Sluggish schizophrenia: symptoms and treatment of the disease

Stages of disease development

The first signs of the disease appear in adolescence. This is isolation, isolation, reluctance to communicate with peers, and a depressive state. However, adults rarely pay attention to them, attributing them to the peculiarities and crises of this age period, so the disease can be recognized much later.

Experts identify several stages in the development of sluggish schizophrenia.

The first, latent period. The symptoms are subtle and mild. At this time, the patient begins to show a tendency to philosophical reflection, thinks abstractly, and withdraws into himself.
The second, manifest period. Signs of sluggish schizophrenia become more noticeable, their active manifestation is episodic. A person withdraws more into himself, he develops phobias, obsessions and fears, panic attacks, and sleep problems. The patient stops experiencing strong emotions and loses interest in his hobbies. It is at this stage that they usually “notice” the disease, turn to a psychiatrist, make an accurate diagnosis and begin treatment.
The third stage is stabilization. People come to him as a result of a course of medication and psychotherapy. With favorable prognosis, the patient achieves a state of stable and long-term remission, continuing to take minimal doses of drugs to prevent relapse.

Signs of alcoholic schizophrenia

Alcoholic schizophrenia is an alcoholic psychosis that arises from chronic alcoholism. Most often it manifests itself in the form of “delirium tremens”, the main symptoms of which are auditory, tactile, visual hallucinations and delirium. The following symptoms often indicate the occurrence of alcoholic schizophrenia:

increased anxiety and irritability;
depression;
increased body temperature, sudden changes;
a meaningless and emotionless expression on the face.

Often such a patient can be identified by his eyes. They are dominated by insane brilliance.

Forms of the disease

Sluggish schizophrenia comes in several types.

The depersonalized form is a violation of self-perception of the individual and the boundaries of one’s own “I”.
Neurosis-like – characterized by a weakening of the emotional sphere, apathy, dulling of feelings.
Asthenic – expressed in rapid fatigue, a tendency to collect various objects.
Obsessive – manifests itself in the presence of an obsessive state. The patient can perform the same action repeatedly and create rituals that only he understands.
Hypochondriacal – develops against the background of changes in the patient’s hormonal levels, during adolescence, during pregnancy or menopause in women. A person is confident that he has a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease, and considers his state of health to be critical.
Psychopathic - characterized by foolishness, an arrogant attitude towards others, delusions and hallucinations.
Affective form - a person falls into a depressive state, analyzes his actions and actions, or experiences constant fluctuations from sharp enthusiasm to complete apathy. These extremes replace each other, each time causing a deterioration in the patient’s well-being.
Latent form - the symptoms of sluggish schizophrenia are mild and do not progress to the active stage. This type of disease has the most positive treatment prognosis.

Main signs of the disease

There are many different forms and varieties of schizophrenia. It can be senile or develop from birth. However, each of them has the main, most common symptoms, characteristic of both men and women, and for an infant and an elderly person.

Initial signs

The symptoms of the disease can be quite varied, but most often the symptoms of the disease are quite easy to notice. The initial stage of the disease can be expressed by causeless anger and aggressiveness towards loved ones and relatives, lack of interest and feelings for relatives, cooling of family relationships, and the emergence of delusional ideas and thoughts. A general sign of incipient schizophrenia can be expressed in the loss of interests or hobbies that were previously characteristic of the sick person.

In some cases, the onset of the disease is manifested by obsessive fears, thoughts and actions. One of the initial symptoms is also auditory hallucinations, which manifest themselves in the form of a voice in the head giving orders to the patient.

External symptoms of the disease

Often the development of such a disease is characterized by a weakening of various instinctive feelings. Such people may not feel hungry for quite a long time. Lack of appetite is due to loss of complete interest in food. Also, people with schizophrenia are easily distinguished by their sloppiness. A sick person is absolutely not interested in what he looks like or his home. He stops bathing and cutting his hair, washing his clothes, and tidying up his home. With developing schizophrenia, it is difficult not to pay attention to the external somatic signs of the disease:

Patients often have severe headaches;
feeling of heaviness in the back of the head and temples;
headache causes a feeling of squeezing and burning in the head;
general weakness of the body;
restless sleep, insomnia.

