Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Question 1

Positive - Delusions

Answer 1

Delusions are bizarre beliefs.
-They may believe that they are God or a king/queen, or that they are related to a celebrity or king/queen. - Another frequent delusion is where a schizophrenic believes that a person or a group of people are plotting against them

Question 2

Positive - Hallucinations

Answer 2

• Hallucinations are bizarre, unreal perceptions of the environment that can be auditory
  (hearing voices), visual (seeing people, lights, objects or faces), olfactory (smelling things)
  or tactile (e.g. feelings like bugs are crawling on the skin).
  -Voices may be individuals or groups and can be heard either from outside through the ears or from originating within
  ‘the mind’.
  -Schizophrenic’s may or may not feel compelled to follow the orders of their
  hallucination, and sometimes orders are not given but they are only experienced.

Question 3

Positive - Disorganised Speech

Answer 3

-Language impairments are the result of abnormal thought processes, where the individual has problems organising his or her thoughts - this shows up in their speech.
Patients might:
-Repeat sounds: echolalia
-Use invented words: neologisms
iSlip from one topic to another, even in mid-sentence: derailment
-. Speech so incoherent that it sounds like complete gibberish: word salad.

Question 4

Positive - Catatonic Behaviour

Answer 4

Grossly disorganised behaviours include the inability or motivation to initiate or complete
a task. E.g. The individual may dress or act in ways that appear bizarre to other people.

Question 5

Negative Symptoms - Speech poverty

Answer 5

A general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech: alogia

Question 6

Negative Symptoms - Avolition

Answer 6

The reduction, difficulty, or inability to initiate and persist in self/goal-directed behaviour;
it is often mistaken for apparent disinterest. E.g. no longer interested in activities that the
person used to show enthusiasm for.

Question 7

Negative Symptoms - Affective Flattening

Answer 7

The reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression, including facial
expression, voice tone, eye contact and body language. Individuals show fewer body and facial movements and smiles, and less non-verbal behaviour.