Instant test for schizophrenia. Check yourself and your loved ones!

Schizophrenia is one of the dangerous and terrifying diagnoses that a person can face. In their practice, psychiatrists successfully use special tests to identify the diagnosis and examine the disease. Certain types of testing are designed to detect early signs of the disorder. There are also those that allow us to determine the level of development of pathology.

Experts suggest conducting a test for predisposition to schizophrenia in anonymous conditions. This increases the number of truthful answers and the quality of the final results - after all, a gloomy possible outcome and a terrifying diagnosis do not loom over the individual.

Tests for schizophrenia help identify the disease in its early stages

How testing helps

Testing alone is not enough for doctors to identify and diagnose a person with a schizophrenic disorder. The verdict comes only after a complete comprehensive examination of the person, which includes an assessment of clinical symptoms and the normal functioning of parts of the brain.

The test for susceptibility to schizophrenia is primarily recommended for persons whose parents are prone to various forms of neuroses and psychoses. First of all, tests reveal the level of predisposition to the disorder.

If the test person receives positive results, he needs to contact a highly qualified psychiatrist. Schizophrenia, identified at an early stage, helps to take timely measures to stop the manifestations of the disorder and protect the patient from the progression of a dangerous disease .

When deciding to get tested, a person should know that even a positive self-diagnosis does not give an accurate answer. Although schizophrenia has already been studied quite well, leading experts still have difficulty making an accurate diagnosis. This happens for the following reasons:

1. Schizophrenia has many different manifestations - types and forms.
2. The symptoms of this mental disorder often resemble those of other mental disorders.
3. To make an accurate diagnosis, it is necessary that the symptoms of a schizophrenic disorder manifest themselves in a given person for a long time (from six months).

A test to determine schizophrenia is only a method to better understand yourself and pay attention to your own health. A doctor will never make a diagnosis of schizophrenia based on the positive results of even the most highly accurate and proven clinical test.

Placing a patient in a boarding school

In some cases, caring for someone with schizophrenia is a very difficult burden. There are patients whose periods of remission are very short and superficial. It is difficult to live under the same roof with such people. They don't listen at all and do whatever they want. In such cases, there is one way out - placing the patient in a psychoneurological boarding school (PNI).

How to assign a person with schizophrenia to a boarding school? The basis for admission to this institution is the patient’s personal statement. If a person is declared incompetent, he must still write a statement himself. This document is additionally accompanied by the conclusion of a medical commission with the participation of a psychiatrist. If the patient, due to his condition, cannot submit a personal application, then the decision on placement in a psychoneurological boarding school is made by the guardianship and trusteeship authority, taking into account the conclusion of a medical commission with the participation of a psychiatrist.

The question of how to determine whether a person has schizophrenia or not is extremely important, because the earlier treatment for this disease begins, the better the future prognosis. According to statistics, 1 out of 4 people with this diagnosis recovers within 5 years of therapy. For others, treatment reduces symptoms and increases the duration of remission.

Rorschach tests

Hermann Rorschach is a renowned psychotherapist working in Switzerland. He entered the history of psychiatry with his individually designed personality testing for mental disorders. Later, the tests he created began to be successfully used to determine mental disorders of human consciousness. The most famous test is called “Rorschach Blots”.

Rorschach test: a set of inkblot pictures

How to use the test

Rorschach blots are a collection of cards. Most often it includes ten pictures in the form of ink blots. A certain blot, when examined and analyzed by a patient, evokes individual associations. A doctor, analyzing a person’s test for schizophrenia using pictures, identifies the level of impairment of consciousness and psyche.

The doctor, analyzing the test, relies on those associations (with objects, objects, processes) that cause blots in the test person . For example, when examining a picture, the subject sees:

1. A cheerful man who jumps and dances.
2. A bat or dragon that wags its tail welcomingly.
3. Evil creatures that will now attack and eat me, they are dangerous to everyone around me (dangerous only to me).
4. Monstrous aliens whose plans are to take over the entire earth. In the meantime, they sit in their house and think over a plan of attack.

The test taker should describe his feelings about each picture in as much detail as possible. There are ten blots in total. The uniqueness of the Rorschach test is that these blots are black and white and do not resemble any recognizable image. Therefore, this test makes it possible to judge existing pathological images.

