GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
● Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic mental disorder characterised by
disturbances in thought, perception, and behaviour.
● People with schizophrenia commonly experience hallucinations (seeing,
hearing, or otherwise sensing things that aren’t there), and delusions (strongly
held beliefs that aren’t based in reality).
● They may also exhibit disorganised speech or behaviour and decreased
participation in daily activities.
SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS AND CLASSIFICATIONS
Positive Symptoms
● Labelled as ‘positive’ because they represent additional behaviours not seen
in the general population. These include:
○ Hallucinations, the most common being auditory, followed by visual.
○ Delusions including paranoid delusions (believing others are plotting
against them) and delusions of grandeur (believing they have special
powers or are famous).
○ Thought disorder, which involves difficulty organising thoughts or
connecting them logically. Speech may be garbled or hard to
understand.
Negative Symptoms
● These are deficits of normal emotional and behavioural functioning:
○ Avolition (or apathy), a lack of initiative or persistence.
○ Anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.
○ Alogia, diminished speech output.
○ Flat affect, lack of emotional expression during conversation.
Cognitive Symptoms
● These symptoms often make it hard to lead a normal life and include:
○ Disorganised thinking, where the person might have trouble organising
their thoughts or connecting them logically.
○ Impairments in working memory, problem-solving, and attention.
DIAGNOSIS AND CRITERIA
● Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic mental disorder characterised by
disturbances in thought, perception, and behaviour.
● People with schizophrenia commonly experience hallucinations (seeing,
hearing, or otherwise sensing things that aren’t there), and delusions (strongly
held beliefs that aren’t based in reality).
● They may also exhibit disorganised speech or behaviour and decreased
participation in daily activities.
SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS AND CLASSIFICATIONS
Positive Symptoms
● Labelled as ‘positive’ because they represent additional behaviours not seen
in the general population. These include:
○ Hallucinations, the most common being auditory, followed by visual.
○ Delusions including paranoid delusions (believing others are plotting
against them) and delusions of grandeur (believing they have special
powers or are famous).
○ Thought disorder, which involves difficulty organising thoughts or
connecting them logically. Speech may be garbled or hard to
understand.
Negative Symptoms
● These are deficits of normal emotional and behavioural functioning:
○ Avolition (or apathy), a lack of initiative or persistence.
○ Anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.
○ Alogia, diminished speech output.
○ Flat affect, lack of emotional expression during conversation.
Cognitive Symptoms
● These symptoms often make it hard to lead a normal life and include:
○ Disorganised thinking, where the person might have trouble organising
their thoughts or connecting them logically.
○ Impairments in working memory, problem-solving, and attention.
DIAGNOSIS AND CRITERIA
