General Psychopathology Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague

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General Psychopathology

Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague
Head: Prof. MUDr. Jiří Raboch, DrSc.

Psychiatry studies the causes of mental disorders, gives their description, predicts their future course and outcome, looks for prevention of their appearance and presents the best ways of their treatment
Psychopathology describes symptoms of mental disorders
Special psychiatry is devoted to individual mental diseases
General psychiatry studies psychopathological phenomena, symptoms of abnormal states of mind:

Qualitative changes of consciousness mean disturbed perception, thinking, affectivity, memory and consequent motor disorders:

delirium (confusional state) – characterized by disorientation, distorted perception, enhanced suggestibility, misinterpretations and mood disorders
obnubilation (twilight state) – starts and ends abruptly, amnesia is complete; the patient is disordered, his acting is aimless, sometimes aggressive, hard to understood

Perception is a process of becoming aware of what is presented through the sense organs
Imagery means an experience within the mind, usually without the sense of reality that is part of reality
Pseudoillusions – distorted perception of objects which may occur when the general level of sensory stimulation is reduced
Illusions are psychopathological phenomena; they appear mainly in conditions of qualitative disturbances of consciousness (missing insight)
Hallucination are percepts without any obvious stimulus to the sense organs; the patient is unable to distinguish it from reality

Obsessions (obsessive thought) are recurrent persistent thoughts, impulses or images entering the mind despite the person's effort to exclude them. Obsessive phenomena in acting (usual as senseless rituals – cleaning, counting, dressing) are called compulsions.

paranoid (persecutory) - d. of reference, d. of jealousy, d. of control, d. concerning possession of thought
megalomanic (grandiose, expansive) – d. of power, worth, noble origin, supernatural skills and strength, amorous d.
depressive (micromanic, melancholic) – d. of guilt and worthlessness, nihilistic d., hypochondriacal d.
concerning the possession of thoughts

Sensory stores - retains sensory information for 0.5 sec.
Short - term memory (working memory) - for verbal and visual information, retained for 15-20 sec., low capacity
Long-term memory – wide capacity and more permanent storage

declarative (explicit) memory – episodic (for events) or semantic (for language and knowledge)
procedural memory – for motor arts
priming – unconscious memory
conditioning – classic or emotional

Normal affect – brief and strong emotional response
Normal mood – subjective and for a longer time lasting disposition to appear affects adequate to a surrounding situation and matters discussed
Higher emotions: