During Schizophrenia, a person feels, thinks, and behaves differently. It causes psychosis, functional impairment, and social difficulties.
Symptoms of schizophrenia are generally divided into two main categories: positive symptoms and negative symptoms. The labels trip people up because they sound like a judgment. Actually, in clinical use, "positive" means a symptom adds something that isn't normally there. "Negative" means a symptom subtracts something that's normally there.
So, positive symptoms of schizophrenia mean the experiences that are added on top of someone's normal perception. And negative symptoms of schizophrenia mean functions that get reduced or lost.
What Are Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
The positive symptoms of schizophrenia are additional senses like hearing or seeing things that aren't there, holding onto false beliefs, and speech that's hard to follow.
Hallucinations: Hearing, seeing, smelling, or feeling something that isn't there is the most common behaviour of schizophrenia.
Delusions: Fixed, false beliefs that don't shift even against evidence, like believing you're being watched.
Disorganized thinking and speech: Jumping between unrelated ideas, or answering questions in ways hard to follow.
Disorganized or unusual movement: Behavior ranging from childlike silliness.
What Is Meant by Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
People who are living with schizophrenia lose some of their feelings or emotions. They're less dramatic than hallucinations or delusions, which is why families and even patients mistake them for depression.
Avolition: A drop in motivation to start or finish everyday tasks, from job duties to basic hygiene.
Blunted affect: Flattened emotional expression. Voice, face, and body language show less range than before.
Alogia: Speech that becomes sparse. Answers get shorter, and conversation takes real effort.
Anhedonia: Losing pleasure in activities that used to feel good.
Asociality: Withdrawing from friends, family, and social contact, sometimes for days at a time.
Can Someone With Schizophrenia Have Both Positive and Negative Symptoms at the Same Time?
Yes. Most people with schizophrenia experience a mix of both negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. It makes schizophrenia hard to catch early. A person can seem withdrawn and unmotivated for months before anything happens, and families explain it away as stress or a personality shift.
What Are Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
Cognitive symptoms are a third category that often gets left out of the "positive vs. negative" conversation. Cognitive symptoms often include issues with attention and memory. It makes it hard to follow a conversation, learn new information, or remember an important date.
Attention and focus: Trouble concentrating during conversations or tasks that used to feel automatic.
Working memory: Difficulty holding onto new information long enough to use it.
Processing speed: Thinking through decisions takes noticeably longer than it used to.
These changes can be subtle, so people often mistake them for signs of stress or tiredness.
Treatment Approaches That Address Both Symptom Clusters
Second-generation antipsychotics: First-line pharmacological treatment for positive symptoms
Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis: Helps individuals examine and reframe distressing beliefs and voices
Social skills training: Rebuilds the interpersonal and communication capacities
Supported employment programs: Structured re-entry into work, which improves both functioning and self-worth
Next Step: Get Treatment for Schizophrenia
Boston Neurobehavioral Associates works with patients across Massachusetts, New Jersey, and the wider USA to treat Schizophrenia and other mental health disorders.
Talk with one of our psychiatrists to get a consultation.
FAQs: Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Can someone with schizophrenia live a full, successful life?
Yes. With consistent treatment, therapy, and medication together, many people with schizophrenia live a successful life.
How long do symptoms have to last before schizophrenia is diagnosed?
A diagnosis requires continuous signs for at least six months, including one month of active symptoms.
Are negative symptoms harder to treat than positive symptoms?
Yes, negative symptoms are harder to treat than positive symptoms because negative symptoms persist longer and respond less to standard antipsychotic medication than positive symptoms do.