The early stages of the disease are often accompanied by sudden and involuntary movements, usually not characteristic of humans. This may manifest itself in overly active facial expressions, slow blinking, twitching of the corners of the mouth, twitching and tremor of the limbs.

Features of signs of sluggish schizophrenia

This type of mental disorder is characterized by the manifestation of two typical signs of behavior change.

Foolishness, clowning, eccentricity, awkward and unkempt appearance. The man looks like an eccentric - he is not dressed for the weather, he moves uncertainly, his movements are clumsy and angular. Speech disturbances also occur. It becomes saturated with complex phrases, thoughts become ragged and devoid of logic. You can often observe an abrupt transition from one topic to another.
Pseudopsychopathization . It is expressed by increased emotional excitability and the presence of overvalued ideas. The patient is not able to perceive criticism addressed to him and adequately evaluate his actions.

If you notice strange behavior in a loved one, it’s time to sound the alarm and take action. Call the “Balance” clinic by phone: +7 (499)495-45-03 . We will answer all your questions, advise you on what to do, and, if necessary, fill out an application for a doctor to be called to your home at any time of the day.

Concept

What is low-grade schizophrenia? The disease “sluggish schizophrenia” was first described by the Soviet psychiatrist A.V. Snezhnevsky .

Subsequently, scientists, describing the symptoms of this disease, used the terms: “latent schizophrenia”, “mild schizophrenia”, “pre-schizophrenia” and others.

All these names imply a mental disorder characterized by a slow course and the absence of clear symptoms characteristic of schizophrenic psychosis.

The patient is almost no different from healthy people and remains socially adapted.

Thus, this type of schizophrenia is a transitional form , which does not imply personality degradation, but is expressed in changes in behavior, interests, and manner of communication.

History of psychiatry. Sluggish schizophrenia according to Snezhnevsky in this video:

Symptoms and signs of low-grade schizophrenia

A feature of this type of mental disorder is the absence of pronounced productive and negative symptoms. The patient is not very different from normal, healthy people, and is able to lead a socially active life. Although the symptoms of the disease do not lead to personality degradation, they affect changes and deformation of behavior, thinking, areas of interest and manner of communication.

There are 7 symptoms of low-grade schizophrenia.

Depersonalization . The patient is satisfied with his own “I”, as well as the ability to express his opinions, thoughts and feelings.
Finding flaws in your appearance. A person is critical of himself, dissatisfied with his appearance, weight, and can lead himself to anorexia.
Hysterical state. It is typical mainly for women. Through hysterics and tears, the patient tries to attract attention to himself.
Solitude, isolation. A person does not want to go out, communicate with peers and immediate surroundings. The extreme manifestation of this symptom is the development of autism.
Aggressive and affective behavior , uncontrollable outbursts of anger and irritability.
Dulling of feelings , loss of the ability to empathize, disturbance of the emotional sphere.
Demonstrative behavior , arrogant attitude towards others, unfounded criticism of them.

Such alarming symptoms should at least concern relatives and force them to consult a specialist. You can call our “Balance” clinic by phone: . We will make an appointment with an experienced psychiatrist. Or make an appointment yourself.

What is neurosis-like schizophrenia

Pathology can develop in people who are constantly dissatisfied with themselves or their appearance

Neurosis-like schizophrenia is a form of schizotypal mental disorder. This is a subtype of sluggish schizophrenia, which is characterized by many persistent remissions, and therefore can be considered the most favorable type of this disease.

If for some reason the patient does not have remissions of neurosis-like schizophrenia, then he develops other mental disorders that cannot be eliminated, even with appropriate therapy.

The danger of this type of pathology is the possibility of its transformation into more severe mental illnesses. However, this is observed only in rare cases. Despite the fact that the symptoms of neurosis-like schizophrenia are in many ways similar to neurotic disorders, patients do not develop paranoia and other strong phobias.

Recognizing this disease in most cases turns out to be quite difficult. Due to vague symptoms, it is often confused with the following ailments:

neurosis;
psychasthenia;
hysteria.

