Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
langi
M13010003
Stikes
madani
What is schizophrenia?
A disorder of the mind which affects how you
think, feel and behave. Its symptoms are often
described as either positive or negative.
Positive symptoms
These are unusual experiences which are
common in schizophrenia, but can also happen in
other mental disorders.
Hallucinations
A hallucination happens when you hear, smell,
feel or see something but there isnt anything (or
anybody) there to cause it. The commonest one is
hearing voices.
What do voices sound like?
They sound utterly real. They usually seem to be
coming from outside you, although other people
cant hear them. You may hear them coming from
different places, or they may seem to come from
a particular place or object. Voices can talk to you
directly or talk to each other about you it can be
like over-hearing a conversation. They can be
pleasant, but are often rude, critical, abusive or
just plain irritating.
How do people react to them?
You may try to ignore them, talk back to them or
even shout back at them if they are particularly
loud or irritating. You may feel that you have to
do what they tell you, even if you know you
shouldnt. You may wonder if they are they coming
from hidden microphones, from loudspeakers, or
the spirit world.
Delusions
A delusion happens when you believe something
and are completely sure of it while other
people think you have misunderstood what is
happening. Its as though you see things in a
completely different way from everyone else. You
have no doubts, but other people see your belief
as mistaken, unrealistic or strange. If you do try
to talk about your ideas with someone, your
reasons dont make sense to them.
Paranoid delusions
These are ideas that make you feel persecuted or
harassed. They may be:
unusual it feels as though MI5 or the
government is spying on you. You may think that
neighbours are influencing you with special
powers or technology.
everyday you start to believe your partner
is unfaithful. You do so because of odd details
that seem to have nothing to do with sex or not
being faithful. Other people can see nothing to
suggest that this is true.
upsetting feeling persecuted is obviously
upsetting for you. It can also be distressing for
the people you see as your persecutors.
Negative symptoms
Loss of insight
It feels as though everyone else is wrong, that they
just cant understand the things that you can. You
feel that the problem is with the rest of the world,
not with you.
Depression
Around half the people with schizophrenia for
the first time will feel depressed, often before
they get more obvious symptoms.
Around 1 in 7 people with continuing
symptoms will become depressed. This can
be mistaken for negative symptoms.
Antipsychotic medication has been blamed
but research suggests that it actually helps
depression in schizophrenia.