Positive symptoms are features exhibited by people with schizophrenia, but not by normal people and include delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder. Features of positive symptoms Hallucinations Delusions Formal thought disorder Behavioural disorders. Negative symptoms are those symptoms which are present in normal people, but which are absent in people suffering from schizophrenia and include flattening of affect, poverty of speech and loss of will 1 . Negative symptoms can be very debilitating and can be responsible for the lack of social adjustment in people suffering from schizophrenia. In the long term, negative symptoms are the features of the illness which concern family members most and which can be the major obstacle to the reintegration of patients into society.
Schizophrenia generally develops during late adolescence or early adulthood.
However, it can develop later in life and this late-onset schizophrenia is generally associated with fewer negative symptoms and tends to be a less debilitating illness. Supported by an unrestricted educational grant by Janssen-Cilag and Organon . The content of this site is sourced in Belgium.