Signs of neurosis-like schizophrenia are often mild. In this case, remissions are long and very stable, and can last for several months. In some patients, periods of remission continue for years.

Most patients prone to developing this disease pay great attention to the shortcomings of their own body, which is why they begin to form multiple complexes that ultimately lead to dramatic changes. The patient begins to constantly repeat that he is not perfect, his self-esteem decreases. As a result, he becomes completely fixated on this problem.

Some patients may develop hallucinations, when they have a strong belief that there are voices in their heads that dictate their will.

Reference. In ICD-10, neurosis-like schizophrenia is coded F21.3.

Adolescents are predominantly susceptible to the onset of the disease. This is due to their emotional instability. If we talk about adults, the disease can affect both women and men with equal frequency.

The behavior of patients suffering from neurosis-like schizophrenia depends on gender:

Men most often become gloomy and withdrawn. Such patients experience involuntary movements of the fingers, such as twisting a ballpoint pen, a matchbox, or other objects.
Women tend to want to dress vulgarly, using aggressive makeup. This is done in order to compensate for fictitious flaws in appearance.

How does neurosis differ from schizophrenia?

If you experience symptoms of frequent, prolonged indifference to everything around you, you need to seek help from specialists

There are very serious differences between these two diseases:

If a patient has neurosis, then in 90% of cases he will try to get medical help, realizing the severity of his situation.
Patients with neurosis-like schizophrenia tend to ignore their problem, not realizing the seriousness of the consequences. Most often, the entire burden of problems falls on their relatives.

However, in the early stages, these diseases are very difficult to distinguish from each other. This is the reason for the difficulties that arise when diagnosing them. This is especially true for adolescence, because children during this period are prone to exaggeration and are impressionable, and therefore identifying a mental disorder is difficult.

Teenagers often feign symptoms of mental disorders, trying to attract the attention of others. This can lead to a complicated process of diagnosing the disease.

It should also be noted that neurosis never occurs without any reason. Most often, this condition is a consequence of chronic fatigue during hard work without adequate rest. In the case of neurosis-like schizophrenia, experts note a completely different development mechanism. In particular, the disease can manifest itself due to genetic predisposition.

The similarity between the symptoms of neurosis and this type of schizophrenia is present only at an early stage. Further, the clinical picture begins to clearly differentiate. If neurosis is not capable of causing deformation of the patient’s personal characteristics, then schizophrenia, even with a mild course, can leave an irreparable imprint on a person’s personal qualities. Such patients become withdrawn, indifferent, avoid any society, and apathetic. As a result of serious psychological changes, a person may even be assigned a disability, because he becomes unable to care for himself.

It should also be understood that curing neurosis in comparison with schizophrenia will not be difficult. In addition, if treatment is not started, the personality deformation will only worsen. If therapy involves simply suppressing symptoms through medications, then it will not be able to give positive results.

Thus, it is sometimes quite difficult to determine whether a patient has developed neurosis or neurosis-like schizophrenia.

Causes of the disease

The impetus for the appearance of the disease can be an unhealthy atmosphere at home

Among modern experts there is no consensus regarding the mechanism of development of this disease. The main factor lies in the presence of unfavorable genetic heredity, but today the following possible causes of the development of the disease are identified:

developmental problems during the perinatal period;
serious psychological shocks experienced in childhood;
taking drugs;
frequent conflicts with others (especially long-term ones);
regular stress and emotional overload;
unfavorable environment at work or in the family.

Children conceived by their parents after reaching 35 years of age are at risk of developing this disease. The course of such a pregnancy can be characterized by the occurrence of various complications.

It should be understood that patients with neurosis-like schizophrenia may develop additional ailments. The most common disorder is anorexia, which develops mainly in young girls. Patients often have an obsessive idea about their own ugliness, which is why dystrophy develops.

Most patients with this form of schizophrenia blame others for their own problems. As a result, such a person may completely lose the ability to have normal contact with other people. Therefore, the sooner treatment for this disease begins, the better.

Symptoms of neurosis-like schizophrenia

The patient constantly experiences fears about everything around him.

