Aim: The current study investigated a pattern of associations between executive functions and everyday functioning in a sample of schizophrenia patients with the aim to specify the ecological validity. The ecological validity as a specific form of external validity refers to the extent of the relation of the test outcome measures and patients' behaviour in everyday situations. Sample and methods: A sample of 77 patients (22 women and 55 men) with the diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, who met study inclusion criteria, was assessed with several executive function tests: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Trail Making Test B (TMT B), Phonemic Verbal Fluency Test and Semantic Verbal Fluency Test (VF), Similarities from Wechsler Adult Inteligence Scale (WAIS III), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test in Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS), and with rating scales for patients' behavior in everyday situations - Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSPs), newly developed clinical scale (CliSca), Interview for Assessment of Insight (SAI) and patients' self rating in Social Functioning Scale (SFS). Relationships between demografic measures and test outcomes were examined. Results: Verbal fluency tests did correlate significantly with the newly developed clinical scale that seems...

The aim of this thesis is to present current trends in the treatment of schizophrenia and to mediate the experience of people with schizophrenia that are treated during hospitalization. The theoretical part consists of two chapters. The first chapter briefly characterizes schizophrenia and describes how the disease can affect the quality of life. The second chapter deals with the forms of treatment that are currently considered the most appropriate and presents how this group of patients perceives the treatment. The empirical part is based on a qualitative methodology. The study involved 9 people with the schizophrenic disease aged 19-43 years undergoing the stabilization phase of treatment during hospitalization. Data were obtained using semi-structured in-depth interviews and then analyzed by interpretive phenomenological analysis. Based on the analysis, two thematic domains were identified: the respondents' experience with treatment during hospitalization, and the respondents' experience with the interventions offered during hospitalization. The obtained results are described and also discussed with other researches dealing with similar topics. Keywords schizophrenia, treatment, perception of treatment, psychosocial intervention, quality of life

Schizophrenia is a neurological disorder with a complex psychopathology, which is far from fully elucidated. In the patients with this disorder, changes on anatomical, cellular, and neurotransmitter level have been found. The aim of this work is to elucidate the function of specific ionotropic glutamate receptors in NG2 glia in the hippocampus of a mouse model of schizophrenia. For this purpose, a mouse model of schizophrenia was generated and validated using immunohistochemistry and behavioural testing. Mice with NG2 glia labelled by a fluorescent protein with a calcium indicator also in NG2 glia were used to observe the activity of glutamate channels and the properties of the extracellular space in these mice. Changes were found in the schizophrenic animals when compared to control animals in the numbers of hippocampal oligodendrocyte lineage cells, in prepulse inhibition and in both volume fraction and tortuosity of the extracellular space in hippocampus. Moreover, the percentage of cells responding to glutamate receptor agonists in NG2 glia in hippocampus also differed significantly between the schizophrenic and the control animals. In conclusion, it can be said that we were able to observe significant changes in the mouse model of schizophrenia that we generated in comparison to control...

Tryptophan depletion is a non-pharmacological and non-invasive method extensively used to investigate the role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine in humans and animals. The method is based on reducing the availability of the essential amino acid tryptophan, the dietary serotonin precursor. As a precursor of serotonin, L-Tryptophan has a key role in the regulation of many physiological processes and, inter alia, in the pathology and pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders and diseases. Despite the fact, that the method of tryptophan depletion has been applied in many experimental studies, the exact mechanism, by which tryptophan depletion inducted neurophysiological effects, remain unclear. Also, the protentional use of this method together with other drug coadministration has not been explored in detail yet. In this thesis, the most possible mechanisms of tryptophan depletion are discussed. Biochemical and behavioural effects of low dose of dizocilpine (0.1 mg/kg and 0.15 mg/kg) in animal model of tryptophan depletion are investigated as well. And finally, effects of administration of allopregnanolone and tacrine in model of tryptophan depletion with coadministration of MK-801 are studied. The results show that acute tryptophan depletion with prior starvation, not chronic depletion, caused...

Dissertation thesis Semiotics of schizophrenia aims to analyse manifestations of the symptoms of schizophrenia from the point of view of semiotics. The goal is to find common features of otherwise heterogeneous manifestations of schizophrenia and the features that make them abnormal. The method of the thesis is semiotic reduction, i.e. approach to phenomena as to sings and significations, which approach is based on the semiotic theory of Charles Peirce. The proposed thesis characterises symptoms of schizophrenia as a disorder of indexical relation between a sign-object and the group of signs of the Self. An object can be a voice or an image in the case of hallucinations, a proposition in the case of delusions, a rule of communication in the case of disorganization of speech or behaviour or a habitus in the case of negative symptoms. Abnormality of the manifestations of schizophrenia is due to a disorder of indexical relation between signs of the Self, which have features as indisprovability or basis for interpreting the world, and these objects. The author compares conclusions of the thesis with clinical studies and so called unifying theories of schizophrenia.

Research suggests that olfactory perception of patients with schizophrenia differs from healthy people. In the context of previously conducted research, the present thesis addresses the differences in the abilities of identification and discrimination of odours and assessment of perceived odour qualities (pleasantness, familiarity, intensity, edibility) between patients with schizophrenia or acute and transient psychotic disorders and healthy volunteers, taking into account gender differences; in addition, the differences in the relationship between identification of odours and evaluation of the perceived qualities of odours between patients and healthy persons were explored as well as relationship between the severity of negative symptoms and olfactory perception. In line with other studies, deficits were found in patients in identification and discrimination of odours and in the assessment of odour familiarity compared to healthy subjects, with no gender differences. There were no differences in the relationship between the identification of odours and assessment of the perceived qualities of odours between patients and volunteers, and association of olfactory abilities and the assessment of perceived qualities of odours with the severity of negative symptoms was found only for identification of...

The purpose of this thesis is to undertake a thorough analysis of Sam Shepard's approach to the character in a selection of his plays from the 1970s. Instead of approaching characters as compact entities with fixed character features the thesis focuses on their instability and changeability and attempts to ascribe characters' transformations to dynamic non-subjective forces and to identify ego-loss as a partially liberating process that nonetheless confronts the characters with the unknown and is accompanied by fear of self-loss. From the theoretical vantage point of the collaborative writings of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the thesis equates the transformations of Shepard's characters and their inability to locate the "self" with the schizophrenic experience. As a musical genre based on variability, jazz, as well as its inherent form of expression, improvisation, are utilized as points of departure in the analysis of characters' instability in plays Suicide in Bb and Angel City. Furthermore, in Angel City, the phenomenon of film in the USA and the desire for success and fame intensified by it are perceived as instruments of manipulation and illusion, which characters easily succumb to and which severely alter their sense of reality. Moreover, the environment of filmmaking is introduced as a...

The thesis deals with the conflict of social worker´s responsibilities in the FOCUS organization. The theoretical part is focused on the characteristics of the organization and the issues of its target group, which is mental illness - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It describes the work of social workers with this target group. It also introduces issues conflict, ethical problem, ethical dilemmas and responsibility. The other part of the thesis is empiric, research fosuced on identifying, analyzing and trying to evulaute the conflict of responsibilities of selected social workers of Focus ČB. For data-analysis I used a method of creating groups. According to them, I grouped the information with similar features.

The thesis is dedicated to intimate relationships of people with schizophrenic disorder (F20). The aim of this study was to determine the importance of intimate relationships attributed by women and men with schizophrenia in young adulthood. Their experience, ideals and expectations of partnership were also investigated. The theoretical part is divided into three parts. The first chapter describes the illness of schizophrenia, its characteristics, etiology, epidemiology, symptoms, deficits in cognitive and social functioning as well as current treatments oriented at psychosocial intervention. In the second chapter, the topic of partnerships of common people is presented. The third chapter describes the theme of partnerships in persons with schizophrenic disorder itself. The empirical part is based on qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 11 respondents, investigating intimate relationships and sexuality of people with schizophrenia. The results are properly described and afterwards discussed with the available literature. In the conclusion, it is recommended further research and intervention in social relationships among people with schizophrenia.

The aim of the current project is to evaluate SVF-78 questionnaire in terms of its usability when working with individuals with a psychotic disorder. Moreover, the project's focus lies on the differentiation of positive and negative coping strategies. The obtained data from SVF- 78 questionnaire were collected together with WHOQOL-100 from people diagnosed with psychosis and quantitative methodology; concretely correlations were used for its analysis. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used for a comparison of a group with psychotic disorder and a control group. This was an exploratory study which aimed to bring empirical knowledge for further research in this area. This overall goal was reached due to a denial of many null hypotheses. Due to the results, it is possible to focus on particular aspects of coping within SVF-78 questionnaire and their connection to the quality of life of an individual with psychotic disorder.