Symptoms of schizophrenia usually start between the ages of 16 and 30. In rare cases, children can have schizophrenia too.
The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive.
Some people with schizophrenia become suicidal. 50% of people with schizophrenia will attempt suicide once and if they are not in treatment, they are more likely to die from suicide.
Positive symptoms are psychotic behaviors not generally seen in healthy people. People with positive symptoms may "lose touch" with some aspects of reality. Positive symptoms are adding something to someone. It can be severe or mild in nature. Delusions, hallucinations and inner voices are collectively called psychosis, which also can be a hallmark of other serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder.
Symptoms include:
Hallucinations
These include a person hearing voices, seeing things or smelling things others can't perceive. The hallucination is very real to the person experiencing it, and it may be very confusing for a loved one to witness. The voices in the hallucination can be critical or threatening. Voices may involve people that are known or unknown to the person hearing them. Some people say the voices are demeaning or mean. Sometimes it's multiple voices, other times it is just one voice. One person said that the voice was like a loudspeaker in their brain with all these unwanted thoughts that they can't turn off. One person initially thought that hearing a voice was something everyone went through and that they just had to get used to it.
Delusions
These are false beliefs that don't change even when the person who holds them is presented with new ideas or facts. People who have delusions often also have problems concentrating, confused thinking, or the sense that their thoughts are blocked. It can also lead people to believe others are monitoring or threatening them, or reading their thoughts.
Thought Disorders
This may include unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking. It may also involve difficulty putting cohesive thoughts together or making sense of speech.
Movement Disorders
This may include agitated body movements. It may appear as clumsiness, unusual mannerisms, or repetitive actions, and in extreme cases, motionless rigidity held for extended periods of time.
Negative symptoms are associated with disruptions to normal emotions and behaviors. Negative symptoms are symptoms that diminish a person's abilities. They include being emotionally flat or speaking in a dull, disconnected way. People with the negative symptoms may be unable to start or follow through with activities, show little interest in life, or sustain relationships. Negative symptoms are often confused with clinical depression. They also go unnoticed longer. These symptoms can be mistaken for laziness or depression.
Symptoms include:
Flat affect
This may include reduced expression of emotions via facial expressions or voice tone.
Reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life
Difficulty beginning and sustaining activities
Reduced Speaking and disorganized speech
For some patients, the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are subtle, but for others, they are more severe and patients may notice changes in their memory or other aspects of thinking. People with cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia often struggle to remember things, organize their thoughts or complete tasks. Cognitive deficits are the most disabling for patients trying to lead a normal life.
Symptoms include:
Anosognosia
About 50% of people with schizophrenia have a lack of insight also known as Anosognosia. This means the person is unaware that they have an illness, which can make treating or working with him much more challenging. And this is usually a symptom and is not a coping mechanism.
Poor executive functioning
This means they do not have the ability to understand information immediately after learning it.
Trouble focusing or paying attention
Problems with working memory
This means they do not have the ability to use information immediately after learning it.
Schizophrenia can have very different symptoms in different people. The way the disease manifests itself and progresses in a person depends on the time of onset, severity, and duration of symptoms. All three kinds of symptoms reflect problems in brain function. Relapse and remission cycles often occur; a person can get better, worse and better again repeatedly over time.