As mentioned above, in the first stages of development, the signs of neurosis-like schizophrenia are in many ways similar to the manifestations of ordinary neurosis. A significant difference is present in the publicity of the patient’s worries. For example, if, with neurosis, a person tries with all his might to hide his problem, then the schizophrenic will put his grievances on display, focusing attention on them.

Patients with neuroses usually carefully protect their personal space and do not talk about their feelings and experiences. At the same time, they are looking for professional help, wanting to overcome apathy. Schizophrenics use the disease as a tool to achieve a goal, not wanting to fight it.

Let's look at the main symptoms of neurosis-like schizophrenia in more detail:

The patient constantly complains that he is afraid of the uncertainty of the future, worries about the condition of his loved ones and his own life.
When talking about sex, the patient becomes stunned.
The patient has an absolute lack of interest in the opposite sex.
A person begins to perform certain household rituals. For example, before eating an apple, he will peel it and be sure to cut it into 8 pieces.
Constantly fiddling with the belt of clothes or any other items of clothing.

The symptoms described above are most often subtle to others, which is why close people may not notice changes in the patient’s behavior for a long time. Such people may be considered eccentric, but accepted for who they are.

Difficulties in diagnosis

Due to the slow progression and mild severity of symptoms, the diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia” is made already at the active stage of the disease. The complexity is also caused by the similarity of the symptoms of schizophrenia with a neurotic disorder. Only an experienced doctor is able to draw a clear line between these diseases and confidently make a diagnosis.

A psychiatrist at our clinic will conduct a detailed medical history, talk with the patient and his relatives, identify signs of low-grade schizophrenia, conduct laboratory tests and neuropsychological tests. Depending on the results of the study and classification of the form of mental disorder, an individual course of therapy will be selected.

Negative and positive symptoms of the disease

All symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into negative, positive, otherwise productive, and cognitive. To make a correct diagnosis, clinical negative signs are most characteristic. Many of them have already been given above with full descriptions. Therefore, now let’s briefly look at each group of symptoms.

Negative signs are certain characteristics and personality traits that the patient loses as the disease spreads. These include:

apathy – emotional rigidity, indifference, complete detachment from everything;
autism – isolation of the patient, withdrawal into his inner world, degradation in social terms;
ambivalence - duality, splitting in the emotional sphere, the feeling of two opposing feelings towards the same object;
abulia – a complete or partial violation of the will, which is characterized by a significant drop in activity, up to complete inaction;
thinking disorders - paralogicality, fragmented thinking, symbolism and reasoning.

Positive symptoms are secondary signs of the disease that arose during the development of the disease. These include:

delusional ideas;
hallucinations;
disorganization of speech and thinking;
depersonalization and derealization.

Cognitive symptoms include depression accompanied by suicidal tendencies.

Treatment of the disease

Sluggish schizophrenia is the mildest type of this type of mental disorder, so its treatment and achievement of a state of remission requires smaller dosages of medications. The doctor prescribes atypical antipsychotics, nootropics, antidepressants and tranquilizers to the patient. At your request, if there are no obvious signs for hospitalization, we can conduct a course of drug therapy in a hospital setting. We have all the conditions for this - comfortable and bright VIP category rooms, without sharing, 2 and 3 beds. After discharge from the hospital, treatment can be continued on an outpatient basis.

During the rehabilitation period, it will be necessary to continue taking medications, but in minimal doses. To prevent the risk of relapse, we recommend regularly visiting a doctor at our clinic and following all his recommendations. We provide treatment on an anonymous basis. After discharge, our patient will be able to return to an active social life without fear of disclosure and condemnation from others.

You can get advice and ask any questions that concern you by calling: +7

Causes

Medicine has not yet identified the causes of this disease. Most cases of schizophrenia are believed to be hereditary.

Among the factors that provoke pathology are long-term stress, mental trauma and lifestyle . Residents of megacities and vulnerable sections of the population are at risk.

A psychotic state occurs after the death of a loved one, illness, moving to another city and other stressful events.

However, changes in the behavior of a person who has experienced a life tragedy are not associated by others with manifestations of schizophrenia.

