Schizophrenia
- medyouthalliance
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Written by Titilayo Taoreed
Med Youth Alliance | October 2025
What is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that affects 1 in 100 people in the United Kingdom, with common ages being 15–25 in men and 25–35 in women. This condition massively impacts the lives of those affected, causing alterations in mood, behaviour and perception. People with schizophrenia have a higher mortality rate compared to the general population due to linked physical illnesses (e.g. cardiovascular disease and cancers), as well as an increased risk of accidents and suicide.
Symptoms of schizophrenia
Symptoms of schizophrenia can be split into two categories: positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include:
delusions – false beliefs that a person holds, which most people would agree are wrong. Even when these beliefs are disproved, a person with schizophrenia may persist with them
hallucinations – sensing things that are not really there. An example is hearing voices (auditory hallucinations) and communicating with them
disordered thoughts – when thoughts become jumbled or blocked, so speech does not follow a logical pattern. Some people with schizophrenia may invent new words (neologisms) or use phrases out of context (verbal stereotypy), or use ordinary words with new meanings (metonyms)
Disordered thoughts can include:
thought insertion
thought withdrawal
thought broadcasting
thought blocking
Negative symptoms include:
social withdrawal and lack of motivation (which will be further explained later on)
It is important to note that most people with this mental health condition experience a mixture of these symptoms, and not all people with symptoms such as psychosis will go on to develop schizophrenia. In fact, 20% of people with that symptom make a full recovery.
Negative symptoms can cause people with schizophrenia to neglect themselves and appear preoccupied with their thoughts, leading to difficulties in education and employment. Persistent negative symptoms have a strong link to disability.
How do you test for schizophrenia
Blood and urine tests are carried out to rule out physical causes or drug misuse, as these can produce similar symptoms. Additionally, neuroimaging such as CT or MRI scans may also be done.
Cognitive symptoms
Around 70% of people with schizophrenia experience cognitive deficits, some of which are most prominent in the prodromal stage (early signs or symptoms indicating the onset of disease). This means some symptoms can appear as early as childhood or adolescence. Cognitive deficits may involve either neurocognition (linked to the function of neural pathways) or social cognition (linked to how people store, process and apply information about others and social interactions).
What are the types of schizophrenia?
paranoid (mainly involving harmful delusions)
hebephrenic
catatonic (involving a catatonic state where the person is awake but does not respond to others or to their environment, affecting speech, movement and behaviour)
undifferentiated
residual
What are the factors that increase the risk of schizophrenia?
a family history of schizophrenia
obstetric complications – health problems that occur during pregnancy (e.g. viral infections)
recreational drug use, which has been shown to trigger the condition in some people. For example, cannabis (a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant) accounts for around 11% of schizophrenia cases
What are the key diagnostic factors?
hallucinations
delusions
passivity – believing that some aspects of oneself, such as emotions or thoughts, are under the control of others
How is schizophrenia treated?
Schizophrenia is treated using antipsychotic medications, which work by altering the balance of certain brain chemicals. Psychosocial interventions are also effective for most patients. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which can include treatments such as art therapy and family interventions, is commonly used.
The neurobiology of schizophrenia?
Many regions of the brain are involved in schizophrenia, including the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and striatum.
Research shows the prefrontal cortex is responsible for planning, memory and attention. People with schizophrenia have been shown to have cortical brain abnormalities.
The amygdala plays a crucial role in processing emotions, particularly fear and aggression, so dysregulation of the amygdala has been linked to emotional stress and decreased cognitive function.
The hippocampus, located in the temporal lobe, is vital for memory formation, spatial recognition and navigation. Dysregulation of this area is linked to both negative and positive symptoms.
The thalamus acts as a relay station for sensory information, so abnormalities here can lead to sensory processing deficits.
The striatum is involved in reward and motivation processes. Dysregulation of dopamine neurotransmission in this region may be associated with anhedonia (lack of pleasure), lack of motivation and other negative symptoms.
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