What is hallucination?

Having hallucinations is a very common condition. It is normal to have hallucinations due to a desire for something or a desire to reach a certain height, but if hallucinations exist for a long time, it is likely caused by schizophrenia. This is also a common and dangerous symptom. So, besides hallucinations, what other symptoms do people with schizophrenia experience?

Sensory impairment

Schizophrenia can cause a variety of perceptual disorders, the most prominent of which is hallucinations, including auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, olfactory hallucinations, gustatory hallucinations, and tactile hallucinations, among which auditory hallucinations are the most common.

Thought disorder

Thought disorder is the core symptom of schizophrenia, which mainly includes thought form disorder and thought content disorder. The main manifestation of thinking form disorder is the disorder of thinking association process, including the disorder of thinking association activity process (quantity, speed and form), the coherence and logic of thinking association, etc. Delusions are the most common and important disturbance of thought content. The most common delusions include persecution delusions, relationship delusions, influence delusions, jealousy delusions, grandiose delusions, and non-bloodline delusions. It is estimated that up to 80% of schizophrenia patients have persecution delusions, which can manifest as varying degrees of insecurity, such as being monitored, excluded, worrying about being drugged or murdered, etc. Under the influence of delusions, patients will engage in defensive or aggressive behavior. In addition, passive experiences are also more prominent in some patients, affecting their thinking, emotions and behavior.

Affective disorders

Apathy and incoordination of emotional responses are the most common emotional symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. In addition, incoordination, excitement, irritability, depression and anxiety are also common.

Will and behavior disorders

Most patients have a weakened or even lack of will, which is manifested by reduced activity, isolation, passive behavior, lack of enthusiasm and initiative, decreased interest in work and study, lack of concern for the future, and no clear plans for the future. Some patients may have some plans and intentions, but rarely implement them.

Cognitive dysfunction

The incidence of cognitive deficits is high in schizophrenia patients, with approximately 85% of patients experiencing cognitive dysfunction, such as information processing and selective attention, working memory, short-term memory and learning, and executive function. There is a certain correlation between cognitive deficit symptoms and other psychotic symptoms. For example, patients with obvious thought form disorders have more obvious cognitive deficit symptoms, and patients with obvious negative symptoms have more obvious cognitive deficit symptoms. Cognitive deficits may be related to the occurrence of certain positive symptoms. Cognitive deficits may occur before psychotic symptoms become clear (such as in the prodromal stage), or decline sharply with the onset of psychotic symptoms, or gradually decline as the course of the disease prolongs. It is preliminarily believed that patients with chronic schizophrenia have more obvious cognitive deficits than patients with first-episode schizophrenia.