AO1

• Positive symptoms: additional experiences beyond those of ordinary existence
• Positive symptoms

  • Hallucinations = unusual sensory experiences that have no basis in reality or distorted perceptions For example, hearing voices or seeing people who aren't there. They can be auditory, visual, tactile (touch), olfactory(smell)
  • Delusions = beliefs that have no basis in reality. They make a person with schizophrenia behave in ways that make sense to them but are bizarre to others. For example, believing you're a very important person or victim of a conspiracy.
• negative symptoms: loss of usual abilities and experiences
• negative symptoms

  • Speech poverty = Reduction in the amount and quality of speech may include a delay in verbal responses during conversation.
  • Avolition = severe loss of motivation to carry out everyday tasks, for example work, hobbies, etc. It results in lowered activity levels and unwillingness to carry out goal-directed behaviours.
  • Catatonic = not reacting to any stimuli and giving responses very monotonous
  • Affecting flattening = speaking in one tone constantly
• There are 2 major classification systems used to diagnose schizophrenia: the ICD-10 (international) and DSM-5 (America)
• DSM-5 requires one of the positive symptoms to be present for a month

  ICD-10 requires 2 or more negative symptoms

  The ICD-10 includes subtypes of schizophrenia like paranoid schizophrenia, hebephrenic schizophrenia and catatonic schizophrenia. These have been dropped now.