Schizophrenia & Personality Disorders

Schizophrenia

A serious disorder that affects an individual’s ability to discern what is real and what is being imagined, as well as their thoughts, emotions, and motivation

Hallucination

Sensing something that isn’t actually there, most often hearing voices or sounds that aren’t pleasant

Delusion

Believing something that isn’t true and is unusual in their culture/environment

Disorganized Thinking

Thinking that is all over the place and isn’t organized

Negative Symptoms

Refers to symptoms that decrease a behavior, such as reduced emotional expression, less speech, and a reduction in certain motivations/drives

Dissociative Amnesia

The inability to recall important person information, usually related to a traumatic event, beyond normal forgetting

Dissociation

One’s mind becoming disconnected from how one normally experiences their emotions, identity, senses, and awareness/memories

Depersonalization

Feeling detached from yourself, such as your body, thoughts, or actions, like you’re watching yourself from the outside

Derealization

Feeling detached from the world/one’s surroundings, as if the world around isn’t real/seems strange or dreamlike

Dissociative Identity Disorder

A condition where a person has two or more separate personality states that take turns controlling their behavior, with memory gaps in between them

Personality Disorder

Describes disorders with a long-lasting pattern of thinking and behavior that is difficult to change, causes problems in everyday life, and differs from normal social customs

Cluster A

The personality disorders described as odd and atypical, including paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders

Cluster B

Personality disorders described as dramatic, emotional, or unpredictable, including borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorder

Cluster C

Personality disorders described as anxious or fearful, including avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders

Borderline Personality Disorder

Describes a disorder that is made up of unstable emotions, relationships, and self-image, with impulsivity and fear of abandonment and/or being alone

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A pattern of disrespect/disregard for others’ rights with dishonestly, impulsivity, and little or no remorse

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Cluster B pattern of feeling superior, needing admiration, and having little empathy for others

Positive Symptoms

Symptoms that add unusual experiences, such as hallucinations or delusions

Prodromal Phase

The period before a first full episode, where someone quietly pulls back from others, develops unusual thoughts/beliefs, and has more difficulty functioning normally