Schizophrenia Before & After

PSYCHOLOGY

Resources for Courses

OverviewThe aim of this activity is to provide an interesting starting point for the schizophrenia topic by assessing what the students know about this disorder, at the start of their very first lesson.

The overriding goal is to dispel some of the myths/misconceptions about schizophrenia before you get into the ‘nitty gritty’ of the topic.

Resources Required • Schizophrenia Before & After Handout

• Schizophrenia Ture or False Handout

Teacher InstructionsTeaching and Learning Strategy (Part 1) At the start of the lesson provide students with the schizophrenia before & after handout and ask them to write down everything they know about schizophrenia in the left hand circle of the Venn Diagram.

You may wish to show students a video clip of Me, Myself and Irene found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssx_riw1Y9Y just to reinforce some of the common beliefs and misconceptions as this will give you an excellent discussion point later in the lesson.

SAMPLE

Schizophrenia Before & After Resources for Courses

Teaching and Learning Strategy (Part 2) Once the students have completed the first part of the Venn Diagram, ask the students to consider the 10 True or False Questions on the second handout. Once the students have completed the questions, you should go through the answers, explaining why some of the statements are true/false, using the information provided on the answer sheet.

Following a discussion, you can then ask students to return to their Venn Diagram and complete the right hand circle in a different colour pen (to ‘demonstrate’ learning), ideally without referring back to their true or false handout.

There’s no reason why you can return to this handout at the end of the topic and ask students to add even more information to the right hand circle in yet another colour pen…

Stretch & Challenge If you want a nice little stretch and challenge activity for your students, there is an interesting article on The Guardian website discussing the portrayal of schizophrenia in the media that might make an interesting read for some of your students.

SAMPLE

Task: At the start of the lesson, complete the left hand circle of the Venn Diagram

with any facts you know

about schizophrenia. Then once you have com

pleted the True or False activity and gone through the answers, com

plete the right hand circle (in a different colour pen) to dem

onstrate what you now

know.

What I thought schizophrenia w

as at the start of the lesson...

What I now

know about schizophrenia

at the end of the lesson…SAMPLE

Task: Read each of the following statements about schizophrenia and decide whether you think the answer is true or false, based on your current knowledge. Then add to the correct answer / explanation column when you go through the answers. know.

1 Schizophrenia is where a person has split or multiple personalities.

Question True or False? Correct Answer / Explanation

2 Schizophrenia is where a person struggles to distinguish what is real from what is not real (or in their imagination).

3 People who suffer from schizophrenia are approximately 10 times more likely to commit suicide, in comparison to the general population.

4 Schizophrenia is far more common in women than in men.

5 Most cases of schizophrenia are diagnosed when a person is 30-40 years old.

6 Schizophrenia is highly genetic and runs in families.

7 Schizophrenia can develop due to a person’s family and issues during pregnancy.

8 Many symptoms of schizophrenia are similar to those found in other disorders, in particular depression and bipolar.

9 Patients with schizophrenia are usually prescribed with drugs as their only treatment.

10 Schizophrenia is normally a life-long condition and there is no ‘cure’ although the symptoms can be managed through different treatments.

SAMPLE

Task: Answer sheet

1 Schizophrenia is where a person has split or multiple personalities.

False

True

True

False

False

True

True

True

False

True

This is a very common misconception - while there is significant overlap between the symptoms of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder now known as dissociative identity disorder (DID), they are in fact different disorders.

The rate of suicide in schizophrenics is 14%, compared to just 1% in the general population.

Men are on average twice as likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia in comparison to women.

75% of patients are diagnosed between 16 and 25.

There are two theories that students will explore in this topic: expressed emotion and double bind that support these ideas.

For example, delusions appear in both bipolar and schizophrenia (see Schizophrenia, Depression or Bipolar activity).

Schizophrenia is often treated using a combination of drugs and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Question True or False? Correct Answer / Explanation

2 Schizophrenia is where a person struggles to distinguish what is real from what is not real (or in their imagination).

3 People who suffer from schizophrenia are approximately 10 times more likely to commit suicide, in comparison to the general population.

4 Schizophrenia is far more common in women than in men.

5 Most cases of schizophrenia are diagnosed when a person is 30-40 years old.

6 Schizophrenia is highly genetic and runs in families.

7 Schizophrenia can develop due to a person’s family and issues during pregnancy.

8 Many symptoms of schizophrenia are similar to those found in other disorders, in particular depression and bipolar.

9 Patients with schizophrenia are usually prescribed with drugs as their only treatment.

10 Schizophrenia is normally a life-long condition and there is no ‘cure’ although the symptoms can be managed through different treatments.

SAMPLE