Prevalence Of Schizophrenia Essay

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Describe the prevalence of schizophrenia and who is most affected.
Schizophrenia affects just under 1 percent of the population. Most cases begin in late adolescence or early adulthood. The disorder begins earlier in men than in women. Overall, the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia tend to be more severe in men than in women. Women also have a better long-term outcome.
Identify the symptoms of schizophrenia as described in DSM-5.
Schizophrenia is the most severe form of mental illness. It is characterized by impairments in many domains. Characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, disorganized and catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms such as flat affect or social withdrawal.
List four different types of psychotic disorders and state one way in which each is different from schizophrenia. …show more content…

Schizoaffective disorder is a mix of symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms. In schizophreniform disorder, the clinical picture is like that of schizophrenia apart from the fact that the symptoms have not lasted long enough (6 months) to qualify for a diagnosis of schizophrenia. In delusional disorder, delusions are present but the person may otherwise behave quite normally. In other words, there is no sign of the gross disorganization and performance deficiencies that are associated with schizophrenia. Finally, brief psychotic disorder is very short lived. It involves the sudden onset of psychotic symptoms, disorganized speech, or catatonic behavior. Although the person may be quite impaired, the duration of this impairment is very brief (and too short to allow for a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder). The person typically returns to his or her former level of functioning within a few