive-behavioral perspective
   a. Cognitive deficits
   b. Behavioral deficits
   c. The social learning of “craziness”
4. The socio-cultural perspective
   a. Environmental influences
      (1) Poverty and social class
      (2) Stress
   b. The role of the family
      (1) Family pathology as a cause
      (2) Expressed emotion and relapse
   c. Social labeling

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.