Schizophrenia in Adulthood

Abstract

description of the disorder / clinical presentation [symptomatology, subclassifications] / epidemiology / natural history [medication and psychosocial treatment effects, differential outcome of schizophrenic subtypes, family/environmental stressors, differential outcome for male and female patients] / impairment and complications / differential diagnosis / case example / childhood and familial antecedents schizophrenia is among the most disabling and disruptive of the mental disorders / the core symptoms of schizophrenia involve marked distortions of reality (i.e., psychotic behavior) including delusions, hallucinations, and/or disordered thought processes / other symptoms are disturbances of attention, motor behavior, affect, and life-role functioning / schizophrenics may be particularly susceptible to the effects of psychosocial stressors schizophrenia has prominent childhood antecedents / the nature of these antecedents need to be better understood / social dysfunction and cognitive impairment can predate by many years the onset of diagnosable psychotic symptoms / the interrelation of social and cognitive impairment, and their influence on developmental outcome, must be more comprehensively addressed (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)