Symptoms And Symptoms Of Schizophrenia - 1876 Words

â€Å"Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions, and behaviors† (Gulli, 2002). In 1908, a Swiss doctor named Eugen Bleuler first viewed and described the individualities of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia comes from a pair of Greek words meaning â€Å"split mind†. If a person with Schizophrenia is left untreated they will begin to become a total recluse and will not be able to fulfill certain needs, such as personal hygiene (Gulli, 2002). According to the powerpoint used in class, schizophrenia has a prevalence rate of anywhere from 0.3%-0.7%. In order to diagnose Schizophrenia, a person must have two or more of the following symptoms for at least one month and the symptoms must be present for a substantial†¦show more content†¦While she has been put on medication to help control these hallucinations she still gets them regularly throughout the day. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the symptoms of schizophrenia can be divided into three separate categories including, positive, negative, and cognitive. Positive symptoms are not usually seen in healthy people and consist of psychotic behaviors. People with positive symptoms can suffer from hallucinations, delusions, dysfunctional ways of thinking, and or movement disorders. Some people with these symptoms even appear to lose touch with what is really reality. Negative symptoms are connected with disturbances to normal emotions and behaviors. Some of the symptoms include what the National Institute of Mental Health calls, â€Å"flat affect†, meaning a decrease in the expressions of emotions which would normally be seen in facial expressions or in a person’s tone of voice. Other symptoms include, a decrease in what are considered feelings of pressure in the everyday life, complications with starting or maintaining activities, and even decreased speech. Cognitive symptoms can be subtle for some patients, but for others the symptoms could be very sever and even cause changes in certain features of thinking or memory. The ability to comprehend information and make decisions can be impaired (National Institute of Mental Health, 2002). The person might