Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD
Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland.
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.
In this Article
- Schizophrenia facts
- What is schizophrenia?
- What are the different types of schizophrenia?
- How common is schizophrenia in children?
- What is the history of schizophrenia?
- What are causes of schizophrenia? Is it hereditary?
- What are schizophrenia symptoms and signs?
- How is schizophrenia diagnosed?
- What are treatments for schizophrenia and the side effects of those treatments?
- What is the prognosis for schizophrenia?
- What research is being done on schizophrenia?
- Where can people get more information about schizophrenia?
- Schizophrenia FAQs
- Find a local Psychiatrist in your town
What are schizophrenia symptoms and signs?
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), symptoms of schizophrenia include the following:
Positive, more overtly psychotic symptoms
- Delusions: beliefs that have no basis in reality
- Hallucinations: hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, or tasting things that have no basis in reality
- Disorganized speech
- Disorganized behaviors
Negative symptoms, potentially less overtly psychotic
- Inhibition of facial expressions
- Catatonic behaviors
- Self-neglect, poor grooming and hygiene
- Lack of speech
- Lack of motivation
How is schizophrenia diagnosed?
As is true with virtually any mental-health diagnosis, there is no one test that definitively indicates that someone has schizophrenia. Therefore, health-care practitioners diagnose this disorder by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information. Patients tend to benefit when the professional takes into account their client's entire life and background. This includes but is not limited to the person's gender, sexual orientation, cultural, religious and ethnic background, and socioeconomic status. The symptom sufferer might be asked to fill out a self-test that the professional will review if the person being evaluated is able to complete it. The practitioner will also either perform a physical examination or request that the individual's primary-care doctor perform one. The medical examination will usually include lab tests to evaluate the person's general health and to explore whether or not the individual has a medical condition that might produce psychological symptoms.
In asking questions about mental-health symptoms, mental-health professionals are often exploring if the individual suffers from hallucinations or delusions, depression and/or manic symptoms, anxiety, substance abuse, as well as some personality disorders (for example, schizotypal personality disorder) and developmental disorders (for example, autism spectrum disorders). Since some of the symptoms of schizophrenia can also occur in other mental illnesses, the mental-health screening is to determine if the individual suffers from schizoaffective disorder or other psychotic disorder, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, or a substance-abuse or personality disorder. Any disorder that is associated with bizarre behavior, mood, or thinking, like borderline personality disorder or another psychotic disorder, as well as dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder (MPD) may be particularly challenging to distinguish from schizophrenia. In order to assess the person's current emotional state, health-care providers perform a mental-status examination as well.
In addition to providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, determining the presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur (be comorbid) with schizophrenia is important in improving the life of individuals with schizophrenia. For example, people with schizophrenia are at increased risk of having a substance-abuse, depressive, or anxiety disorder and of committing suicide.
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