Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Schizophrenia Schizophrenic psychology'

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how siblings of individuals with schizophrenia understand the symptoms and problems that an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia experiences. Although there is, as of yet, no consensual model of normalcy or of psychopathology, models are important because they have implications for clinical practice. In regards to schizophrenia specifically, clinicians and researchers have asserted the importance of the family in the development and course of the disorder. Siblings may offer a unique viewpoint as they may experience or have experienced sub-clinical schizophrenia-related symptoms themselves.

Five individuals who have a sibling diagnosed with schizophrenia were interviewed about how they conceptualize their siblings’ experiences and problems. The interviews were analyzed with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. A total of sixteen emergent themes from the interviews are discussed, some of which include very different, still the same; struggle to understand; “that thing;” “vigilant, careful, cautious;” still love and care; and alienation from self and others. Several components of the themes indicate that participants had both a categorical and a dimensional model of their siblings’ problems. Future research regarding gaining a greater understanding of how people conceptualize the problems and experiences of those diagnosed with schizophrenia and clinical applications are also discussed.

Face à l’impensable de cette position identificatoire, le sujet se voit contraint de s’extraire de la scène relationnelle avec ses objets primaires, se clivant par la même opération du capital représentatif qui lui est associé. Dans ces conditions, nous pensons que le délire, moins d’apparaître comme une production pathologique dépourvue de sens, correspond à un mode de réponse face au retour hallucinatoire de l’impensé traumatique. Aussi, à partir d’une méthodologie qualitative basée sur l’analyse d’une douzaine de cas cliniques, nous mettons en évidence trois principales fonctions du délire dans la schizophrénie. La première, conceptualisée sous le terme de « fonction contenante », procède à la mise en forme et à la transformation signifiante de ce qui ne put être symbolisé de l’expérience traumatique. La seconde, nommée « fonction localisante », tente de situer en dehors du sujet le débordement pulsionnel inhérent au traumatisme primaire. La troisième, appelée « fonction identifiante », permet à la personne délirante de s’attribuer un énoncé identificatoire qui, de manière auto-créée, supplée à l’énigme de son histoire insensée.

Enfin, l’analyse de nos données cliniques souligne que ces trois fonctions de l’activité délirante ne se réalisent pas de façon aléatoire mais qu’elles s’articulent selon une logique particulière. Ainsi, nous suggérons qu’à partir de sa triple opération le délire schizophrénique tend à se déployer en un « processus délirant », par lequel le sujet peut rendre pensable et supportable la position traumatique à laquelle il a été identifié au cours de son histoire.

By following theories from the psychoanalytical epistemology, we consider schizophrenia as the result of a primary trauma that has not been assimilated within the subjectivity. We connect less this traumatism with an event than with the unthinkable position the subject is identified to. Therefore, being inspired by the thought of P. Aulagnier and R. Roussillon, we suggest that the traumatic nucleus which conditions the development of schizophrenia is related to the position of instinctual object, or of non-desire, to which the subject is identified within the first exchanges with his environment.

In view of this unthinkable position, the subject is forced to remove himself from the relationship with his primary objects, splitting off from the representative capital that is associated with it. In these conditions, we think that the delusion appears less as a meaningless pathological production than as a way of answering to the hallucinatory return of the traumatic unthought. From a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of a dozen clinical cases, we highlight three main functions of the delusion in schizophrenia. The first, conceptualized under the term «containing function», carries out the shaping and the significant transformation of what could have not been symbolized of the traumatic experience. The second, called «localizing function», tries to locate outside of the subject the instinctual overflow inherent to the primary trauma. The third, named «identifying function», enables the delusional person to assume an identificatory principle which, in a self-created way, compensates for the enigma of his senseless history.

Finally, the analysis of our clinical data underlines that these three functions of the delusional activity are not randomly accomplished but are organized according to a particular logic. Thus from its triple operation, we suggest that the schizophrenic delusion tends to develop into a «delusional process», by which the subject can make thinkable and bearable the traumatic position to which he was identified during his history.

Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Suicide is a tragic, complex phenomenon experienced by individuals of all ages, genders and cultures. Given its widespread occurrence, it is important to identify predictive and risk factors in order to develop efficacious prevention and intervention strategies. One factor that has been consistently identified as increasing risk for suicide is being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Persecutory delusions have been most prominently researched in relation to outcome in schizophrenia; however, few studies have investigated the relationship between persecutory delusions and suicide risk for those with this diagnosis. Furthermore, studies that have been conducted are largely quantitative in nature, and therefore are limited by their ability to offer explanations for their results. Understanding quantitative relationships through a theoretical perspective focused on choice and meaning making, such as existential psychology, may increase the specificity and effectiveness of preventative programs and intervention approaches, ultimately leading to more saved lives. This dissertation therefore used archival data from participants in the Chicago Follow-Up Study diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to explore the relationship between the course of suicidality and persecutory delusions in schizophrenia through an existential lens. Locus of control and self-esteem were included in the analysis as possible mediating variables. Those with high self-esteem endorsed higher suicidal activity, and those with persecutory delusions endorsed higher suicidal activity and a more external locus of control. Implications of these results suggest both self-esteem and locus of control should be addressed as possible mediating factors in the relationship between persecutory delusions and suicide for those diagnosed with schizophrenia.

This thesis explores schizophrenia from a depth psychological and neuropsychological perspective with the goal of contributing to understanding the experience of schizophrenia and improving its treatment, thereby helping to relieve the helpless feelings of both people in the counseling room. It addresses the research question: How can schizophrenia be explained as a metaphor for the experience of an inability to tolerate the conflicting dichotomies between The Real and The Imaginary? Using an alchemical hermeneutic methodology, the research weaves together the author’s clinical work with Lacanian theory, the work of psychoanalyst Darian Leader, Jungian analyst James Hillman’s concept of pathologizing, and the trauma theory of Donald Kalsched. Drawing on these theorists and current neuroscientific findings, the author works toward an equilibrium between the conscious and unconscious mind in a dialogical process of finding and giving meaning to the experience of schizophrenia through metaphors and the alchemy of language.

The neural substrate of interactions of working memory (WM) with socio-emotional processing is poorly understood in schizophrenia. This study builds on published papers using a delayed match to sample design to study the interaction of WM load with type of distracter (socially relevant faces vs. socially irrelevant geometric designs [FvG]) presented briefly during the WM maintenance period. Based on previously published findings, we hypothesize: (1) The FvG difference in brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the task maintenance period will be largest at the highest WM load. (2) Among schizophrenia/ schizoaffective patients and healthy controls the magnitude of the face vs. geometric design (FvG) contrast in brain activity in the amygdala during the task maintenance period will follow a quadratic pattern across WM load when averaged over face type. (3) Among schizophrenia patients, the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load will be correlated with negative symptoms.

Individuals between the ages of 18-55 diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (N = 12) and non-psychiatric controls (N = 20) matched with the patients on age, gender, paternal education and paternal socioeconomic status underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To assess the effect of implicit socioemotional modulation on brain activity during WM, the effect of facial distraction on brain activation was assessed for WM of pseudowords at three syllable loads (1, 2, and 3) across several face valence types and contrasted with the effect of a geometric distracter.

Results: Although patients performed significantly above chance, they were less accurate than controls with no difference in response latency. When the FvG contrast was tested for response latency, we observed a significant quadratic effect of WM load in healthy controls but a linear effect among patients. Similar patterns were found for response accuracy but were not statistically significant. With regard to neural activity, we found a significant bilateral linear trend of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the DLPFC. among controls, with brain activation to faces greater than activation to designs only at the highest WM load. In the amygdala we observed a significant bilateral quadratic effect of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the control group. We observed a significant difference in neural activation patterns in patients compared to controls in the DLPFC and the amygdala. Specifically, in patients, we observed a quadratic instead of a linear trend in the DLPFC but only in the right hemisphere. In the amygdala, the patients displayed a quadratic trend also only in the right hemisphere. In neither controls nor patients did individual differences in the quadratic effect of brain activity in the amygdala correlate with the quadratic effect in response time or accuracy. Although the correlation between the magnitude of the quadratic trend in the right amygdala at the highest WM load with general psychopathology was moderately large in patients, neither this effect nor any other brain activation effects were significantly correlated with psychopathology.

Confirming hypothesis one, controls showed the largest difference in brain activity of the FvG contrast in the DLPFC during the maintenance period at the highest WM load. However, in patients we saw significantly decreased percent signal change in DLPFC at the highest WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period. For hypothesis two we observed a quadratic pattern of WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period for both controls and patients, although this effect was only present in the right hemisphere of patients. Furthermore, contrary to hypothesis 3 we did not observe significant correlations between symptom severity and the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load. These results suggest a separate process of social-discrimination is taking place in controls. However, this process appears to be impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. This disruption may be due to poor integration of different brain areas and interhemispheric communication. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)