Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia-Beyond Hallucinations

"When most people think about schizophrenia, they think about hallucinations or delusions-voices that aren't there or beliefs that don't align with reality. These symptoms are often grouped under the term "positive symptoms" of schizophrenia and are typically what brings someone into treatment and leads to diagnosis. But for many individuals, positive symptoms are not the beginning of the illness. Long before hallucinations or delusions appear, more subtle and often misunderstood symptoms can emerge early on."

"What Are Negative Symptoms? Negative symptoms are a reduction or loss of normal emotional and motivational functioning. They are not simply reactions to illness, personality traits, or side effects of medication-they are a core component of schizophrenia itself. Negative symptoms that specifically affect motivation and emotional expression may include: Trouble finding motivation to finish tasks or household chores Avoiding other people or preferring to be alone Difficulty experiencing pleasure or feeling happy Trouble speaking or producing very little speech"

Negative symptoms are losses or reductions in normal motivation, emotional expression, and pleasure that can precede psychosis and persist separately from positive symptoms. These symptoms include low motivation for tasks, social withdrawal, difficulty experiencing pleasure, reduced speech, and diminished facial or emotional expression. Negative symptoms reflect alterations in brain systems for motivation, reward, and emotional expression rather than simple depression, apathy, or medication side effects. Negative symptoms are common: nearly nine in ten people show at least one negative symptom at first psychotic episode, and an estimated 35–70% continue to experience persistent negative symptoms after treatment, even when positive symptoms improve.

Read at Psychology Today