Aetiology and symptoms
Aetiology and symptoms
There are a number of genetic and environmental risk factors for developing psychosis and schizophrenia, but there remains uncertainty about how these factors fit together to cause the disorder. Psychosocial factors may also contribute.1
The ‘prodromal’ period of schizophrenia, often characterised by deterioration in personal functioning, can be followed by an acute phase typically marked by positive symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, behavioural disturbances such as agitation and distress, and disorders of thinking so that speech becomes muddled and hard to understand.
If these acute problems resolve, usually after some treatment, the positive symptoms may disappear or reduce. However, it is common for negative symptoms such as poor levels of motivation, self-care and memory/attention to remain problematic. Co-morbidities are common, with depression (up to 90 per cent of cases during ‘prodromal’ and acute psychosis, declining to 33 per cent following recovery), social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and drug and alcohol misuse common.