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8 early signs of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a progressive psychiatric disorder that has no cure. It affects a person’s ability to process information, manage thoughts, and influence behavior. As a result, one struggles with many symptoms that affect the quality of life, ranging from physical discomfort to emotional distress. The disorder affects children and adults of all ages and progresses rapidly. Therefore, it is important to understand the first signs of schizophrenia and seek professional assistance from a specialist for treatment.

Signs and symptoms
Schizophrenia can develop either early in childhood or later in life. Here are some of the earliest signs that are indicative of the disorder:

Delay in development
Children develop motor skills, speech or language skills, and emotional skills in early childhood. However, children showing signs of schizophrenia will struggle with these developmental problems and withdraw themselves from social confrontations. The inability to learn these basic social skills also impacts their mental well-being and triggers anxiety or depression at an early age.
Neglect in personal hygiene
Schizophrenia causes behavioral changes that affect one’s personality. These changes are evident if the person has already experienced a psychotic episode or might have one in the future. In the initial stages, patients with schizophrenia stop caring about their appearance or personal hygiene. Further, they are unburdened and unbothered about how their poor hygiene affects people around them. Patients may avoid bathing and grooming or neglect basic clothing hygiene, so nobody wants to be around them.
Trouble with speech
One of the early signs of psychiatric disorders is trouble with speech. One might notice a decrease in speech output as the condition progresses. The severity of the psychotic episodes also impacts their verbal ability to convey thoughts and emotions. Words and sentences may be jumbled or used in places where they don’t make sense or are not relevant to the situation. Diction and comprehension are affected as the condition worsens, and this, in turn, negatively impacts their social communication. Even emotional responses might be completely unrelated to the situation, often coupled with expressions and moods that don’t match the reply. These are the early signs of cognitive dysfunction.
Emotional dysfunction
Schizophrenia greatly affects cognitive thinking, so the affected person cannot reason, understand, or comprehend conversations or situations. Some people develop a blank or flat expression and don’t necessarily respond to emotional cues. Others might develop overactive and overstimulating, equally concerning responses, especially when they are irrelevant to the situation. Overwhelming decisions and lifestyle choices can also negatively impact their mood, triggering emotional outbursts that are irrelevant to the situation.
Trouble with memory and focus
Even in the initial stages of the disease development, one will experience trouble with focus and memory. Patients often need help keeping track of activities or events that happened in the past, present, or planned for the future. They lose their sense of time and the concept of space, leading to confusion. This makes it very difficult for a person with schizophrenia to organize their thoughts, emotions, and routine. The added frustration also affects their focus, making them lose interest in activities.
Delusion
One of the more glaring signs of developing psychiatric disorders is delusion. Common delusions are triggered due to changes in one’s belief system. And patients with schizophrenia experience negative changes that affect the quality of their life. For example, one of the most common delusions experienced by patients is thinking someone is always out to get them or targets them for no apparent reason. One might continually think someone is out there to stalk or is lurking around plotting against them to deceive and dupe. The intensity of these delusions is circumstantial and will vary depending on the underlying trigger. Patients might think any messages from various modes of social media and communication are specially linked to them. One might also think they are plagued with a disease that could prove to be fatal. These delusions can manifest in ways that affect their personal relations, social behavior, and even religious beliefs.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations refer to instances where a person witnesses something that doesn’t exist and the mind plays tricks on the sensory organs. Schizophrenia can trigger mild to moderate hallucinations where a person feels, hears, sees, and smells things that are not physically present. Patients often complain about hearing voices in their heads where someone is whispering, muttering, or mumbling with a wide range of emotional responses. Patients also see objects or people who are not present in the room. One of the common complaints is seeing a friend or relative who has passed away, but the hallucination is so strong that they can see the person clearly. Severe schizophrenia can even trigger olfactory and gustatory hallucinations, where a person develops suspicions about the food being served. It might smell or taste funny, making the patient think it’s poisoned. One might also wake up thinking something crawled all over the body, only to realize it was just a dream. Schizophrenia patients develop hallucinations at any stage of the disease’s progression.
Negative symptoms
Schizophrenia is a progressive disorder, and one also develops negative symptoms that affect their overall well-being. Patients gradually begin to lose interest in activities and become completely withdrawn. Nothing will give them pleasure. It is also common for patients to become emotionally withdrawn and devoid of the happiness and feelings necessary for mental well-being. The trouble with communication will also send the patients into isolation, depriving them of the social comfort that their friends and family can provide. Patients struggle to get on with their daily routine as these symptoms worsen. All these factors negatively influence one’s quality of life.

Since there is no cure for the condition, patients must learn to manage the symptoms, prevent flare-ups, rely on prescriptions, and get therapy to overcome their distress.

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