Schizophrenia is a condition that severely affects the functioning of the patient. Thus, the disorder can affect the afflicted person’s thought process, speech, perception of reality, emotions, and actions. Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are known to have a disorganized thought process and are unable to develop coherent thoughts and ideas. Thus, they might begin thinking about one concept, for example, the need to turn off the TV and change the thought entirely to something unrelated, for instance, what they were doing on holiday two years ago. This tendency can also be reflected in their speech with sentences containing unrelated words and phrases, making them almost unintelligible. The disorder is also characterized by a distorted perception of reality, with the patients often experiencing hallucinations both visual and auditory. The motor behavior of people diagnosed with the illness is also impaired. It can manifest in difficulties in achieving simple actions, for example, taking a book off a shelf, or displaying uncontrollable abnormal movements. In addition, patients may also have difficulties in identifying their emotions and appreciating the emotions of others.
Overall, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into two categories: positive and negative. Positive symptoms describe abnormal behaviors displayed by the patient. For example, auditory hallucinations and disorganized speech and thought processes are positive symptoms of schizophrenia as they are additional behaviors not seen in individuals not diagnosed with the illness. Negative symptoms can be defined as appropriate behaviors absent in persons with the disorder. For example, if feeling positive emotions from reading a book or playing a musical instrument can be considered an appropriate emotional response, the lack of it is abnormal and is a negative symptom of schizophrenia.
Reference
Garcia, A. (2020). Personality and dissociative disorders. Web.