Symptoms of the disease

Depending on the form of the disease, both symptoms and treatment options will differ. Let us consider the manifestations of each type of disorder in order to understand in more detail what the differential diagnosis of schizophrenia is based on.

Paranoid form

Patients feel as if their thoughts are being stolen or imposed on them by others

This type of disease occurs most often. Accompanied by the following symptoms:

• hallucinations;
• delusional states;
• visions.

In paranoid schizophrenia, patients hear voices in their heads that can criticize and command, persuade, exalt or humiliate. Hallucinations may be wordless. These include various sounds: music, knocking, laughter or crying, etc. Rarely, patients may experience taste or smell hallucinations or feel someone's touch.

Hebephrenic

The first manifestations occur in adolescence. Gradually, a person withdraws into himself, may join some sect (philosophical, occult, religious), and over time, speech disorders develop. The behavior of a person with this type of schizophrenia becomes unpredictable. So, it may appear:

• complete lack of emotions, grimacing, strange manners;
• unkempt appearance, often foolish facial expression, childishness manifests itself in character;
• lack of logical connection in speech, strangeness in reasoning.

Hallucinations and delusions in this form are rarely observed, but if they occur, they are mild. Since the diagnosis of schizophrenia in children and adolescents is a complex process, the hebephrenic type is rarely detected in a timely manner.

Catatonic

There is a disorder of motor functions: the patient can be either overly active or lethargic and inactive. There are often attacks of aggression and anger, and the patient may scream and scream. This picture greatly complicates the differential diagnosis of schizophrenia. The following symptoms also appear:

• excessive excitability - activity in the absence of external influence;
• freezing – the patient freezes in a strange position for no reason;
• stupor – the reaction to the outside world decreases, the person becomes inhibited;
• negativism - a schizophrenic constantly tries to take actions that are opposite to his desires, strive to do something contrary to instructions;
• rigidity – the desire to maintain a posture, body position in response to brain signals about its change;
• obedience to external instructions coming from outsiders;
• waxy flexibility of the body - parts of the body of a schizophrenic with this form of the disease can take on various physical states that cannot be recreated by a healthy person;
• monotony - the patient repeats the same thought, gives the same answers to different questions.

Simple

There is a desire for loneliness

Inadequacy increases gradually with the development of the disease; mental abilities and the ability to work, study, and successfully lead a social life gradually decrease. This form of schizophrenia is relatively rare. It manifests itself as isolation and inactivity against a background of apathy.

Residual

This type of schizophrenia usually occurs after the acute phase. The following symptoms are manifested:

• autism;
• low level of emotions;
• humiliation of will;
• poor speech;
• lack of interest in life, sexual interest.

Patients cannot be full-fledged members of the family or care for themselves. They must be under constant supervision and care; doctors insist on assigning such patients a certain disability group.

Luscher test

You can also pass a psychological test for schizophrenia using original color perception. This method was developed in the middle of the last century by the Swiss psychotherapist Max Luscher. More than a century of its use has shown and proven a clearly traceable connection between the existing psycho-emotional background of the individual and color perception.

The founder of the test, Max Luscher, created it to assess and identify the level of communication abilities, predisposition to stress and the presence of depression in the person being tested.

To analyze the mental state of the subject, Luscher used color perception. The test consists of several cards, each of which is colored a certain color. When conducting a personality test, you are asked to choose the most attractive colored card each time.

Luscher testing

In the course of his many years of practice and activity, Max Luscher made an important conclusion: for each person, color perception is universal, and emotional perception is a purely individual matter . That is, color perception can change under the influence of any factors.

Types of dough

Over many years of successful use of the Luscher test, psychotherapists have developed two types of test based on it, which make it possible to more accurately determine the degree of psycho-emotional disorder:

1. Full version of the test. The patient is asked to analyze seven color tables with more than 70 color shades.
2. Short test. A person is asked to analyze only eight colors.

But a questionable analysis, or even a positive one, is not enough to make a diagnosis of schizophrenia. To make sure that a person is suffering from a mental disorder, after tests are carried out, he is prescribed a series of in-depth medical studies.

What are tests for schizophrenia based on?

In some cases, a specialist combines several techniques at once.

