SCHIZOPHRENIA:

 Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe mental disorder that affects the way a person
thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others. 
 Schizophrenia involves a psychosis, a type of mental illness in which a person can’t
tell what’s real from what’s imagined.
 At times, people with psychotic disorders lose touch with reality. The world may
seem like a jumble of confusing thoughts, images, and sounds. Their behavior may
be very strange and even shocking.
 A sudden change in personality and behavior, which happens when people who have
it lose touch with reality, is called a psychotic episode.

Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

In this case, the word positive doesn’t mean good. It refers to added thoughts or actions that
aren’t based in reality. They’re sometimes called psychotic symptoms and can include:

 Delusions: These are false, mixed, and sometimes strange beliefs that aren’t based in
reality and that the person refuses to give up, even when shown the facts. For example, a
person with delusions may believe that people can hear their thoughts, that they are God
or the devil, or that people are putting thoughts into their head or plotting against them.
 Hallucinations: These involve sensations that aren't real. Hearing voices is the most
common hallucination in people with schizophrenia. The voices may comment on the
person's behavior, insult them, or give commands. Less common types include seeing
things that aren't there, smelling strange odors, having a funny taste in your mouth, and
feeling sensations on your skin even though nothing is touching your body.
 Catatonia: In this condition, the person may stop speaking, and their body may be fixed
in a single position for a very long time.

Disorganized Symptoms of Schizophrenia

These are positive symptoms that show that the person can’t think clearly or respond as
expected. Examples include:
  Talking in sentences that don’t make sense or using nonsense words, making it difficult
for the person to communicate or hold a conversation
 Shifting quickly from one thought to the next without obvious or logical connections
between them
 Moving slowly
 Being unable to make decisions
 Writing excessively but without meaning
 Forgetting or losing things
 Repeating movements or gestures, like pacing or walking in circles
 Having problems making sense of everyday sights, sounds, and feelings

Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

The person will have trouble:

 Understanding information and using it to make decisions (a doctor might call this poor
executive functioning)
 Focusing or paying attention
 Using their information immediately after learning it (this is called working memory)
 Recognizing that they have any of these problems

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

The word "negative" here doesn’t mean "bad." It notes the absence of normal behaviors
in people with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include:

 Lack of emotion or a limited range of emotions

 Withdrawal from family, friends, and social activities
 Less energy
 Speaking less
 Lack of motivation
 Loss of pleasure or interest in life
 Poor hygiene and grooming habits
What Causes Schizophrenia?
The exact cause of schizophrenia isn’t known. But like cancer and diabetes, schizophrenia is
a real illness with a biological basis. Researchers have uncovered a number of things that
appear to make someone more likely to get schizophrenia, including:
Genetics (heredity): Schizophrenia can run in families, which means a greater likelihood to have
schizophrenia may be passed on from parents to their children.

 Brain chemistry and circuits: People with schizophrenia may not be able to regulate brain
chemicals called neurotransmitters that control certain pathways, or "circuits," of nerve cells
that affect thinking and behavior.
 Brain abnormality: Research has found abnormal brain structure in people with
schizophrenia. But this doesn’t apply to all people with schizophrenia. It can affect people
without the disease.
 Environment: Things like viral infections, exposure to toxins like marijuana, or highly
stressful situations may trigger schizophrenia in people whose genes make them more likely
to get the disorder. Schizophrenia more often surfaces when the body is having hormonal and
physical changes, like those that happen during the teen and young adult years.
Diagnosis
A person is diagnosed with schizophrenia if they have at least two of these symptoms for at
least 6 months:

 Delusions
 Hallucinations
 Disorganized speech
 Disorganized or catatonic behavior
 Negative symptoms
One of the symptoms has to be

 Delusions
 Hallucinations
 Disorganized speech
During the 6 months, the person must have a month of active symptoms. (It can be less with
successful treatment.) Symptoms should negatively affect them socially or at work, and can’t
be caused by any other condition.