At least one of the symptoms must be delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. In determining a diagnosis, the doctor may order additional tests, including an MRI scan or blood test.
The negative symptom domain consists of five key constructs: blunted affect, alogia (reduction in quantity of words spoken), avolition (reduced goal-directed activity due to decreased motivation), asociality, and anhedonia (reduced experience of pleasure).
Unfortunately, most people with schizophrenia are unaware that their symptoms are warning signs of a mental disorder. Their lives may be unraveling, yet they may believe that their experiences are normal. Or they may feel that they're blessed or cursed with special insights that others can't see.
Borderline schizophrenia is a term that is used to describe the occurrence of both BPD and schizophrenia. However, it is not an established diagnosis. BPD and schizophrenia are separate conditions that can occur together. They also share many similarities.
This is likely primarily driven by the misdiagnosis of schizophrenia, as many symptoms of schizophrenia mimic symptoms of other conditions. These conditions include bipolar disorder, schizoid personality disorder, delusional disorder and schizoaffective disorder.
You could have: Hallucinations: Seeing or hearing things that aren't there. Delusions: Mistaken but firmly held beliefs that are easy to prove wrong, like thinking you have superpowers, are a famous person, or people are out to get you. Disorganized speech: Using words and sentences that don't make sense to others.
Of the different types of schizophrenia, residual schizophrenia is the mildest, characterized by specific residual schizophrenia symptoms.
Antipsychotic medications are the first-line medication treatment for schizophrenia.
Auditory hallucinations, “hearing voices,” are the most common in schizophrenia and related disorders. Disorganized thinking and speech refer to thoughts and speech that are jumbled and/or do not make sense.
On average, men are diagnosed in their late teens to early 20s. Women tend to get diagnosed in their late 20s to early 30s. People rarely develop schizophrenia before they're 12 or after they're 40.
The term “paranoid schizophrenia” is an outdated name for a subtype of schizophrenia. Experts no longer use or recognize this term. Instead, experts recognize schizophrenia as a specific disease, which is part of a spectrum of related conditions that involve psychosis.
Psychosis is a symptom of schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, whereas schizophrenia is a mental health disorder characterized by additional symptoms. There are no subtypes of psychosis, but each individual may uniquely experience mental disruptions.
There's no single test for schizophrenia and the condition is usually diagnosed after assessment by a specialist in mental health. If you're concerned you may be developing symptoms of schizophrenia, see a GP as soon as possible. The earlier schizophrenia is treated, the better.
In some people, schizophrenia appears suddenly and without warning. But for most, it comes on slowly, with subtle warning signs and a gradual decline in functioning, long before the first severe episode. Often, friends or family members will know early on that something is wrong, without knowing exactly what.
Functional deficits such as emotional flattening, social withdrawal, and a lack of motivation and pleasure are usually prominent. The most commonly reported psychotic features are auditory hallucinations and delusions.
Schizoaffective disorder.
People with schizoaffective disorder have the same symptoms as people with schizophrenia. But they also have episodes of depression and times when they feel extremely happy or have lots of energy (mania).
An MRI scan—in which magnetic fields and sound waves are used to create two- or three-dimensional images—may provide a good view of the structure of the brain and rule out schizophrenia by detecting abnormalities that may be causing schizophrenia-like symptoms.
Psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, shared psychotic disorder, substance-induced psychotic disorder, and paraphrenia.
Personality disorders such as antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent and obsessive-compulsive types have been detected in one third to one half of schizophrenia patients (Nielsen, Hewitt & Habke, 1997; Solano & Chavez, 2000).
The schizotypal personality is characterized by social anxiety, magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, eccentric behavior, a lack of close friends, atypical speech patterns, and suspicions bordering on paranoia. These personality traits that, taken together, resemble the symptoms of schizophrenia.
BPD is a very different diagnosis than schizophrenia, though the two can co-exist. While BPD is characterized by a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships; schizophrenia is characterized by a range of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysfunctions.