Classifications of schizophrenia

• What are positive symptoms?

  • These are symptoms which are not there in the normal population.
  • They are additional experiences outside of normal functioning.
  • They include hallucinations and delusions.
• What are delusions? (positive symptoms)

  Delusions are beliefs held despite absence of evidence. These can lead to strange behaviours, covering windows to shut out the sound of God. There are 3 types:

  • Paranoid delusions - This is when they believe people are out to get them or trying to hurt them, hidden cameras for example
  • Delusions of grandeur - believing that they are important or famous - They may believe that they have additional powers. 
  • Delusions linked to body - Someone thinking their movements are controlled by someone else
• What are hallucinations? (Positive symptoms)

  Hallucinations are false perceptions that are not reality. There are many types of hallucinations:

  • Auditory hallucinations: These are the most common where a person with schizophrenia hears critical or abusive voices, being numerous or just a single voice. They may tell them to harm themselves or other people. 
  • Visual hallucinations include seeing things that other people can’t see or facial distortions
  • Tactile is touch based hallucinations
• What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

  • These refer to a loss of usual experience or normal functioning.
  • This means that they are less able to cope with life. They may not be able to work at a job they had before. 
  • It can affect the ability to cope at home without significant help at home, like not cooking or caring for children.
  • Sufferers may not be aware of their negative symptoms or believe to be as bad as family members do.
• What is avolition?

  • One common symptom is avolition, a severe lack of motivation to do any purposeful activity.
  • They may sit around for hours doing nothing.
  • Some signs of this may be poor hygiene and lack of energy, which can be seen as laziness or disinterest
• What is speech poverty? (negative symptoms)

  • Another negative symptom is speech poverty, this is characterised by a lack of speech fluency and productivity, there may be a delay in their response during a conversation for example. 
  • They can produce less words spontaneously in a task of verbal fluency because they find it harder to produce them rather than knowing less.
  • Therefore, they may choose to engage less and give short responses
• What is DSM-5 diagnosis?

  • Two or more of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a one month period.
  • Symptoms:

  1. Delusions
  2. Hallucinations
  3. Disorganised speech
  4. Catatonic behaviour (increase or reduction in motor behaviour)
  5. Negative symptoms
• What is ICD-11 diagnosis of schizophrenia?

  Symptoms must persist for a month at least to be assigned:

  Symptoms:

  1. Persistent hallucinations
  2. Persistent delusions
  3. Thought disorder
  4. Experiences of influence, passivity or control 
  5. Psychomotor disturbances

  These symptoms are not the cause of any other condition like a brain tumour or due to the effect of a substance like drugs