SCHIZOPHRENIA
Schizophrenia is in reality a cluster of psychological disorders in which a variety of behaviors are exhibited and which are classified in various ways. Though there are numerous behaviors that might be considered schizophrenic, common behaviors that manifest themselves in severe schizophrenic disturbances are thought disorders, delusions, and emotional disorders.
Because schizophrenia is not a single disease but is in reality a cluster of related disorders, schizophrenics tend to be classified into various subcategories. The various subcategories of schizophrenia are based on the degree to which the various common behaviors are manifested in the patient as well as other factors such as the age of the schizophrenic patient at the onset of symptoms and the duration of the symptoms. Five of the more common subcategories of schizophrenia are simple, hebephrenic, paranoid, catatonic, and acute.
(1) The main characteristic of simple schizophrenia is that it begins at a relatively early age and manifests itself in a slow withdrawal from family and social relationships with a gradual progression toward more severe symptoms over a period of years. (2) Someone suffering from simple schizophrenia may early on simply be apathetic toward life, may maintain contact with reality a great deal of the time, and may be out in the world rather than hospitalized. (3) Over time, however, the symptoms, particularly thought and emotional disorders, increase in severity. (4)
Hebephrenic schizophrenia is a relatively severe form of the disease that is characterized by severely disturbed thought processes as well as highly emotional and bizarre behavior. Those suffering from hebephrenic schizophrenia have hallucinations and delusions and appear quite incoherent; their behavior is often extreme and quite inappropriate to the situation, perhaps full of unwarranted laughter, or tears, or obscenities that seem unrelated to the moment. This type of schizophrenia represents a rather severe and ongoing disintegration of personality that makes this type of schizophrenic unable to play a role in society.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a different type of schizophrenia in which the outward behavior of the schizophrenic often seems quite appropriate; this type of schizophrenic is often able to get along in society for long periods of time. However, a paranoid schizophrenic suffers from extreme delusions of persecution, often accompanied by delusions of grandeur. While this type of schizophrenic has strange delusions and unusual thought processes, his or her outward behavior is not as incoherent or unusual as a hebephrenic’s behavior. A paranoid schizophrenic can appear alert and intelligent much of the time but can also turn suddenly hostile and violent in response to imagined threats.
Another type of schizophrenia is the catatonic variety, which is characterized by alternating periods of extreme excitement and stupor. There are abrupt changes in behavior, from frenzied periods of excitement to stuporous periods of withdrawn behavior. During periods of excitement, the catatonic schizophrenic may exhibit excessive and sometimes violent behavior; during the periods of stupor, the catatonic schizophrenic may remain mute and unresponsive to the environment.
A final type of schizophrenia is acute schizophrenia, which is characterized by a sudden onset of schizophrenic symptoms such as confusion, excitement, emotionality, depression, and irrational fear. The acute schizophrenic, unlike the simple schizophrenic, shows a sudden onset of the disease rather than a slow progression from one stage of it to the other. Additionally, the acute schizophrenic exhibits various types of schizophrenic behaviors during different episodes, sometimes exhibiting the characteristics of hebephrenic, catatonic, or even paranoid schizophrenia. In this type of schizophrenia, the patient’s personality seems to have completely disintegrated.