Schizophrenia is a group of mental disorders that alter the way a person views reality. "Schizo" actually means "split." It doesn't refer to multiple personalities but a distribution of emotions and thinking. For women, the age of onset is between 20 to 30 years old. However, men can exhibit symptoms in their teens into their early 20s. Identifying symptoms of schizophrenia is vital to patients' overall health, because their ability to take care of themselves deteriorates over time.
Positive Symptoms
Positive symptoms are defined as an excess or distortion of normal functions. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, diminished ability to verbally communicate in a sensible manner (such as jumbling words together that don't clearly communicate a message) and disorganized behavior (such as childlike or age-inappropriate behavior). Positive symptoms are often easier to identify because they are drastically different than typical or what is considered normal behavior.
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms have a deficiency or absence of normal character. In this case, "normal" means typical for the individual. Negative symptoms include loss of interest in everyday activities, lack of emotion, diminished ability to plan or complete activities, neglect for personal hygiene or personal appearance, social withdrawal and loss of motivation.
Cognitive Symptoms
Cognitive symptoms indicate problems with an individual's thought processes. Examples of cognitive symptoms are having problems with making sense of information, difficulty paying attention or memory problems.
Affective Symptoms
Affective symptoms refer to the individual's demeanor, or affect. Depression, mood swings and social isolation are all common because of the embarrassment or lack of control a person may feel as a result of her schizophrenia.
