Schizophrenia - Symptoms (GREY) Flashcards
What is schizophrenia?
A serious psychotic mental disorder including problems with reality.
Psychotic disorders cause abnormal thinking and perceptions.
What are positive symptoms?
Symptoms that most healthy people do not experience but those with schizophrenia do.
What are negative symptoms?
Lack of some emotional or physical responses that are present in healthy people.
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disorganised speech
- Disorganised or catatonic behaviour
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
- Avolition “lack of will”
- Speech poverty
- Flattened affect
- Anhedonia “not seeking pleasure”
What are hallucinations?
- Unusual sensory experiences
- Can be picked up from any sense and bear no relation to actual sensory input
- Examples are hearing voices, feeling insects on the skin
What are delusions?
- These are irrational beliefs
- May come with paranoia
What is disorganised speech?
- Speech may be hard to understand because it does not follow a logical pattern; topics may be changed mid sentence
- This is due to disorganised thoughts
What is disorganised or catatonic behaviour?
- The person may act in bizarre ways, wearing winter clothes in July or full evening dress to go to the shops
- Catatonic behaviour may involve lack of response to the environment
What is avolition?
- “Lack of will”
- May include poor hygiene and lack of energy
What is speech poverty?
- The quantity and quality of speech is reduced
- Speech may also be delayed or have long pauses
What is flattened affect?
- Range and intensity of emotional expression is limited
- May include facial expression, tone of voice, hand gestures
What is anhedonia?
- Lack of pleasure and pleasure seeking
- Social: may be lack of enjoyment in social activities
- Physical: Lack of pleasure from physical sensations eg. food
