Schizophrenia is a mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, and relate to others. Patients with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality.
The average age of onset tends to be in the late teens to the early 20s for men, and the late 20s to early 30s for women. It is uncommon for schizophrenia to be diagnosed in a person younger than 12 or older than 40.
A diagnosis of schizophrenia often follows the first episode of psychosis. During this time, individuals can experience hallucinations, delusions (such as paranoia and irrational fears), unusual thinking and disorganized speech.
However, there are other more subtle symptoms which can occur years before someone experiences their first acute psychotic episode. These symptoms appear gradually and worsen over time.
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Flat affect
People with schizophrenia have a flat, emotionless gaze. They have a limited range of emotions and have an inability to express joy or inability to cry.
They show little response to emotional ordisturbing situations or images or may show an inappropriate response such as laughing at bad news.
Impaired cognition
Schizophrenia also affects cognition, or the way people think. It leads to the inability to maintain focused attention. It makes people with schizophrenia seem spaced out or “out of it.”
It can also affect working memory which keeps things in your head for active processing. They also have reduced executive control which makes it difficult to complete tasks.
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Lack of Interest
Someone with schizophrenia will