A diagnosis can only be made after a special psychiatric examination.

You can find a list of cognitive personality distortions on our website.

Diagnosis of pseudoneurotic schizophrenia

To establish a diagnosis in our Leto clinic, you should make an appointment with a doctor. To do this, you need to call the call center. At the reception, the operator on duty will help you choose the most convenient time and day. Recording is carried out around the clock and seven days a week. We remind you that any format of diagnostic activities, as well as treatment in our mental health center, are anonymous.

During the initial consultation, the psychiatrist carefully examines the client.

For this purpose the following is carried out:

Listening to complaints with specific and guiding questions. The specialist often has to resort to the help of relatives to clarify the details of the course of the disease process.
Inspection and identification of problems with internal organs. The doctor auscultates the heart, bronchopulmonary system, and palpates the abdomen.
Study of the functions of the nervous system. To do this, using a neurological hammer, the reflex response from the tendons is checked, oculomotor functions are determined, and pathological symptoms (if any) are identified.
Psychodiagnostics.

Patients with a suspected diagnosis of neurosis-like schizophrenia must be examined by a clinical psychologist. Using test methods and questionnaires, a psychologist supplements and clarifies the painful signs identified by the doctor.

The examination is complemented by clinical studies:

Blood test.
Electrocardiogram.
Encephalogram, computed tomography and MRI if necessary.

If necessary, patients are examined by specialists from other areas.

Symptoms

The development of the disease is provoked by severe emotional shocks, stress, chronic fatigue, and overwork. That is why the first signs of the diagnosis begin to appear in adolescence - from 12 to 16 years, when the emotional background of young people is extremely unstable.

Psychopathic-like schizophrenia is characterized by the following symptoms.

Phobias. The most common is an inadequate, critical perception of one’s appearance. A person is not satisfied with his nose shape, eye shape, mouth size, body proportions. Girls, under the influence of these obsessions, can lead themselves to dystrophy or anorexia. Patients develop multiple complexes that greatly reduce their self-esteem.
Metaphysical intoxication – obsessive thoughts and ideas. A person begins to think for a long time on philosophical topics. He talks about the meaning of life, the complexity of existence, the problems of the universe, the purpose of man, while becoming fixated on one topic. He considers all his ideas to be extremely valuable, although from the outside they seem devoid of meaning and logic. The patient's speech is filled with complex, ornate phrases that are often unrelated. Sometimes a person constantly writes down his thoughts in a notebook.
Creating everyday rituals that are understandable only to the patient himself.
Depersonalization is a violation of self-perception of one’s own “I”.
Changes in behavior . The patient may fall into a hysterical state or prolonged apathy. Men become withdrawn and gloomy. Women express themselves through bright, aggressive makeup and tasteless, ridiculous clothing.
Hypochondriacal experiences. Fears for one’s own health are added to obsessions. The person is sure that he is terminally ill, despite the fact that he cannot explain the reasons for his complaints logically. Phobias regarding one’s own well-being can be expressed in the most “creepy” fears - the patient assures that his internal organs are filled with pus, blood vessels burst, and teeth fall out.
The changes affect the volitional and emotional spheres . Emotions become scarce, motivation disappears, a person quickly gets tired and experiences chronic fatigue.

The manifestation of several of the above signs should make the patient’s relatives worry and seek help from a specialist. Call the “Balance” clinic at +7 (499) 495-45-03. We will make an appointment with an experienced psychiatrist who will be able to answer all your questions, diagnose the patient and, if necessary, select adequate treatment.

Peculiarities of using the concept “latent form of schizophrenia”

The term “latent form of schizophrenia” as such is not included in the current international classification of diseases (ICD-10), that is, such a formulation of the diagnosis cannot be used by a medical specialist when diagnosing the disease. However, in different classifications the term “latent form of schizophrenia” is mentioned; in addition, this disease has the following name options:

low-grade schizophrenia;
schizotypal disorder;
latent schizophrenia.

This state of affairs is due not so much to the difficulties of interpreting the concept as to the need for careful diagnosis and the small number of signs of the disease.

