Madness

1
Madness Genius Schizophrenia

• Jariel Rendell
• HRS 305

2
Outline

• Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia Intelligence
• Schizotypal traits Creativity

3
Schizophrenia

• Severe psychotic illness
• Disturbances in perception, emotion, thought, or
  speech
  
• 1 Prevalence rate
• Positive and Negative Symptoms

4
Positive Symptoms

• Pathologically excessive
• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Racing, disorganized Thoughts
• Disorganized Speech

5
Negative Symptoms

• Pathologically deficient
• Flattened Affect
• Alogia
• Poverty of speech
• Avolition
• Lack of desire, motivation, or persistence

6
Predisposing Factors

• Genetic influences
• Twin studies
• Monozygotic twins have 46 concurrence rate
• Dizygotic twins have 14 concurrence rate
• Environmental influences
• E.g., Prenatal
• Concordance rate for monozygotic (MZ) twins
  sharing same placenta twice as high as MZ twins
  in different placentas

7
Enlarged Ventricles

• Control Schizophrenic

8
Hypofrontality
9
Immediate Causes of Schizophrenia

• Functional and structural abnormalities in the
  brain
  
• Hypofrontality
• Enlarged ventricles
• Dopamine hypothesis
• Neurotransmitter imbalances
• Video

10
Schizophrenia and Intelligence

• Did he seem intelligent?
• Is it possible to measure his level of
  intelligence?
  
• Is he more in touch with true reality than the
  rest of us?

11
Intelligence and Schizophrenia

• Intelligence can be measured in schizophrenics
  using IQ tests
  
• Schizophrenics have much lower IQ scores than
  non-schizophrenics
  
• Badcock et al. (2005) compared schizophrenics
  current and pre-morbid IQ to controls
  
• Both IQ scores were lower than controls
• Even the highest functioning schziophrenics had
  lower IQ scores than average.
  
• Substance abuse, schizophrenia, and intelligence

12
Cognitive Impairments

• Schizophrenics
• Have problems processing information
• Have impaired
• Memory
• Spatial ability
• Motor skills
• Language skills
• Executive functioning
• Have difficulty paying attention

13
Schizotypal Traits Creativity

• Schizophrenics not more creative than average
• But, individuals with schizophrenic tendencies
  (i.e., schizotypal traits) tend to be more
  creative than average
  
• Participants with higher schizotypal traits
  tended to be more creative on various self-report
  tests of creativity (e.g., Remote Associate Test)

14
What do you see?
15
What do you see?
16
Schizotypy Creativity

• Highly creative females gave answers to the
  Rorschach indicative of schizophrenia
  
• They were not mentally ill
• Suggests that creative individuals and
  schizophrenics share some thinking patterns
  
• Lowered evidence criterion
• May explain increased creativity of schizotypal
  individuals
  
• Adoption study

17
Schizotypal Traits

• Answer Yes/No
• Do you sometimes feel that things you see on the
  TV or read in the newspaper have a special
  meaning for you ?
  
• I sometimes avoid going to places where there
  will be many people because I will get anxious.
  
• Have you had experiences with the supernatural ?
• Have you often mistaken objects or shadows for
  people, or noises for voices ?
  
• Other people see me as slightly eccentric (odd).
• I have little interest in getting to know other
  people.
  
• People sometimes find it hard to understand what
  I am saying.
  
• People sometimes find me aloof and distant.
• I am sure I am being talked about behind my
  back.
  
• I am aware that people notice me when I go out
  for a meal or to see a film.

18
Summary/Conclusions

• Schizophrenics less, not more, intelligent than
  average
  
• Schizophrenics not more creative than average
• Schizotypal individuals (i.e., those with
  tendencies toward schizophrenia) tend to be more
  creative than average

19
References

• American Psychiatric Association. (2000).
  Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
  disorders (DSM-IV-TR) (4th ed.-text revision).
  Washington, D.C. American Psychiatric
  Publishing.
• Badcock, J. C., Dragovic, M., Waters, F. A. V.
  (2005). Dimensions of intelligence in
  schizophrenia Evidence from patients with
  preserved, deteriorated and compromised
  intellect. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 39,
  11-19.
• Badcock, J. C., Williams, R. J., Anderson, M.
  (2004). Speed of processing and individual
  differences in IQ in schizophrenia General or
  specific cognitive deficits? Cognitive
  Neuropsychiatry, 9, 233-247.
• Carlsson, I., Wendt, P. E., Risberg, J. (2000).
  On the neurobiology of creativity Differences in
  frontal activity between high and low creative
  subjects. Neuropsychologia, 38, 873-885.
• Franklin, K. W., Cornell, D. G. (1997).
  Rorschach interpretation with high-ability
  adolescent females Psychopathology or creative
  thinking? Journal of Personality Assessment, 68,
  184-196.
• Heinrichs, R. W., Zakzanis, K. K. (1998).
  Neurocognitive deficit in schizophrenia A
  quantitative review of the evidence.
  Neuropsychology, 12, 426-445.
• Holthausen, E. A., Wiersma, D., Sitskoorn, M.
  M. (2002). Schizophrenic patients without
  neuropsychological deficits Subgroup, disease
  severity or cognitive compensation? Psychiatry
  Research, 112, 1-11.

20
References

• Kinney, D. K., Richards, R., Lowing, P. A.
  (2001). Creativity in offspring of schizophrenic
  and control parents An adoption study.
  Creativity Research Journal, 13, 17-25.
• Kondel, T. K., Mortimer, A. M., Lesson, V. C.
  (2003). Intellectual differences between
  schizophrenic patients and normal controls across
  the adult lifespan. Journal of Clinical and
  Experimental Neuropsychology, 25, 1045-1056.
• Nestor, P. G., Kubicki, M., Gurrera, R. J.
  (2003). Neuropsychological correlates of
  diffusion tensor imaging in schizophrenia.
  Neuropsychology, 18, 629-637.
• Schuldberg, D. (2001). Six subclinical spectrum
  traits in normal creativity. Creativity Research
  Journal, 13, 5-16.
  
• Toulopoulou, T., Grech, A., Morris, R. G.,
  Schulze, K., McDonald, C., Chapple, B.,
  Rabe-Hesketh, S., Murray, R. M. (2004). The
  relationship between volumetric brain changes and
  cognitive function A family study on
  schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 56,
  447-453.
• Vincent, A. S., Decker, B. P., Mumford, M. D.
  (2002). Divergent thinking, intelligence, and
  expertise A test of alternative models.
  Creativity Research Journal, 14, 163-178.
• Weinstein, S., Graves, R. E. (2001).
  Creativity, schizotypy, and laterality. Cognitive
  Neuropsychiatry, 6, 131-146.