About+Schizophrenia

__ **Symptoms of Schizophrenia** __ Slideshow: Schizophrenia Schizophrenia can be described as a disorder which is diagnosed regarding disturbances in thoughts, emotions and behaviour. This disorder usually appears in late adolescence and early adulthood, usually affecting men more than women (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2010). People with schizophrenia usually endure severe episodes of psychosis with less severe symptoms between the episodes. Approximately 50% of people who have schizophrenia will also have a substance abuse issue (Kring et al., 2010).

The symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into two broad categories, positive and negative symptoms. The positive symptoms are those such as hallucinations and delusions. Delusions are a specific set of beliefs despite lack of evidence (ex: people are watching me). Hallucinations effect the senses; can be experiences of auditory, tactile, olfactory or visual (ex: seeing people, hearing people). The negative symptoms are considered behavioural deficits (Kring et al., 2010). Some examples of negative symptoms are Alogia (reduction in amount of speech), Flat affect (lack of facial or expressive emotion), Anhedonia (loss of pleasure- similar to symptoms of depression). There are however two other symptoms that do not fit into these two categories.

According to Kring et al., 2010, Catatonia and inappropriate affect stand alone in the set of symptoms. Catatonia is a deficit in motor movements. A person experiencing catatonic symptoms may make strange movements, sometimes in sequences, using different limbs and expenditures of the body. There is also catatonic immobility in which people will position themselves in a posture and remain that way for sometimes hours. Inappropriate affect refers to expressing an emotional response that does not apply to the situation (ex: becoming hostile after being asked a simple question). Rapid shifts in emotion are apparent when experiencing this symptom (Kring et al., 2010).

To be diagnosed, any number of symptoms need to exist and last for a period of at least six months. During the six months, the individual must have experienced one month with a severe episode of psychosis which includes the presence of either hallucinations, delusions and some of the negative symptoms (disorganized speech).

There has been some studies regarding genetics. Typically families that have schizophrenia experience more negative symptoms, this could suggest that negative symptoms have a more pronounced genetic component (Kring et al., 2010). Studies suggest that there could be a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia. Twin studies suggest that identical twins have greater risk for developing schizophrenia than fraternal but the statistics are still low (Kring et al., 2010). In regards to neurotransmitters, studies of schizophrenia have brought about "the dopamine theory". The dopamine theory was derived from literature regarding the use of amphetamines. Amphetamines can induce a state that mimics paranoid schizophrenia; this state is a result of the release of dopamine and norepinephrine as a result of the amphetamine use. The increase of dopamine has been pinpointed as the cause of the psychosis (because antipsychotic medication is effective in treating this amphetamine induced psychosis; blocking the dopamine receptors). This could suggest that individuals with schizophrenia may have additional dopamine receptors or oversensitive dopamine receptors (Kring et al., 2010).

Postmordem MRIs of individuals with schizophrenia have concluded that individuals with schizophrenia have enlarged ventricles. The research is unclear however regarding if the enlarged ventricles are as a result of the disorder or if the enlarged ventricles aid in the development of the disorder; the enlarged ventricle is not specific to schizophrenia, it also appears in MRIs for individuals with bipolar disorder (Kring et al., 2010)

**__Case Studies in Schizophrenia__** .media type="youtube" key="gGnl8dqEoPQ" height="315" width="420"