The latent form of schizophrenia is characterized by very weak progression of the disease and slow pathological changes in the patient’s personality. As for the signs of the disease, as noted earlier, this form of schizophrenia has a limited number of specific symptoms.

Treatment

Sluggish schizophrenia, although it has mild symptoms, requires treatment. With timely treatment, the prognosis is favorable .

Medicines are prescribed to treat the disease.

They are prescribed in smaller doses than for other mental illnesses, but require regular long-term use.

Drug therapy for schizophrenia includes the use of drugs such as:

neuroleptics . Intended for the treatment of mental disorders, they suppress productive symptoms;
psychostimulants . Activate mental processes, restore thinking, memory, motivation;
antidepressants . Used to treat depressive conditions. Helps improve mood, relieve apathy, anxiety, irritability;
nootropics . These are medications that increase cerebral circulation, improve processes in the brain, and stimulate its activity;
tranquilizers . Relieves anxiety, eliminates panic attacks.

In addition to drug therapy, various trainings are used to treat patients to improve social adaptation. Patients should engage in creative activities and attend cultural events.

Difference from neurosis

When making a diagnosis of “sluggish schizophrenia,” one should differentiate the pathology from a neurotic state. Neurosis and schizophrenia have similar manifestations, so observation and history taking alone are not enough for diagnosis.

The main difference between neurosis and schizophrenia is that in neurotic conditions the patient’s personality does not change.

The main distinguishing signs of neurosis :

The presence of a psychotraumatic factor, after which stress begins, aggravating the patient’s condition. Schizophrenia occurs for no reason and suddenly.
With neuroses, a person realizes that he needs help and tries to get out of the current situation. Patients with schizophrenia lack critical thinking.
Neurosis is a reversible condition. With schizophrenia, symptoms increase and personality changes worsen.

How to understand that you have a split personality? The test can be taken on our website.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis of a mental disorder cannot be made on the basis of any tests; for this, a survey and psychological testing are used.

With symptoms that may indicate both disorders, special attention is paid to whether the deterioration of the condition was preceded by a traumatic situation. If yes, then it is more likely that the person is faced with neurosis. They will also find out whether the patient has a history of psychosis. Their presence is an argument in favor of schizophrenia.

With neurosis-like schizophrenia, symptoms can increase gradually over many years, which at the first stage increases the risk of being diagnosed with a neurotic disorder.

When treating neurosis, psychotherapy is used; in addition, anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants may be prescribed. Schizophrenics need the help of a psychiatrist; drug treatment is mandatory.

Can neurosis turn into schizophrenia?

These are different diseases, and one cannot cause the other. Symptoms of neurosis disappear after medical care, and schizophrenia is chronic.

Sometimes the correct diagnosis may not be made immediately, and what at first seemed like a neurosis turns out to be sluggish schizophrenia. But this situation does not mean that the neurotic disorder developed into schizophrenia; its symptoms simply appeared gradually and at the first stage of the disease resembled neurosis.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder may be present in schizophrenia, but other symptoms will also be observed, based on which doctors will make a diagnosis.

Schizophrenia, even if remission has been achieved, changes the patient’s character traits. As the disease progresses, the disintegration of the personality progresses: the person gradually moves away from others, becomes apathetic, and does not show emotions. Sometimes this leads to disability.

With neurosis, this does not happen: the character and personal characteristics of a person do not change. Neuroses are not characterized by relapses, but the risk of a recurrent disorder cannot be excluded if a person’s life is accompanied by constant stress.

Symptoms of a latent form of schizophrenia

This form of the disease is characterized by a minimal set of symptoms and their mild severity. Thus, the characteristic signs of the latent course of schizophrenia are as follows:

emotional disorders;
splitting of mental processes;
autism;
absence of productive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions).

Since the so-called latent forms of schizophrenia are slow and develop gradually, this may be the beginning of a simple or paranoid form of the disease. Of course, only a psychotherapist should make a diagnosis for any mental disorder. Self-diagnosis in this case is unacceptable due to the weak intensity of symptoms.

The main features of these signs in the latent form of schizophrenia are their weak expression and erasure, which greatly complicates the diagnosis of the disease.