Schizophrenia-Negative symptoms
The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into:
- Positive
- Negative
- Disorganization
- Motor
Negative Symptoms:
- Negative symptoms represent loss of normal functions
- Poor Prognostic Factor and Responds poorly to medications
- Avolition – Loss of Will to indulge in goal-oriented tasks [ grooming, education, job]
- Apathy, Anhedonia, Asociality, Alogia [Decrease in verbal communication]
- Affective Flattening – Inability to understand emotions or to express one’s emotions
- ↓ Dopamine in Mesocortical pathway [Ventral Segmental area to prefrontal cortex]