1. All questionnaires are based on the assessment of the construction of your associative series, which arises when studying pictures. That is, you need to answer the question: “What do you see?”

2. Another psychological testing option uses pictures to assess your ability to recognize illusions.

3. The third option involves assessing attitudes towards different colors .

To be most effective, such tests must be taken with a clear mind. In some cases, it is worth thinking about and analyzing the pictures offered by the test. In others, on the contrary, a long answer may distort the result, but if you take a survey or quiz using pictures under the supervision of a specialist, he will evaluate this moment and draw the necessary conclusions.

Chaplin mask test

Another interesting test for schizophrenics is widely known in medical circles - the Chaplin test. This test was first introduced into use by psychiatrists by Richard Gregory, a famous scientist and professor of neuropsychology. The scientist, studying the difference between the existing reality in healthy and sick individuals, came to the conclusion that a person’s perception depends on thinking, which is based on existing experience.

The more knowledge a certain person has about a situation, the less often his self-awareness requires processing and accepting fresh information.

Testing is based on optical illusion. The subject is asked to look at the rotating face of the legendary comedian for 2-3 minutes. And then tell me if there is anything strange in Chaplin’s moving appearance. Look:

If the person is healthy . A mentally adequate person, when faced with some new information, uses existing experience to process it. A healthy person experiences optical illusions when his already ingrained knowledge and experience about a certain subject does not correspond to the situation.

To people who do not have a schizophrenic disorder, the face will appear convex and on the wrong side.

Initially, a person perceives an ordinary three-dimensional Chaplin mask. When the face rotates, a healthy person's visual system cannot perceive the inside of the mask as empty. Adequate people see another three-dimensional face there. This happens due to the following nuances:

1. The brain of a healthy person does not quite adequately perceive the play of light/shadow on the inside of the mask.
2. Human experience dictates to the brain knowledge of what appearance a face has. This is top-down knowledge.
3. Dissonance occurs in the brain with the sensory signal.
4. But in a healthy person, downward knowledge always has a clear advantage.
5. The concave face on the reverse side of the mask of a healthy personality appears three-dimensional.

If a person is sick . One of the main symptoms of schizophrenia is a failure of all cognitive functions. Schizophrenics cannot perceive any optical illusions. A person suffering from schizophrenia will not find anything strange in a rotating mask. For a sick person, Chaplin's appearance will remain concave.

The reasons why individuals with schizophrenic disorder are unable to perceive optical illusions are not yet fully understood. There is a theory that such non-perception depends on the special manner in which sick people process visual information.

Comparison of the brain function of a healthy person and a patient with schizophrenia

If you can't see the 3D pinkish face on the back of the mask, rush to the doctors. But don't despair! Optical illusions are also not perceived by people under the influence of drugs, alcohol or severe stress.

Positive syndromes

How to determine schizophrenia in a person? Recognize positive syndromes. They are noticeable because they are usually associated with a loss of reality. These include hallucinations, delusions, thinking disorders, etc.

A hallucination is an illusion, a deception that does not exist in reality. Hallucinations in which commanding voices are heard are dangerous for the patient and others. A person with schizophrenia may obey instructions and commit crime or suicide. Signs indicating hallucinations:

• the patient has conversations with himself;
• laughs for no reason;
• falls silent and listens to something or looks closely.

By the way, about suicides. A person suffering from schizophrenia decides to take such a step not only because of hallucinations. Often depression, accompanied by suicidal thoughts and self-blame, leads to this act. Statistics show that approximately 40% of people diagnosed attempt suicide. In 10–20% of cases, the attempt leads to death.

If treatment manages to suppress some symptoms of schizophrenia, this does not mean that the likelihood of suicide becomes zero. No matter what, the patient may have suicidal thoughts. There are certain risk factors for committing suicide. These include:

• depression;
• history of suicide attempts;
• young age;
• male gender;
• drug use;
• the predominance of positive symptoms over negative ones;
• poor social support, etc.

Now let's talk about delirium, because by this sign it can be determined that a person has schizophrenia. As a rule, this symptom is observed frequently. Delusions are persistent conclusions or beliefs that are not true. The patient cannot be convinced. Delirium can vary in content. For example, they distinguish:

• delusion of special treatment, when the patient thinks that people around him think negatively about him and treat him badly;
• hypochondriacal delusion, when a person with schizophrenia thinks that he has an incurable disease, but not a mental one.

