Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia causes two types of symptoms: negative and positive. Positive symptoms refer to those traits or behaviors that are "added" to your personality. The most common positive symptoms of schizophrenia include:
- Hallucinations, especially hearing voices. The hallucinations seem real to the person having them. Hallucinations can involve sight, hearing, taste, smell, and/or touch.
- Delusions, which means you believe something that cannot be proven or continue to believe something that has been proven to be false or wrong. A common delusion is to believe you are an important historical or political person, or that there is poison in your food.
- Confused and disorganized speech and behavior. These include:
- Making no sense when talking or easily getting off the subject of the conversation.
- Dressing oddly, such as wearing many shirts at one time or wearing winter hats and gloves during the summer. It is also possible to exhibit socially inappropriate behavior, such as urinating in public.
Positive signs of schizophrenia usually can be effectively reduced or prevented with medications.
| Author: | Jeannette Curtis | Last Updated: February 5, 2008 |
| Medical Review: | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Lisa S. Weinstock, MD - Psychiatry | |
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