Schizophrenia and Symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia:

Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that distorts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others. People with schizophrenia -- the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses -- often have problems functioning in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. Schizophrenia can leave its sufferer frightened and withdrawn. It is a life-long disease that cannot be cured but usually can be controlled with proper treatment.

Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia is not a split personality. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a type of mental illness in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined. At times, people with psychotic disorders lose touch with reality. The world may seem like a jumble of confusing thoughts, images, and sounds. The behavior of people with schizophrenia may be very strange and even shocking. A sudden change in personality and behavior, which occurs when schizophrenia sufferers lose touch with reality, is called a psychotic episode.

Types Based On Symptoms:

Schizophrenia is a term given to a complex group of mental disorders. However, different types of schizophrenia may have some of the same symptoms. There are several subtypes of schizophrenia based on symptoms:

• Paranoid schizophrenia: People with this type are preoccupied with false beliefs (delusions) about being persecuted or being punished by someone. Their thinking, speech, and emotions, however, remain fairly normal.
• Disorganized schizophrenia: People with this type often are confused and incoherent and have jumbled speech. Their outward behavior may be emotionless or flat or inappropriate, even silly or childlike. Often they have disorganized behavior that may disrupt their ability to perform normal daily activities such as showering or preparing meals.
• Catatonic schizophrenia: The most striking symptoms of this type are physical. People with catatonic schizophrenia are generally immobile and unresponsive to the world around them. They often become very rigid and stiff and unwilling to move. Occasionally, these people have peculiar movements like grimacing or assume bizarre postures. Or, they might repeat a word or phrase just spoken by another person. At times, the opposite may be true and these individuals appear to engage in restless ongoing activity with no specific purpose or desired outcome (for example, walking a straight line over and over; repeatedly jumping in place). People with catatonic schizophrenia generally go back and forth between more sedentary behaviors and the restless, purposeless behaviors and are at increased risk of malnutrition, exhaustion, or self-inflicted injury.
• Undifferentiated schizophrenia: This subtype is diagnosed when the person's symptoms do not clearly represent one of the other three subtypes.
• Residual Schizophrenia: In this type of schizophrenia, the severity of schizophrenia symptoms has decreased. Hallucinations, delusions, or other symptoms may still be present but are considerably less than when the schizophrenia was originally diagnosed. In addition, there must still be evidence of the disturbance as indicated by the presence of some negative symptoms (for example, inexpressive faces, blank looks, monotone speech, seeming lack of interest in the world and other people, inability to feel pleasure)

Symptoms of Schizophrenia:

People with schizophrenia may have a number of symptoms involving changes in ability, behavior, and personality, and they may display different kinds of behavior at different times. When the illness first appears, symptoms usually are sudden and severe.

The most common symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped into three categories: Positive symptoms, disorganized symptoms, and negative symptoms.

Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

In this case, the word positive does not mean "good." Rather, it refers to obvious symptoms that are not present in people without schizophrenia. These symptoms, which are sometimes referred to as psychotic symptoms, include:

• Delusions: Delusions are strange beliefs that are not based in reality and that the person refuses to give up, even when presented with factual information. For example, the person suffering from delusions may believe that people can hear his or her thoughts, that he or she is God or the devil, or that people are putting thoughts into his or her head or plotting against them.
• Hallucinations: These involve perceiving sensations that aren't real, such as seeing things that aren't there, hearing voices, smelling strange odors, having a "funny" taste in your mouth, and feeling sensations on your skin even though nothing is touching your body. Hearing voices is the most common hallucination in people with schizophrenia. The voices may comment on the person's behavior, insult the person, or give commands.
• Catatonia (a condition in which the person becomes fixed in a single position for a very long time).

Disorganized symptoms of schizophrenia are a type of positive symptom that reflects the person's inability to think clearly and respond appropriately.  Examples of disorganized symptoms include:

• Talking in sentences that do not make sense or using nonsense words, making it difficult for the person to communicate or engage in conversation
• Shifting quickly from one thought to the next
• Moving slowly
• Being unable to make decisions
• Writing excessively but without meaning
• Forgetting or losing things
• Repeating movements or gestures, such as pacing or walking in circles
• Having problems making sense of everyday sights, sounds, and feelings

Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Cognitive symptoms include:

• Poor executive functioning (the ability to understand information and to use it to make decisions)
• Trouble focusing or paying attention
•  Difficulty with working memory (the ability to use information immediately after learning it)

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

In this case, the word negative does not mean "bad," but reflects the absence of certain normal behaviors in people with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia include:

• Lack of emotion or a very limited range of emotions
• Withdrawal from family, friends, and social activities
• Reduced energy
• Reduced speech
• Lack of motivation
• Loss of pleasure or interest in life
• Poor hygiene and grooming habits