Delusions and Hallucinations AP Psychology

Delusions:
  - Defined as false beliefs that are strongly held despite evidence to the contrary.
  - They involve thoughts and can manifest as feeling more important or influential than one truly is.
  - Examples of delusions include:
    - Believing oneself to be a celebrity.
    - Believing one is destined to save the world or cure everyone.
    - Such delusional beliefs can be associated with narcissistic personality disorder.
Hallucinations:
  - Defined as false sensory experiences, such as hearing voices that are not present.
  - Hallucinations can span across different senses:
    - Auditory: Hearing voices.
    - Visual: Seeing things that aren't there.
    - Other types may include tasting or smelling nonexistent events.
  - The sensory experience of a hallucination is fundamentally unreal, diverging from reality.

Positive Symptoms:
  - Refers to the presence of inappropriate behaviors and dysfunctional thoughts.
  - Examples include:
    - Hallucinations
    - Delusions
    - Disorganized Speech:
      - Characterized by a "word salad" where words are thrown together without coherent meaning.
      - Speech may also be fragmented and difficult to follow.
    - Inappropriate Emotions:
      - Display of emotions that are mismatched with the context of the situation (e.g., laughing at tragic events).

Negative Symptoms:
  - Refers to the absence of behaviors that are normally present.
  - Examples include:
    - Flat Affect: Lack of emotional expression (emotionless).
    - Withdrawal from Social Situations: Avoidance of social interactions, leading to isolation.
    - Diminished ability to experience pleasure, often termed as anhedonia.
    - Catatonia: Possible motionlessness for long periods or short spurts, potentially leading to impaired function in daily activities.

Cognitive Symptoms:
  - Include impaired attention, which may result in scattered thoughts that disrupt focus.
  - Example: Difficulty in employing selective attention due to cognitive disorganization.
  - The ability to understand one’s own emotions and theory of mind (understanding the emotions of others) may also be affected.

Chronic Schizophrenia:
  - Typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood (late teens to early twenties).
  - Associated with more negative symptoms and social withdrawal.
  - Possible indicators include:
    - Longer duration of symptoms and possible negative emotional states.
Acute Schizophrenia:
- Often triggered by trauma, can onset at any age, with previously well-adjusted individuals taking on symptoms after stress.
- Reflected in positive symptoms with a better chance of recovery than chronic forms.