Schizophrenia

Characteristics:

Symptoms:

Delusions, auditory or visual hallucinations, disorganised speech, catatonic behaviour (rigidity, unusual body movements), loss of emotion.

Onset:

Prevalence occurs between 15 to 45 years old.

Chronic onset: when deterioration occurs at young age like social problems which eventually leads to schizophrenia.

Acute onset: is when symptoms occur suddenly

Prognosis:

Schizophrenics with positive symptoms and those with acute onset have a better outcome (prognosis).

Problems with classification and diagnosis

Problems include stigmatisation which can lower the patients self esteem…