Outline Clinical Characteristics Of Schizophrenia
Outline clinical characteristics of schizophrenia (8 marks.)
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The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are those that appear to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. Negative symptoms are those that appear to reflect a diminution or loss of normal functions, which often occur during periods of low or absent positive symptoms. Under the DSM, the diagnosis of schizophrenia requires at least one month duration of two or more positive symptoms.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, experience of control, hallucinations and disordered thinking.
Delusions are bizarre beliefs that seem real to the person with schizophrenia but in fact, are not actually real. Sometimes these delusions can be paranoid in nature. Delusions may also involve inflated beliefs about the person’s power and importance.
Experience of control is where a person with schizophrenia may believe that they are under the control of an alien force that has invaded their mind or body.
Hallucinations are bizarre, unreal perceptions of the environment. They usually involve things auditory, eg: hearing voices, things visual, eg: seeing objects or faces and things tactical, eg: the feeling that bugs are crawling on the skin.
Disordered thinking is the feeling that thoughts have been inserted or withdrawn from the mind. In some cases the person with schizophrenia may believe their thoughts are being broadcasted so that others can hear them. Incoherent or loosely associated speech is also used as an indicator of thought disorder.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include affective flattening and alogia and avolition.
Affective flattening is a reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression, including facial expression, voice tone, eye contact and body language.
Alogia is the poverty of speech. It is characterised by the lessening of speech fluency and productivity. Alogia is thought to reflect slowing
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The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are those that appear to reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. Negative symptoms are those that appear to reflect a diminution or loss of normal functions, which often occur during periods of low or absent positive symptoms. Under the DSM, the diagnosis of schizophrenia requires at least one month duration of two or more positive symptoms.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, experience of control, hallucinations and disordered thinking.
Delusions are bizarre beliefs that seem real to the person with schizophrenia but in fact, are not actually real. Sometimes these delusions can be paranoid in nature. Delusions may also involve inflated beliefs about the person’s power and importance.
Experience of control is where a person with schizophrenia may believe that they are under the control of an alien force that has invaded their mind or body.
Hallucinations are bizarre, unreal perceptions of the environment. They usually involve things auditory, eg: hearing voices, things visual, eg: seeing objects or faces and things tactical, eg: the feeling that bugs are crawling on the skin.
Disordered thinking is the feeling that thoughts have been inserted or withdrawn from the mind. In some cases the person with schizophrenia may believe their thoughts are being broadcasted so that others can hear them. Incoherent or loosely associated speech is also used as an indicator of thought disorder.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include affective flattening and alogia and avolition.
Affective flattening is a reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression, including facial expression, voice tone, eye contact and body language.
Alogia is the poverty of speech. It is characterised by the lessening of speech fluency and productivity. Alogia is thought to reflect slowing