Definition of the case

The syndrome of symptoms associated with schizophrenia reveals alteration in content and organization
of thoughts of sensory input, affect or emotional tone, sense of identity, volition, psychomotor
behaviors, and ability to establish satisfactory interpersonal relationships.

Undifferentiated schizophrenia is characterized by disorganized behaviors and psychotic symptoms (e.g,

delusions, hallucinations, incoherence, and grossly disorganized behavior) that may appear in more than
one category.

A. General Signs and Symptoms

1. Positive or Hard Symptoms
a. Hallucinations
b. Delusions
c. Thought disorders (unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking)
d. Movement disorders (agitated
e. body movements)
f. Ambivalence: Holding seemingly contradictory beliefs or feelings about the same person,
event, or situation
g. Associative looseness: Fragmented or poorly related thoughts and ideas
h. Delusions: Fixed false beliefs that have no basis in reality
i. Echopraxia: Imitation of the movements and gestures of another person whom the client
is observing
j. Flight of ideas: Continuous flow of verbalization in which the person jumps rapidly from
one topic to another
k. Hallucinations: False sensory perceptions or perceptual experiences that do not exist in
reality
l. Ideas of reference: False impressions that external events have special meaning for the
person
m. Perseveration: Persistent adherence to a single idea or topic; verbal repetition of a
sentence, word, or phrase;
n. resisting attempts to change the topic
2. Negative or Soft Symptoms
. “Flat affect” (reduced expression of emotions via facial expression or voice tone)
a. Reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life
b. Difficulty beginning and sustaining activities
c. Reduced speaking
d. Alogia: Tendency to speak very little or to convey little substance of meaning (poverty of
content)
e. Anhedonia: Feeling no joy or pleasure from life or any activities or relationships
f. Apathy: Feelings of indifference toward people, activities, and events
g. Blunted affect: Restricted range of emotional feeling, tone, or mood
h. Catatonia: Psychologically induced immobility occasionally marked by periods of agitation
or excitement;
i. the client seems motionless, as if in a trance
j. Flat affect: Absence of any facial expression that would indicate emotions or mood
k. Lack of volition: Absence of will, ambition, or drive to take action or accomplish tasks