With schizophrenia, some people have confused thoughts and memory loss. The patient, having taken an object, may forget why he did it. When the disease progresses unfavorably, illogical thinking is observed.

Eye movement test

A special feature of this test is its high accuracy in determining possible schizophrenia. The world's leading psychiatrists have long studied the reaction of eyeball movement in people suffering from various mental disorders.

The result of many years of research was an eye method for verifying schizophrenia. The test was created by scientists from Scotland, Philip Benson and David Clair, who had been observing the behavior of patients for a long time. With schizophrenic syndrome, the patient is characterized by:

1. The patient's inability to focus his gaze on a stationary object.
2. It is also difficult for a schizophrenic to keep his gaze on objects that move at a slow speed.

How is testing carried out?

The final conclusion on whether a person has a schizophrenic disorder is given based on the results of a combination of the following stages:

1. Smooth tracking.
2. Free movement.
3. Fixation of gaze.

Eye tests with a reliability of 97-98% can detect the presence of schizophrenia in the early stages . The reliability of the method was confirmed by scientific research by scientists at the University of Aberdeen.

Various pictures and objects (moving and stationary) are alternately placed in front of the subject. The patient's task is to continuously monitor objects.

Due to its characteristics and specific disorders occurring in the brain, it is difficult for a patient with schizophrenia to concentrate his gaze and focus it correctly.

The basis for the disruption of the normal mobility of the eyeballs in a schizophrenic is a failure in the conductivity of neurons running through the centers of the brain halves. Also, during the disease, adequate interaction between peripheral receptors (including the optic nerve) and the cerebral subcortex is disrupted.

How does schizophrenia develop?

Warning symptoms are:

• a person’s inability to track moving objects for a long time;
• when moving behind an object, the patient's eyeballs seem to lag behind the object.

The ocular method of detecting schizophrenia is currently considered only a method of early diagnosis of pathology. But scientists plan to develop and improve testing that will allow us to determine not only the presence of the disease, but also which way the disease will develop.

Negative syndromes

There is another answer to the question of how to determine schizophrenia in a person. This can be done by identifying negative symptoms. Modern experts consider passivity to be this category. The patient's volitional activity is weakened. His motivation to perform any actions decreases. The patient does not want to go to work or go shopping. He longs to be at home. However, a person does not want to do anything in his own home. The patient stops observing even basic rules of personal hygiene.

Another negative symptom includes autism. Interests are narrowed, asociality is observed. The patient does not want to and finds it difficult to communicate with people. Also, with schizophrenia, movements are inhibited and speech becomes poorer.

The first signs of schizophrenia

The disease can develop in both men and women. The peak onset of schizophrenia in the former occurs in the age period from 20-25 years, in the latter - from 25-30 years. Mature and elderly people are much less susceptible to this diagnosis. The later the disease manifests itself, the more favorable the prognosis for its treatment.

Early symptoms and signs of schizophrenia may be mild. That is why they go unnoticed by both relatives and the patient themselves. First of all, they manifest themselves in changes in a person’s emotional state. His mood changes frequently and unreasonably. He can rejoice at the children’s successes, and a few minutes later he can angrily shout at the child for what he considers an inappropriate phrase or statement.

The first symptoms of schizophrenia include sudden changes in preferences in food, clothing, and colors. So, for example, today a person likes everything red, tomorrow he likes everything yellow. Previously unloved dishes become tasty and appetizing. A person ceases to adequately perceive criticism - he becomes angry and irritated, believing that his action was condemned unjustifiably.

The first signs of schizophrenia are also characterized by affective states. A person experiences an extraordinary surge of energy and physical strength. These moments are short-lived and are abruptly replaced by fatigue and gloom. Often relatives and the patient himself do not pay special attention to such manifestations, considering them the result of nervous overstrain at work, emotional stress, and overwork. In addition, such signs can easily be confused with nervous disorders or depression, especially characteristic of adolescent patients.

