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What is schizophrenia?
A disorder of the mind which affects how you
think, feel and behave. Its symptoms are often
described as either positive or negative.

Positive symptoms
These are unusual experiences which are
common in schizophrenia, but can also happen in
other mental disorders.

Hallucinations
A hallucination happens when you hear, smell,
feel or see something but there isnt anything (or
anybody) there to cause it. The commonest one is
hearing voices.
What do voices sound like?
They sound utterly real. They usually seem to be
coming from outside you, although other people
cant hear them. You may hear them coming from
different places, or they may seem to come from
a particular place or object. Voices can talk to you
directly or talk to each other about you it can be
like over-hearing a conversation. They can be
pleasant, but are often rude, critical, abusive or
just plain irritating.
How do people react to them?
You may try to ignore them, talk back to them or
even shout back at them if they are particularly
loud or irritating. You may feel that you have to
do what they tell you, even if you know you
shouldnt. You may wonder if they are they coming
from hidden microphones, from loudspeakers, or
the spirit world.

Where do they come from?

Voices are not imaginary you really do hear them
but they are created by the mind. Scans have
shown that the part of the brain that is active when
you hear voices is the part that is active when you
talk, or form words in your mind. The brain seems
to mistake your own thoughts, or inner speech, for
voices coming from outside you.
Do other people hear voices?
In severe depression, you can hear voices but they
tend to be simpler and repeat the same negative
or critical word or phrase over and over again.
You may hear voices which dont interfere with
your life. They may be pleasant, or not very loud,
or only happen from time to time. These voices do
not usually call for any kind of treatment.
Other kinds of hallucination
You may see things that arent there, or may smell
or taste things that arent there. Some people have
uncomfortable or painful feelings in their body, or
feelings of being touched or hit.

Delusions
A delusion happens when you believe something
and are completely sure of it while other
people think you have misunderstood what is
happening. Its as though you see things in a
completely different way from everyone else. You
have no doubts, but other people see your belief
as mistaken, unrealistic or strange. If you do try
to talk about your ideas with someone, your
reasons dont make sense to them.

How does it start?

It may suddenly dawn on you that at last you
really understand what is going on. This may
follow weeks or months when you have felt that
there has been something wrong, but that you
couldnt work out what it was.
A delusional idea can be a way of explaining
hallucinations. If you hear voices that talk about
you, you may explain it with the idea that a
government agency is tracking you.

Paranoid delusions
These are ideas that make you feel persecuted or
harassed. They may be:
unusual it feels as though MI5 or the
government is spying on you. You may think that
neighbours are influencing you with special
powers or technology.
everyday you start to believe your partner
is unfaithful. You do so because of odd details
that seem to have nothing to do with sex or not
being faithful. Other people can see nothing to
suggest that this is true.
upsetting feeling persecuted is obviously
upsetting for you. It can also be distressing for
the people you see as your persecutors.

Feelings of being controlled

You feel that:
your thoughts suddenly disappear as though
someone is taking them out of your mind
your thoughts feel as though they are not yours
its as though someone else has put them into
your mind
your body is being taken over, or that you are
being controlled like a puppet or a robot. Some
people explain these experiences by thinking its
the radio, television or laser beams, or that a
device has been implanted in them.

Negative symptoms

You start to lose your normal thoughts, feelings

and motivations.
You lose interest in life. Your energy, emotions
and get-up-and-go just drain away. Its hard to
feel excited or enthusiastic about anything.
You cant concentrate.
You dont bother to get up or go out of the house.
You stop washing or tidying, or keeping your
clothes clean.
You feel uncomfortable with people.

Does everyone with schizophrenia have

all these symptoms?
No. You can hear voices and have negative
symptoms, but may not have delusional ideas.
Some people with delusional ideas seem to have
very few negative symptoms. If you only have
thought disorder and negative symptoms, they
may not be recognised for years.

Loss of insight
It feels as though everyone else is wrong, that they
just cant understand the things that you can. You
feel that the problem is with the rest of the world,
not with you.

Depression
Around half the people with schizophrenia for
the first time will feel depressed, often before
they get more obvious symptoms.
Around 1 in 7 people with continuing
symptoms will become depressed. This can
be mistaken for negative symptoms.
Antipsychotic medication has been blamed
but research suggests that it actually helps
depression in schizophrenia.