Option 2 common mistakes

Common mistakes

• Mixing up positive and negative symptoms

  Students often label hallucinations or delusions as negative symptoms, or describe flat affect as a positive symptom.

  Fix itClarify that positive symptoms are additions (hallucinations, delusions) whereas negative symptoms are deficits (flat affect, social withdrawal).

• Confusing negative and positive symptoms

  Students often describe hallucinations or delusions as negative symptoms.

  Fix itNegative symptoms are deficits such as speech poverty and avolition; positive symptoms are excesses like hallucinations.

• Assuming uniform diagnostic criteria across cultures

  Students often state that schizophrenia is diagnosed the same way worldwide, ignoring cultural variations in symptom expression.

  Fix itClarify that while diagnostic manuals provide standard criteria, cultural context can alter symptom presentation and interpretation, requiring clinicians to adapt their assessment.

• Overstating genetic determinism

  Claiming that schizophrenia is caused solely by genes.

  Fix itExplain that genetic factors increase risk but interact with environmental influences; use evidence from twin and family studies to support a multifactorial model.

• Over‑generalising the family dysfunction hypothesis

  Assuming that all families of people with schizophrenia are dysfunctional or that dysfunction is the sole cause of the disorder.

  Fix itClarify that family dysfunction is one of several interacting factors and that not all families exhibit high expressed emotion.

• Confusing side effects of typical and atypical antipsychotics

  Assuming atypical antipsychotics have no EPS and typicals have no metabolic side effects.

  Fix itAtypicals can still cause EPS, though at lower rates, and typicals can cause metabolic changes. Both classes have distinct but overlapping side‑effect profiles.

• Overstating CBT’s effectiveness

  Claiming CBT alone can cure schizophrenia or replace medication entirely.

  Fix itClarify that CBT is an adjunctive treatment, often used alongside antipsychotic medication, and its benefits are typically modest and symptom‑specific.

• Confusing diathesis with stress

  Students often confuse the terms diathesis and stress, thinking they are interchangeable.

  Fix itRemember that diathesis refers to the predisposition (genetic factors), while stress refers to environmental triggers.

• Confusing taste aversion with neophobia

  Students often mix up taste aversion (avoidance due to negative experiences) with neophobia (fear of new foods).

  Fix itClarify that taste aversion is a learned response to a specific food, while neophobia is a general fear of trying unfamiliar foods.

• Confusing ghrelin and leptin

  Students often mix up the functions of ghrelin and leptin.

  Fix itRemember that ghrelin stimulates appetite while leptin suppresses it.