SCHIZOPHRENIA

• Schizophrenia

  A serious and chronic mental health disorder that affects a person's thinking, emotions, and behavior. The term schizophrenia comes from the Greek words for “split mind.”
• Individuals with Schizophrenia can be dominated by positive symptoms (hallucinations and delusions) and negative symptoms, typically displayed to some degree
• Historical Background of Schizophrenia: In the 19th century, psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin introduced the term "dementia praecox" to describe a group of disorders characterized by cognitive deterioration. In 1908, Eugen Bleuler introduced the term "schizophrenia" to describe the fragmented thinking of those with the disorder
• Schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people worldwide, which is about 1 in 300 people (0.32%)
• Types of Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

  Tactile hallucinations, Visual hallucinations, Auditory hallucinations, Olfactory hallucinations
• Symptomatology of Schizophrenia

  Symptoms can be grouped into Positive Symptoms (excesses of thought, emotions, and behaviour), Negative Symptoms (deficits of thought, emotions, and behaviour), Cognitive Symptoms (difficulty in attention, working memory, verbal learning and memory, executive functions)
• Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

  Pathological additions to a person’s behaviours, consisting of hallucinations and delusions
• Schizophrenia


  • Psychotic disorder where personal, social, occupational functioning deteriorates due to strange perceptions, unusual emotions, and motor abnormalities
  • Experience psychosis, a loss of contact with reality, leading to dysfunctional perception and response to the environment due to hallucinations or delusions
• Prevalence and Research on Schizophrenia: Found more frequently in lower socioeconomic groups, with an average age of onset at 21 years for men and 27 years for women. Approximately 25% of people with the disorder attempt suicide
• Neologisms

  Newly coined words or phrases that are idiosyncratic and not recognized or understood by others
• Types of hallucinations

  • Visual stimuli
  • Auditory hallucinations
  • Olfactory hallucinations
  • Gustatory hallucination
• Disorganized speech

  Incoherent, fragmented, or illogical speech, often marked by tangentiality or derailment
• Disorganized thinking

  Difficulties in organizing thoughts coherently and logically
• Blunted affect

  Reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression
• Loose Associations

  Occur when thoughts lack a logical connection, making it challenging for others to follow the individual's speech
• Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

  • Thought Impairment
  • Speech Impairment
  • Affective Impairment
• Types of Delusions

  • Paranoid Delusions
  • Grandiose Delusions
  • Control Delusions
  • Persecutory Delusions
  • Erotomanic Delusions
  • Referential Delusions
• Perseveration

  Repetition of words, phrases, or themes persistently throughout speech, even when they are no longer relevant to the conversation
• Flat Affect

  Complete absence of emotional expression, lack of facial expressions
• Inappropriate affect

  Displaying emotions that are incongruent with the context or situation
• Thought Blocking

  Abrupt interruption in the flow of thought
• Delusions

  Strongly held false beliefs that are resistant to reason or contrary evidence
• Echolalia

  Repetition of words or phrases spoken by others
• Alogia (Poverty of Speech)

  Reduced quantity of speech, characterized by brief, extensive verbal feedback with little to no useful information
• Disorganized schizophrenia


  • Formerly known as hebephrenic schizophrenia, characterized by disorganized thinking, speech, and behavior
• Postpartum psychosis


  A hallucinating mother may hear her baby crying, hear voices telling her to kill her baby, or accusing her of not being a competent mother
• Types of Schizophrenia

  • Paranoid schizophrenia
  • Disorganized schizophrenia
  • Catatonic schizophrenia
  • Residual schizophrenia
  • Undifferentiated schizophrenia
• Undifferentiated schizophrenia


  • Used when specific symptoms do not clearly fit into one of the other subtypes
• Severe depression


  Sometimes accompanied by auditory hallucinations present during mania
• Cardiovascular Disease


  Individuals with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking
• In the DSM-5, schizophrenia is classified into five subtypes
• Catatonic schizophrenia


  • Involves disturbances in movement and behavior, may exhibit motor abnormalities such as immobility or excessive movement
• Around 70% of schizophrenia patients experienced hallucinations
• Substance abuse disorders


  Substance use can exacerbate symptoms of schizophrenia and complicate treatment efforts
• Post-traumatic stress disorder


  Mainly combat veterans with PTSD have reported hearing persistent voices of a depressive nature involving cries for help or conversations concerning battle
• DSM-5 Classifications
• Residual schizophrenia


  • Characterized by a history of one or more episodes of schizophrenia, with a significant decrease in the intensity of symptoms
• Paranoid schizophrenia


  • Characterized by prominent delusions and hallucinations, often with themes of persecution or grandiosity
• Alzheimer's disorder


  Prevalence rates of hallucinations range from 12 to 53%
• Anxiety Disorders


  Frequently seen in individuals with schizophrenia