Negative and positive symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Two typical symptoms and associated features of Schizophrenia are positive symptoms and negative symptoms. These will fluctuate in severity over time. Some patients show persistent psychotic symptoms and others only have symptoms during acute episodes and are generally better adjusted between them. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are also called psychotic symptoms. These are assumed to show a "distortion of normal functions". Examples are hallucinations and delusions. Positive symptoms do not mean that these symptoms are …

…avolition, which is a lack of will. The person becomes apathetic and stops working towards goals, or functioning independently. Lastly, alogia is a form of speech disturbance and another negative symptom. When literally translated it means 'speechlessness'. One form of alogia is poverty of speech. A person just does not have anything to say. Another form is called 'thought blocking'. This is where a person's train of speech is stopped before an idea is completed.