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Administrator
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 Posted - 04/25/2016 : 15:35:54
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Disorganized Thinking Often Occurs In Untreated Schizophrenia
Fortunately, Disorganized Thinking Responds To Antipsychotic Medication
But, if untreated, disorganized thinking ("thought disorder") can be extremely debilitating.
This video can be upsetting because it shows newly hospitalized patients who are very ill. Fortunately, disorganized thinking usually disappears once antipsychotic medication is started in hospital.
This video has information typed on the screen to teach physicians about the symptoms of schizophrenia and its "DDx" (i.e., the "differential diagnosis" or what other medical conditions must be ruled out because they could produce the same clinical features).
These individuals with schizophrenia have severe thought disorders.
However, at the beginning of schizophrenia, such thought disorders may be mild and initially noticed only by the individuals who are developing schizophrenia. These individuals may notice that their thinking is becoming more confused, and their comprehension or problem-solving abilities are more becoming more impaired.
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Administrator
14915 Posts
Gratitude: 577
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Posted - 06/14/2016 : 10:27:41
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The "Basic Symptoms" of Schizophrenia
Early Changes In Thinking
Previously we discussed how a change in personality can often herald the onset of schizophrenia. Likewise, a change in thinking can often herald the onset of schizophrenia.
Individuals with schizophrenia are often aware that "my thinking isn't right". These subtle difficulties in thinking are often the first symptoms of schizophrenia, and they persist throughout the course of the disorder. These core symptoms of schizophrenia are called its "basic symptoms":
- Thought interference , i.e., an intrusion of completely insignificant thoughts hindering concentration/thinking.
("I can't help thinking about a lot of other things, which is very distracting.")
- Thought perseveration, i.e., an obsessive like repetition of insignificant thoughts or mental images.
("I always have to mull over what I just said. I can't stop thinking about what I might have said wrong or what I could have added although I really don't think that anything was wrong with what I said.")
- Thought pressure, i.e., a self-reported "chaos" of unrelated thoughts.
("If I am stressed out my mind gets chaotic and I have great problems thinking straight. Too many thoughts come up at once.")
- Thought blockages either with or without intrusion of a new thought also includes a sudden loss of the thread or train of thoughts.
("Sometimes my thoughts just stop, are suddenly gone, like being cut off.")
- Disturbance of receptive language, i.e., paralysis in the immediate comprehension of simple words/sentences, either read or heard, that can result in giving up reading or avoiding conversations.
("I often can't get the meaning of common words when I am reading.")
- Disturbance of expressive speech, i.e., problems in producing appropriate words, sometimes also experienced as a reduction in active vocabulary.
("Sometimes I think it must appear as if English were really my second language, like I don't know English very well because I have difficulties expressing myself. I forget the words.")
- Disturbances of abstract thinking, i.e., an unusual basic symptom seen when asking the patient to explain sayings or idioms.
("Sometimes I get puzzled if a certain object or event only stands as a metaphor for some more general, abstract or philosophical meaning.")
- Inability to multi-task.
("Doing two things at once has become impossible even with the simplest things. I always have to concentrate on one thing at a time, like if I prepare a sandwich, I cannot do anything else, like watch a film.")
- Captivation of attention by details of the visual field that catches and holds the look.
("Sometimes an object really seems to stand out from the rest of what I see. My eyes then fix on it. It's like being spellbound, even though I don't want to look at it at all.")
- Decreased ability to discriminate between perception and ideas, true memories and fantasies.
("I thought about my grandparents. Then a weird thing happened: I couldn't remember if knew my grandparents properly, if they were real or if they were just in my imagination. Did I know them, or had I made them up?")
- Unstable ideas of reference with insight.
("When I was listening to the radio the idea that the lyrics had some special meaning for me suddenly popped up into my head. Of course I knew straight away that it was just my imagination, a kind of weird thing. I did not have to think twice about it to know that.")
- Derealization , i.e., a decreased emotional connection with the environment.
("Sometimes, I feel disconnected from the world around me, like I'm under a glass cover.")
- Visual or acoustic perceptual disturbances with insight. .
("People suddenly seemed changed and had different hair colors.")
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Topic #4
