schizophrenia

• who is most likely to suffer from schizophrenia

  about 1% of the population. more males suffer likely to affect people living in cities and are more likely to affect the working class
• APAs diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

  • DSM only needs one positive symptom
  • subtypes removed
• WHOs International Classification of Diseases

  • needs two or more negative symptoms
  • 5 subtypes recognised e.g paranoid and catatonic
• positive symptoms of schizophrenia

  • hallucinations
  • delusions
  • disordered thinking
• hallucinations


  sensory experiences that have no basis in reality or are distortions of stimuli that are genuinely there. These can be experienced in relation to any sense
• types of hallucinations


  • auditory
  • visual
  • olfactory
  • tactile
• delusions


  irrational beliefs involving a misinterpretation of perceptions or life experiences
• types of delusions

  • paranoia
  • control
  • grandeur
• disordered thinking


  concentration problems mean sufferers struggle to maintain their train of thought

  e.g tangential speech, incoherent speech, switching topics and racing thoughts
• negative symptoms of schizophenia


  • avolition
  • speech poverty
  • attentive flattening
• avolition


  lack of purposeful behaviour. sufferers have reduced motivation to carry out activities shown by a lack of self-care, motivation and energy
• speech poverty 


  characterised by changes in patterns of speech - usually a reduction in both the amount and quality of speech. alogia is where speech is blocked, echolalia, neologisms and word salads are all classic characteristics of speech poverty
• attentive flattening 


  reduction of a person's range of emotions lacking non-verbal cues and eye contact