What are the symptoms and types of schizophrenia?
Symptoms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia affects both men and women in almost all ethnic groups around the world. Its symptoms may vary from person to person and can change over time. Like any illness, schizophrenia’s severity, duration and frequency of symptoms can vary. Schizophrenic’s inner world and behaviour change can be notice. Such behaviour changes include:
- Delusions
- Loss of appetite
- Hallucinations like hearing or seeing things that are not really present
- Social withdrawal
- Disorganized speech
- Loss of hygiene
- A feeling that he is controlled by ‘spirits or demons’
- A feeling that he is unreal, and is sometimes anxious
Symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped under the following categories:
Positive symptoms – a person hears voices, suspicious, speaking words without meanings, delusion, feeling like they are being watched
Negative symptoms – loss or decrease in the ability to make plans, speak, express his emotions, or find pleasure, social withdrawal
Cognitive symptoms – trouble with logical thinking, understanding the environment, memory problems, confused and disordered speech, and difficulty in remembering simple tasks.
Affective or mood symptoms - depression that usually accounts for a high rate of attempted suicide in schizophrenic
Types of schizophrenia
Categorically, there are five types of schizophrenia that deals with different prominent features in affected person.
- Paranoid type schizophrenia – People with this type of schizophrenia have feelings of persecution. They believe that someone is hunting to hurt him or his loved ones. They are always protecting themselves or their loved ones. Paranoid schizophrenic are very anxious, guarded, suspicious and angry.
- Disorganized type schizophrenia – A type of schizophrenia wherein the behaviour is disturbed and has no purpose. There is a lot of strange, aimless behaviour and speech that does not make sense.
- Catatonic type schizophrenia – This is characterized by disturbances of movement wherein a person may be motionless for a moment and then move all over the place for another moment. Their actions are unpredictable because they can be quiet for a time and then be violent all of a sudden. Either way, they are at high risk because it impairs their ability to take care of themselves.
- Undifferentiated type schizophrenia – A person with this type exhibits many symptoms of schizophrenia but does not fit any specific classification of other subtype. This is particularly challenging to diagnose because other possible brain diseases should be ruled out as well as major depression with psychotic features.
- Residual type schizophrenia – The mildest of all the subtypes of this illness. It means that the person shows symptoms at a low intensity. A person may also represent a transition between a full-blown episode and complete remission.
Published at: 10/14/2015
