Knowra Schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder involving psychosis and often characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and difficulties with motivation or cognition. Its symptoms and course vary widely.
Psychosis : A mental state involving impaired reality testing, which can include hallucinations or delusions. Schizophrenia is one cause of psychosis, but psychosis also occurs in other conditions.
Diagnosis of schizophrenia : A clinical determination based on characteristic symptoms, duration, impairment, and exclusion of other causes. Diagnosis requires distinguishing schizophrenia from other sources of psychosis and similar symptoms.
Emil Kraepelin : A German psychiatrist who grouped certain psychoses under the diagnosis dementia praecox. His classification shaped the historical idea of schizophrenia as a disorder with an early onset and deteriorating course.
Schizoaffective disorder : A disorder involving psychosis alongside major mood episodes, with psychosis also occurring outside those episodes. The timing of mood symptoms and psychosis helps distinguish it from schizophrenia.
Recovery model : An approach to mental health centered on personal agency, meaningful life, and self-defined recovery. It frames recovery as possible even when some symptoms persist.
Positive and negative symptoms : A distinction between added experiences or behaviors and diminished emotional expression, motivation, or social engagement. This framework separates hallucinations and delusions from reduced motivation and expression.
Antipsychotic : A medicine used primarily to reduce psychotic symptoms by affecting neurotransmitter systems, especially dopamine. Antipsychotics are a central treatment, though they differ in benefits and adverse effects.
Eugen Bleuler : A Swiss psychiatrist who introduced the term schizophrenia in the early twentieth century. He replaced dementia praecox with a name emphasizing disruptions in mental functions, not split personality.
Bipolar disorder : A mood disorder involving episodes of mania or hypomania and often episodes of depression. Bipolar disorder can include psychosis, especially during severe mood episodes, without being schizophrenia.
Stigma of mental illness : Negative stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination directed toward people with mental health conditions. Stigma can compound the effects of schizophrenia and obstruct social participation or treatment.
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