Positive and Negative Symptoms of
Schizophrenia
POSITIVE
OR HARD SYMPTOMS
|
NEGATIVE
OR SOFT SYMPTOMS
|
Ambivalence: Holding seemingly contradictory
beliefs or feelings about the same person, event, or situation
Associative looseness: Fragmented or poorly
related thoughts and ideas
Delusions: Fixed false beliefs that have no
basis in reality
Echopraxia: Imitation of the movements and
gestures of another person whom the client is observing
Flight of ideas: Continuous flow of verbalization
in which the person jumps rapidly from one topic to another
Hallucinations: False sensory perceptions or
perceptual experiences that do not exist in reality
Ideas of reference: False impressions that
external events have special meaning for the person
Perseveration: Persistent adherence to a
single idea or topic; verbal repetition of a sentence, word, or phrase;
resisting attempts to change the topic
|
Alogia: Tendency to speak very little or to
convey little substance of meaning (poverty of content)
Anhedonia: Feeling no joy or pleasure from
life or any activities or relationships
Apathy: Feelings of indifference toward
people, activities, and events
Blunted affect: Restricted range of emotional
feeling, tone, or mood
Catatonia: Psychologically induced immobility
occasionally marked by periods of agitation or excitement; the client seems
motionless, as if in a trance
Flat affect: Absence of any facial expression
that would indicate emotions or mood
Lack of volition: Absence of will, ambition,
or drive to take action or accomplish tasks
|
Mnemonic:
Schizophrenia symptoms
Positive symptoms
THREAD
·
Thinking
disturbed, neologisms
·
Hallucinations,
typically auditory
·
Reduced
contact with reality
·
Emotional
control affected – incongruous affect
·
Arousal
may lead to worsening of symptoms
Negative symptoms
LESS
·
Loss
of volition, under-activity, social withdrawal
·
Emotionally
flat
·
Speech
reduced, monosyllabic
·
Slowness
in movement and thought, psychomotor retardation
Schizophrenia negative symptoms
The six A‘s
·
Affective
flattening – unchanging facial expression, reduced movement, poor eye contact
·
Alogia
– poverty of speech, thought block, delayed response
·
Anergia
– loss of energy
·
Anhedonia
– loss of interest in things/sex/relationships
·
Apathy
– poor hygiene, lack of interest
·
Asociality
– not engaging with peers, little interest in sex
Amisulpride – best evidence for
treatment (handily begins with A also).
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