Firstly, schizophrenia is a mental disorder that usually appears in late adolescence or early adulthood and is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and other cognitive difficulties. There two categories of symptoms that a person who is diagnosed to have schizophrenia will present with. Those categories are positive and negative. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are when a symptom is added to a person’s current state. This would include delusions, inappropriate emotions, disorganized thinking, and hallucinations. These behaviors are abnormal and are because of an individual’s schizophrenia. Positive symptoms are often found to last longer than negative but are easier to treat. This differs from Negative Symptoms which are behaviors that have taken away from their usual self. A person who suffers from negative symptoms of schizophrenia would present with rigidness, monotone voice, being mute, and emotionless behavior or apathy. Simply, negative symptoms take away and positive symptoms add. Positive symptoms are behaviors that should not be present in an individual, while negative symptoms are behavior that are expected of a person. A person with schizophrenia may present with all the symptoms, some of them, or only negative or positive symptoms. Most individuals would present with a mix from both types of symptoms.
An example of these symptoms would include an individual with schizophrenia that exhibits racing thoughts, delusions, apathy, and a monotone voice. This individual presents with both types of symptoms, which is most commonly found in individuals with schizophrenia. The positive symptoms would be delusions and racing thoughts. The negative symptoms would be apathy and the monotone voice. While these symptoms are common, each individual person will present with a different mixture of symptoms. To treat these symptoms, a doctor will likely present them with medications such as and various therapies. Schizophrenia is lifelong struggle and affects one percent of the population.