Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
Welcome to the MNT Knowledge Center, your source for our most detailed content on specific conditions and subjects. Click
through to Knowledge Center Home to read more.
2
76
Knowledge center
Psychology / Psychiatry
Mental Health
1/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
Inappropriate or lacking emotional expression (flat affect) - flat affect, also known as blunted affect, is
sometimes a symptom of people with severe depression or schizophrenia - the individual may show the signs
of normal emotion, may even talk with a monotonous voice. However, the face appears blank, facial
expressions are significantly diminished. The patient appears extremely apathetic. There may be no eye
contact with other people or any display of body language. On some occasions the individual may display
behavior with is not appropriate for given situations - this may include bursting out laughing during a serious
event.
Apart from the above, which are examples of disorganized schizophrenia symptoms, the patients may also have
the following signs and symptoms of schizophrenia:
Delusions - The patient has false beliefs of persecution, guilt of grandeur. He/she may feel things are being
controlled from outside. It is not uncommon for people with schizophrenia to describe plots against them.
They may think they have extraordinary powers and gifts. Some patients with schizophrenia may hide in
order to protect themselves from an imagined persecution.
Hallucinations - hearing voices is much more common than seeing, feeling, tasting, or smelling things which
are not there, but seem very genuine to the patient.
Social withdrawal - when a patient with schizophrenia withdraws socially it is often because he/she believes
somebody is going to harm them. Other reasons could be a fear of interacting with other humans because of
poor social skills.
Unaware of illness - as the hallucinations and delusions seem so real for the patients, many of them may not
believe they are ill. They may refuse to take medications which could help them enormously for fear of sideeffects, for example.
Cognitive difficulties - the patient's ability to concentrate, remember things, plan ahead, and to organize
himself/herself are affected. Communication becomes more difficult.
There may also be grimacing, bizarre postures, problems functioning at school/work, and
clumsy/uncoordinated movements.
Patients with disorganized schizophrenia symptoms are not usually able to get medical help on their own. When
their symptoms appear to have subsided, it is common for them to believe they are fine and do not need
treatment. Seeking medical help is frequently initiated by a family member or good friend.
2/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
Viral infection - if the unborn baby in the womb (fetus) is exposed to a viral infection, there is a greater risk of
developing schizophrenia.
Fetal malnutrition - if the fetus suffers from malnutrition during the mother's pregnancy there is a higher
risk of subsequently developing schizophrenia.
Stress during early life - experts say that severe stress early on in life may be a contributing factor towards
the development of schizophrenia. Stressful occurrences often precede the emergence of schizophrenia.
Before any acute symptoms are evident, people with schizophrenia habitually become bad-tempered,
anxious, and unfocussed. This can trigger relationship problems. These factors are often blamed for the
onset of the disease, when really it was the other way round - the disease caused the crisis. Therefore, it is
extremely hard to know whether schizophrenia made certain stresses happen, or whether they occurred as a
result of them.
Childhood abuse or trauma
Age of parents when baby is born - older parents have a higher risk of having offspring who develop
schizophrenia, compared to younger parents.
Drugs - the use of drugs that affect the mind or mental processes during adolescence may sometimes raise
the risk of developing schizophrenia.
3/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
4/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
5/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
not responded to other treatments or cannot take antidepressants. It is also sometimes used for patients at high
risk of suicide. Experts believe that ECT triggers a massive neurochemical release in the brain, caused by the
controlled seizure. Side effects may include short-term memory loss (usually resolves rapidly). It is important that
the doctor explain clearly the pros and cons of ECT to the patient and/or guardian or family member.
Follow @mnt
50.9K followers
References
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/192361.php
6/7
2/9/2015
What is disorganized schizophrenia (hebephrenia)? What causes disorganized schizophrenia? - Medical News Today
2004-2015 All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of MediLexicon International Limited.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/192361.php
7/7