Describe schizophrenia. What are the characteristics that reliably distinguish schizophrenia from other disorders?

Question

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Answer 1

Schizophrenia refers to a class of disorders in which severe distortion of reality occurs. Thinking, perception, and emotion may deteriorate; the individual may withdraw from social interaction; and the person may display bizarre behavior. The symptoms displayed by persons with schizophrenia may vary considerably over time. Nonetheless, a number of characteristics reliably distinguish schizophrenia from other disorders. They include the following:

(a) Decline from a previous level of functioning: An individual can no longer carry out activities he or she was once able to do.

(b) Disturbances of thought and speech: People with schizophrenia use logic and language in a peculiar way. Their thinking often does not make sense, and their logic is frequently faulty, which is referred to as a formal thought disorder. They also do not follow conventional linguistic rules.

(c) Delusions: People with schizophrenia often have delusions-firmly held, unshakable beliefs with no basis in reality. Among the common delusions people with schizophrenia experience are the beliefs that they are being controlled by someone else, they are being persecuted by others, and their thoughts are being broadcast so that others know what they are thinking.

(d) Hallucinations and perceptual problems: People with schizophrenia sometimes do not perceive the world as most other people do. For example, they may have hallucinations, the experience of perceiving things that do not actually exist. Furthermore, they may see, hear, or smell things differently from others. In fact, they may not even have a sense of their bodies in the way that others do, having difficulty determining where their bodies stop and the rest of the world begins.

(e) Inappropriate emotions: People with schizophrenia sometimes show a lack of emotion in which even the most dramatic events produce little or no emotional response. Alternately, they may display strong bursts of emotion that are inappropriate to a situation. For example, a person with schizophrenia may laugh uproariously at a funeral or react with anger when being helped by someone.

(f) Withdrawal: People with schizophrenia tend to have little interest in others. They tend not to socialize or hold real conversations with others, although they may talk at another person. In the most extreme cases, they do not even acknowledge the presence of other people and appear to be in their own isolated worlds.