Schizophrenia: Setting the record straight w/ a Clinical Psychologist

In this episode, we met with Dr. Bruno Losier, a clinical psychologist at St. Joe’s Hospital, to learn about what schizophrenia really is, where some of the common conceptions & misconceptions surrounding it originated, and which ones are actually representative of the disease.

Fact check: 

• The word prodrome describes symptoms which emerge early in a disease course, often before more overt and diagnostically specific signs and symptoms are present.
• Positive symptoms “add,” meaning they are additional symptoms people experience in the disease state that they would not otherwise experience, for example delusions and hallucinations. Negative symptoms, on the other hand,”take away” from normal functioning that people without the disease possess, such as apathy or social withdrawal.
• The DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and contains diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. We are currently on the 5th edition of this manual, the DSM-V.
• The stress-diathesis model explains etiology of mental disorders as an interaction between a stressor--social, physical, emotional, etc.--and diathesis--an underlying predisposition to the disorder in question.

Mentioned Resources:

• CAMH and Stats Canada articles (referenced by Angelica during interview), which talk about the risk of suicide in individuals with schizophrenia: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-619-m/2012004/sections/sectiong-eng.htm & https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092099641830358X (from CAMH)

• Ted Talk given by Elyn Saks, about her experience with schizophrenia: https://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_a_tale_of_mental_illness_from_the_inside?language=en