4.1. Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

Question 1

What are the clinical characteristics of Sz?

Answer 1

• disintegration of personality
• split between thinking and emotion
• involves a range of psychotic symptoms
• generally, patients lack insight into condition

Question 2

What does it mean to have positive symptoms?

Answer 2

Additional to normal life experiences and concern losing touch with reality

Question 3

What are hallucinations?

Answer 3

• Auditory and visual
• Usually take the form of hearing voices that aren’t there
• These voices are normally critical and unfriendly
• Additionally, some people with Sz may also see, smell, taste and feel things that aren’t there

Question 4

What are delusions?

Answer 4

• An unshakeable belief in something that’s very unlikely, bizarre or obviously untrue.
• One of the delusions experienced in Sz is paranoid delusions, where an individual believes that something or someone is deliberately trying to mislead, manipulate, hurt, or in some cases even kill them.
• Delusion of grandeur: an individual believes that they may have some imaginary power or authority, such as thinking that they’re on a mission from God or that they’re a secret agent.

Question 5

What is meant by someone having negative symptoms?

Answer 5

Loss of usual abilities and experiences, loss of pleasure in life, inappropriate, emotional responses to situations and thought processes

Question 6

What is alogia (speech poverty)?

Answer 6

• When a person loses their ability to speak fluently
• There can also be a noticeable delay in verbal response during conversation
• Poor amount of coherent speech

Question 7

What is avolition?

Answer 7

• Apathy, where people with Sz have a lack of motivation
• Results in low activity levels, therefore don’t follow through any plans/ goals and neglect household chores, such as washing the dishes or cleaning their clothes or maintaining low personal hygiene.
• Loss of persistence in work/ education

Question 8

Examples of +ve symptoms:

Answer 8

• delusions
• hallucinations
• catatonic or disorganised behaviour
• disorganised speech

Question 9

Examples of -ve symptoms:

Answer 9

• affective flattening
• anhedonia
• avolition
• alogia