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Schizophrenia has been defined as a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown in mental thinking

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Schizophrenia has been defined as a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown in mental thinking and a poor emotional response. This disorganization hasn’t till now acquired a clear understanding of the mechanisms that lie behind (Harrison 1999) but researchers suggest an increase in the dopaminergic transmission in the prefrontal cortex coupled to an inhibition of the glutamatergic pathways, majorly at the level of NMDA receptors (Wen-Jun Gao). For more than 50 years, the dopamine hypothesis had been considered the mother of the theories of schizophrenia. Van Rossum first proposed it in 1966 suggesting that a hyperactivity occurring at the level of the mesolimbic dopamine pathway is the mediator of positive symptoms of schizophrenia …show more content…

By definition, positive symptoms represent a collection of psychotic symptoms through which the individual escapes from reality. They include hallucination described by a person seeing, smelling, feeling or hearing (the most common of all) things that no one else can see, smell feel or hear. It is also characterized by a delusional behavior defined as a number of false beliefs that are not part of the person's culture and which he/she is not willing to change, such as believing that the entire world is plotting against them (also known as “delusion of persecution”). Thought disorder also occurs in schizophrenia and is characterized by unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking such as having troubles organizing thoughts or speaking abruptly in the middle of a thought (thought blocking) or even making meaningless words. Schizophrenic people may also experience movement disorder such as a highly disorganized movement or in rare cases catatonia, a state of non-movement and non-responding to others (National Institute of Mental Health 2009). Negative symptoms are related to the disruptions to normal emotions and behaviors that occur in schizophrenic patients. These symptoms can be mistaken with depression and other mood disorders hence they are harder to recognize as part of the disease. They usually appear months or years before positive symptoms.

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