As the disease progresses, a person may develop more pronounced signs of schizophrenia , such as delusions, hallucinations, and phobias, which cause concern for the patient’s relatives. Most often, they are the ones who initiate seeking professional psychiatric help. If you are worried about your loved one and their mental state, call the Balance clinic at +7 (499) 495-45-03. Our specialist will advise you, answer all relevant and interesting questions, and tell you what to do in a given situation. Call anytime. We work around the clock.

Drawing test “Secrets of the inner world”

A very interesting and easy-to-perform psychological test that can ultimately provide significant answers to many life questions. To conduct this you will need a pen (or pencil), a blank piece of paper and a few minutes of free time.

First you need to divide the sheet into four equal parts. In the upper left sector you need to draw a dot, in the upper right sector - a rectangle, in the lower left part the “=” sign is drawn, and the lower right part remains empty. Now you need to discard all extraneous thoughts, calm down and start performing the test. To do this, you need to finish drawing in the first three fields everything that first comes to mind. You shouldn’t waste effort on masterpiece paintings, even if it takes no more than 15 seconds to create one image. And in the last square you should draw a boat floating on the waves. That's all, you can start decoding.

Answers to the psychological test “Secrets of the inner world”

1. The top left picture talks about interaction with the outside world. If more dots or other small scattered details were added, then we are talking about a sociable, open personality. And spirals, circles, ovals indicate a closed, alienated person.
2. The top right picture reveals the inner self. Selfish people try to reduce the area of ​​contact between the drawing and the rectangle or even draw elements away from the figure. Good-natured, sociable people associate their image with the one proposed. Most often this is a wall, a parallelepiped, or a brick. Altruists tend to draw a picture of the house.
3. The third picture is responsible for relationships with the opposite sex. The fewer details and the further they are from the lines, the easier and simpler the thread of communication is built. Unconfident individuals draw piled-up pyramids of various symbols and signs.
4. The last drawing is love. Romantics add a lot of unnecessary details: sails, stars, clouds, oars, people, animals. Practical natures with a strong character and alien to sentimentality depict a simplified scheme without any frills or intricacies. Passionate dreamers rushing headlong into feelings will undoubtedly draw a stormy sea, on the waves of which the boat of love rocks.

Everyone wants to look at themselves from the outside, to evaluate the psychology of the inner world from a different angle. You can determine a psychological portrait using drawings. A person will spontaneously put on paper all his personality traits, even those that are difficult to admit to himself.

Where is schizophrenia treated in Moscow?

At the acute stage, the patient should be in the hospital. In this state, he cannot control himself and his actions and requires round-the-clock care and the use of medications.

The Clinic of Dr. Isaev treats schizophrenia using safe, licensed drugs. The disease goes into remission, he can continue to live normally and take care of himself on his own.

Drawing test “Draw a house”

The test task is easy to understand based on the name of the psychological test. It is also not difficult to interpret the results from the drawings; human psychology is structured in such a way that without meaning to, he will talk about his inner world.

1. The person who depicted the multi-story building has a “complex” closed character and a tendency to focus on his own problems. A low, cozy house indicates that the person who drew it urgently needs peace and rest from boring everyday life. The fairytale castle depicted in the picture indicates frivolity and frivolity. A house surrounded by a fence means a secret desire to protect yourself from others, and the higher the fence, the more withdrawn the person. But if the home is decorated with flowers and picturesque bushes , then we can talk about an open, sociable and cheerful person. Persons in need of protection and support surround their home with tall trees with a lush crown .
2. Hospitable people depict a spacious house in the foreground , a person who feels rejected draws a small house in the distance. Individuals who are in a conflict situation draw steps leading into a blank wall. The absence of doors indicates that it is difficult for a person to open up to others. Also, doors that are too small or have a large lock indicate alienation and reluctance to let someone into your inner world. And wide open doors represent open, friendly, sociable people.
3. Some people really like to draw a chimney . So, when smoke comes out of it, it means that the person is under emotional stress. Perhaps he lacks friendly support or family warmth.
4. By the nature of the windows in the picture one can judge the character of a person. If there are too many windows , it means the person is sociable, and if there are none at all, it means he is hostile. Shutters covered with curtains are painted by people for whom relationships with others are very important. The absence of curtains indicates a straightforward personality, which in some situations can behave untied.

This drawing test can act as an independent study, or it can become the key to other tasks in which a person depicts a house.