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Related Concept Videos

Schizophrenia01:17

Schizophrenia

838
Schizophrenia, a term introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1911, describes a severe psychological disorder marked by profound disruptions in attention, thought processes, language, emotion, and interpersonal relationships. The core feature of schizophrenia is psychosis — a state characterized by a fundamental detachment from reality. This disconnection manifests through distorted logic, impaired perception, and atypical behavior, severely affecting the lives of those...
838
Biological Causes of Schizophrenia01:29

Biological Causes of Schizophrenia

535
Schizophrenia, a severe psychiatric disorder, arises from a complex interplay of biological factors, including genetic predisposition, structural brain abnormalities, neurotransmitter dysregulation, and developmental irregularities. These factors collectively contribute to the onset and progression of the disorder, which typically manifests in late adolescence or early adulthood.
Genetic Factors in Schizophrenia
The genetic basis of schizophrenia is strongly supported by family and twin...
535
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia01:29

Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia, a complex psychiatric disorder, has been historically misunderstood. Early psychological theories attributed its origins to childhood trauma and unresponsive parenting. However, contemporary research largely rejects these notions, favoring the vulnerability-stress hypothesis. This model proposes that individuals with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia may develop the disorder following exposure to significant environmental stressors. Notably, studies on high-risk...
495
Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia01:30

Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

501
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia indicate a reduction or absence of typical behaviors and emotional responses found in healthy individuals, while positive symptoms reflect an excess or distortion of normal functioning.
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
501
Positive Symptoms Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions01:26

Positive Symptoms Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions

520
Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder characterized by a range of symptoms that significantly impact cognition, behavior, and emotional regulation. Among these, the positive symptoms stand out as they involve the addition or exaggeration of normal mental functions, deviating markedly from typical behavior and perception. Hallucinations and delusions are prominent positive symptoms, each profoundly affecting the individual's experience of reality.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations in...
520
Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions01:30

Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions

582
Schizophrenia is a complex mental health disorder that can manifest with various positive symptoms, including thought, movement, and behavior disorders. These symptoms significantly disrupt cognitive and motor functions, leading to profound effects on an individual's ability to engage with the world.
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes...
582

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Executive functioning in schizophrenia.

Gricel Orellana1, Andrea Slachevsky

  • 1Departamento de Psiquiatría Oriente, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile , Santiago , Chile.

Frontiers in Psychiatry
|June 28, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Executive functions (EF) are crucial for goal-directed behavior and problem-solving. Impairments in EF, particularly involving the prefrontal cortex, are central to schizophrenia, potentially explaining negative symptoms.

Keywords:
controlexecutive functionprefrontal cortexschizophrenia

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Executive functions (EF) govern voluntary control over behavior, enabling planning, problem-solving, and adaptation.
  • EF involves cognitive processes such as attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, primarily associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC).
  • The PFC, including dorsolateral and orbitofrontal regions, is critical for both EF and self-regulation of behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the role of executive functions in schizophrenia.
  • To highlight the association between prefrontal cortex dysfunction and executive impairments in schizophrenia.
  • To explore the potential link between executive dysfunction and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Main Methods:

  • Review of literature on executive functions and schizophrenia.
  • Analysis of neuroimaging studies showing prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction in schizophrenia patients.
  • Examination of deficits in tasks measuring conceptualization, planning, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.

Main Results:

  • Schizophrenia is characterized by significant impairments in various executive functions, including planning, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.
  • Functional neuroimaging studies confirm prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction in schizophrenia patients during executive tasks.
  • Deficits in self-regulation and odor identification suggest orbitofrontal PFC involvement, while broader executive impairments implicate prefronto-striato-thalamic and other networks.

Conclusions:

  • Executive function deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia across disease stages.
  • Prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction is consistently observed in schizophrenia, underlying executive impairments.
  • Executive dysfunction may be a fundamental mechanism contributing to the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.