The Five Signs Of Schizophrenia
The most common early warning signs are depression/social withdrawal, hostility or suspiciousness, extreme reaction to criticism, decline of personal hygiene, expressionless/outer space gaze, inability to cry/express joy/laughter, unable to concentrate, forgetful, sleep disorders (insomnia/oversleeping), strange use of words/ways of speaking, odd/irritating statements. There are five types of symptoms for schizophrenia: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and the so-called “negative” symptoms, but the pattern/severity of the symptoms vary dramatically for person to person. “A delusion is a firmly-held idea that a person has despite clear and obvious evidence that it isn’t true.” The delusions often
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Auditory hallucinations are most common but all senses can hallucinate and often it is only the voice in your head that is being perceived as being in the outside world. Hallucinations are usually meaningful to the person and most of the time they are voices about someone you know and commonly they are critical, vulgar or abusive thoughts. Visual hallucinations are also common and tend to be worse when you are alone. Disorganized speech is caused because people with schizophrenia have trouble concentrating or maintaining a train of thought, which can manifest itself in speech. Schizophrenics often answer questions with unrelated answers, start sentences on one topic but end it with a complete other, speak in a way that doesn’t make sense or say illogical things. Some common signs of disorganized speech are:
Loose associations: rapidly switching from one topic to another even though the topics have no connection between them
Neologism: made-up words or phrases that only have meaning to you
Perseveration: saying the same thing over and over (repetition of one …show more content…
b) Diagnosing schizophrenia: “A diagnosis of schizophrenia is made based on a full psychiatric evaluation, medical history, physical exam, and lab tests to rule out other medical causes of your symptoms.” Criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia: the presence of two or more of the following symptoms for 30 (at least):
Hallucinations
Delusions
Disorganized speech
Disorganized or catatonic behaviour
Negative symptoms (emotional flatness, lack of speech, lack of concern) Other diagnosis criteria
Have had significant problems functioning at work or school, relating to other people, and taking care of
Auditory hallucinations are most common but all senses can hallucinate and often it is only the voice in your head that is being perceived as being in the outside world. Hallucinations are usually meaningful to the person and most of the time they are voices about someone you know and commonly they are critical, vulgar or abusive thoughts. Visual hallucinations are also common and tend to be worse when you are alone. Disorganized speech is caused because people with schizophrenia have trouble concentrating or maintaining a train of thought, which can manifest itself in speech. Schizophrenics often answer questions with unrelated answers, start sentences on one topic but end it with a complete other, speak in a way that doesn’t make sense or say illogical things. Some common signs of disorganized speech are:
Loose associations: rapidly switching from one topic to another even though the topics have no connection between them
Neologism: made-up words or phrases that only have meaning to you
Perseveration: saying the same thing over and over (repetition of one …show more content…
b) Diagnosing schizophrenia: “A diagnosis of schizophrenia is made based on a full psychiatric evaluation, medical history, physical exam, and lab tests to rule out other medical causes of your symptoms.” Criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia: the presence of two or more of the following symptoms for 30 (at least):
Hallucinations
Delusions
Disorganized speech
Disorganized or catatonic behaviour
Negative symptoms (emotional flatness, lack of speech, lack of concern) Other diagnosis criteria
Have had significant problems functioning at work or school, relating to other people, and taking care of