Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations, and other changes in thoughts or behaviors.
Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects your thoughts, behaviors, and perceptions of reality. Healthcare professionals often break symptoms of schizophrenia into two categories, positive and negative.
Positive symptoms start to appear as schizophrenia develops. By contrast, negative symptoms are things that start to disappear from a person’s personality, such as having less empathy or difficulty concentrating on tasks.
Positive symptoms refer to changes that occur and develop that add to a person’s perception of reality and impair their daily functioning. These can include:
- hallucinations
- delusions
- confusion or thought disorder
- strange or inexplicable behavioral changes
Hallucinations
Hallucinations refer to something that does not exist, but you believe fully that you can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste.
One of the most common hallucinations people with schizophrenia experience is hearing voices. About 60% to 80% of people report hearing voices. These voices may be highly critical, abusive, or friendly.
Delusions
Delusions refer to anything a person holds to be true, even when evidence points to the contrary. The delusions related to schizophrenia can lead to changes in behavior. They may use their delusional thoughts to justify what they do.
Confusion or thought disorder
Thought disorders are a common symptom of schizophrenia. It covers several different abnormalities related to language, thinking, and communication.
It can affect your ability to think critically and logically, focus and concentrate on tasks, and perform tasks in a logical, goal-oriented way. Changes in how you speak or behave can indicate thought disorder.
Positive symptoms are things a person experiences after the onset of schizophrenia or that are added to their thoughts and feelings. The term positive doesn’t mean beneficial. Instead, it refers to experiences that are in addition to reality. These experiences don’t typically occur in other populations of people.
By contrast, negative symptoms are things that disappear from your personality as schizophrenia develops. These are things that other populations of people typically experience, such as socializing with others and interest in pleasurable activities.
Schizophrenia can vary in severity among people, but it’s also well-recognized as having a significant impact on several areas of a person’s life, including social, personal, family, work, and education.
For example, people with schizophrenia are
They’re also often the victims of human rights abuse. This may occur in both mental health institutions and in the community.
Stigma is another concern related to schizophrenia. People tend to have preconceived notions of what the condition involves, which may lead to discrimination in healthcare, housing, employment, and other areas.
In addition to positive symptoms, you may also experience negative symptoms. Some common negative symptoms include:
- lethargy
- inappropriate emotional responses to situations, like crying at a happy thought or laughing at something sad
- extreme apathy
- lack of concentration
- decreased sex drive
- withdrawal from social settings or loved ones
- muteness or reduction in how much you speak
You may not experience all the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. Some may be more prevalent than others.
Diagnosis is not always easy. Many of the early symptoms, such as apathy or withdrawal, can be present in the general population. The majority of people
It becomes easier to recognize schizophrenia once some of the positive symptoms, such as hallucinations, start to appear.
To get a diagnosis of schizophrenia, you need to experience at least two of the positive symptoms of the disorder that cause reduced functioning.
The diagnostic process can include several steps, such as a medical exam and cognitive and personality tests, which may be performed by a mental health professional.
They may also recommend screenings, such as an MRI or CT scan, to rule out brain tumors or other issues or urine tests to check for drug use.
Schizophrenia can be treated and managed effectively, but no cure currently exists for the condition. Continual care and maintenance are necessary to help you manage your symptoms and live a full life.
Treatment typically involves a combination of antipsychotic medications, psychotherapy, and learning self-management skills.
Assisted living facilities, housing, and assisted employment opportunities can also provide effective help and support.
Psychotherapy may involve several options, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and assertive community treatment.
Family interventions may also help with managing schizophrenia. A strong support network at home may help improve outcomes.
Mental health providers may also provide help for comorbid conditions, like substance use disorder, or physical health concerns, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. A treatment plan may involve taking steps to manage these concerns as well.
The outlook for schizophrenia can vary based on the severity of the condition. In general, the less severe the symptoms, the better a person’s overall outlook may be.
Proper treatment helps improve a person’s outlook. Treatment can help keep positive symptoms from recurring or give the person the skills and tools they need to deal with them should they occur.
Community support can also help influence outlook. For example,
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are things that get added to a person’s experience that typically would not be there. These can include delusions, disrupted thoughts, and hallucinations.
Early signs of schizophrenia typically involve negative symptoms, such as social withdrawal. These can mimic typical behaviors of a person, making it harder to diagnose the condition early.
Once diagnosed, treatments can help to manage the condition, but they cannot cure it. Continued support and maintenance can help improve a person’s outlook.