How do you recognise the early signs of Schizophrenia?
Well, most people are diagnosed with schizophrenia after quite some time – it can be a complex diagnosis with symptoms which could be down to many other factors. Some sort of psychosis is often the first sign for service – hearing voices, for example, or strange fixed beliefs (often paranoid in nature). One classic example is hearing a radio on in another room and it’s talking about you, or thinking that there is a news bulletin for everyone else about you. However, there are no fixed ideas – many psychoses can be down to things like depression, or more likely, drug-related. Most people will develop psychotic symptoms if they go without sleep for long enough, for example. Schizophrenia sufferers often have negative symptoms as well – withdrawal, lack of motivation etc (but should not be confused with side-effects). Frustratingly, there are no firm indicators. With malaria, we know what the illness is, what caused it, and how to treat it. With schizophrenia, we know little about what ca
