Schizophrenia

             The symptoms of schizophrenia are generally divided into three categories, including positive, disorganized and negative symptoms. Any given individual with schizophrenia may have one or more of its major symptoms, yet there is not one single symptom or brain abnormality shared by all people with the disorder (Wood). Positive symptoms or "psychotic" symptoms, including delusions and hallucinations, are thought to be a result of over-shaping of the senses and of the brain's inability to interpret and respond appropriately to incoming messages (Schizophrenia Overview). A person with schizophrenia may hear voices or see visions that are not there, or experience unusual sensations on or in his/her body. Auditory hallucinations, the most common form, involving hearing voices, which at times can be complimentary, reassuring, or neutral. But at times, can be threatening, frightening, and may command the individual to do things that may be harmful. Delusions are strange and persistent beliefs that are held only by the observer and that remain despite obvious evidence to the contrary. Many people with schizophrenia who suffer from persecution delusions are termed "paranoid." (Torrey). Delusions cause the patient to believe that people are reading their thoughts or plotting against them, that others are secretly monitoring and threating them, or that they can control other people's minds. Disorganized symptoms include thought disorder, which refers to problems in the way that a person with the disease processes and organizes their thoughts. Because the individuals thinking is disorganized and fragmented, the ill person's speech is often incoherent and illogical. Thought disorders are often accompanied by inappropriate emotional responses words and moods that do not appear in tune with each other. The result may be something like laughing when speaking of somber or frightening events. They may repeat rhythmic gestures or make movements such as walking in circles or pacing and have difficulty making sense of everyday sights, sounds and feelings (American Psychiatric Association).