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loss of rational though and or loss of ability to accurately interpret the environment

thought process disorder. major cause of prolonged psychosis
-disordered thoughts
-delusions
-hallucinations

what is a major characteristic of schizo

Major characteristic of schizophrenia

–“split or dual personality”- not the case

•“Loose” flow of thoughts- talk in far less order

•Ideas unrelated

•Evolves slowly over years- subtle and
hard to recognize

•May lose ability to communicate

•invention of their own
vocabularies/definitions

going off the point or subject

failure to reach a goal or stick to the
plan

speech not logically connected

group
of disconnected words

inability to talk without the other
symptoms of body rigidity

Fixed, false beliefs- misrepresent either
perceptions or experiences

•Major defining characteristic of
psychosis

•Grandiose- perceptions of having special
powers

•Persecutory- paranoid; others intend to
do harm

•Referential-common events/songs apply to
them

Very common in schizophrenia

•Sensory experiences not perceptible to
others

•Auditory most common

•May be one or more voices- not always
distinct but distinguishable

•Occur while the individual is awake

______- symptoms of schizo

–Disordered thought/behavior

–Delusions

–Hallucinations

–Flattened affect- extreme emotional
distance

–Alogia-speak very little; brief and empty

–Avolition-lack motivations for work or activities

–Anhedoniament -inability to find enjoyment

Organic disease with genetic component

•Appears in early to mid-twenties in men

•Appears later in women- fewer negative
symptoms and less long-term cognitive impairment

•Outcome improved in past 20 years-
presumably due to treatment

drug therapy used in cases of schizo