Doctors describe two groups of symptoms in people with schizophrenia: positive and negative. Although the positive symptoms are often the most dramatic and, at least initially, the most distressing, the negative ones tend to cause the most problems, as they tend to be longer lasting.
Positive symptoms
The three main positive symptoms are:
feelings of being controlled by outside forces (ie. having one's thoughts and actions taken over)
hearing, seeing, smelling or feeling things which are not there (hallucinations)
irrational and unfounded beliefs (delusions).
The delusions can often be very frightening - the person may believe that others are plotting to kill them or that their conversations are being recorded. Positive symptoms all tend to occur during acute episodes and can be particularly frightening.
Negative symptoms
The negative symptoms include tiredness, loss of concentration, and lack of energy and motivation, which may be exacerbated by the side-effects of drugs used to treat the positive symptoms. Because of these symptoms, people with schizophrenia are often unable to cope with everyday tasks, such as work and household chores. Suicide and self-harm are common in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia: around one in 10 take their own life.