How to Detect Early Schizophrenia Symptoms

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder mostly connected with the thought process and emotional responsiveness. The medical condition is characterized by impaired thinking, behaviors, and emotions. Usually, the disintegration of thought process and emotional responsiveness manifests in the form of paranoia, strange delusions, auditory hallucinations, and disorganized speech and thinking. These symptoms are often followed by noticeable dysfunctions in social and occupational aspects. Although children ages 14 or under can be affected by this mental disorder, schizophrenia typically begins between the ages of 15 and 25. The early signs can be categorized into several groups, namely physical symptoms, behavior, feeling and mood, cognitive problems, as well as delusions and hallucinations.

Physical Symptoms

Early physical symptoms include unusual postures or gestures, awkward gait, clumsiness, sleeping disorder (either insomnia or too much sleep), sped up movements, slowed up movements, overly sensitive senses (especially to bright lights or loud noises), involuntary movements of tongue and mouth, Parkinsonian symptoms (e.g. jerking arm movements, rigidity). Other physical symptoms include blank facial expression, inability to express emotion through the face, and tendency to stare with infrequent blinking while engaged in deep thinking.

Behavior

People with schizophrenia tend to restrain themselves from social activities and have difficulty in building or maintaining relationships, neglect their self-care (e.g. clothing, hygiene, appearance), have excessive preoccupation with spiritual or religious activities, misuse drugs and alcohol, replay or rehearse conversations in loud voice (i.e. talking to themselves), and smoke (although many non-schizophrenic people also smoke). They also find it hard to cope with minor problems or difficult situations and are unable to engage in purposeful activities.

Feeling and Mood

Schizophrenia also affects feelings and moods. Early signs include inability to feel enjoyment from doing activities, feeling indifference to important matters, hypersensitivity to insults or criticism, sudden anger, little enthusiasm, depression, severe anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and frequent mood changing.

Cognitive Problems

Early signs of schizophrenia also include cognitive problems such as ruminating thoughts (thoughts that go round and round the head), poverty of speech (speaking very little), thought blocking, lack of insight, strange use of language structure, difficulty in expressing thoughts verbally, nonsensical logic, or disintegrated thought, action, and behavior.

Delusions and Hallucinations

Delusions are most frequently connected with paranoia and can manifest in many forms. People suffering from schizophrenia might think that their food might be poisoned or that the people around them are conspiring to harass them. A religious person may have the delusion that she/he is a god or a prophet. Meanwhile, hallucinations include visual and auditory hallucinations.

It is very important for you to know how to identify early schizophrenia symptoms. The earlier schizophrenia is detected, the higher the chance for cure. Visit our website to find out more about this mental disorder.

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Sweating the small stuff: Early adversity, prior depression linked to high sensitivity to stress

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2011) — We all know people who are able to roll with life's punches, while for others, every misfortune is a jab straight to the gut. Research examining this issue has found that although most people require significant adversity to become depressed -- the death of a loved one, say, or getting fired -- roughly 30 percent of people with first-time depression and 60 percent of people with a history of depression develop the disorder following relatively minor misfortunes. But no one knew why.

Now, a new study led by UCLA researchers suggests that people become depressed more easily following minor life stress in part because they have experienced early life adversity or prior depressive episodes, both of which may make people more sensitive to later life stress.

George Slavich, an assistant professor at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, and colleagues assessed individuals' experiences with early adversity, clinical depression and recent life stress. Slavich found that individuals who experienced an early parental loss or separation and people who had more lifetime episodes of depression became depressed following lower levels of life stress than those who didn't have these predisposing factors.

The study appears in the current online edition of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

"We have known for a long time that some people are more likely to experience mental and physical health problems than others," Slavich said. "For example, while some people get depressed following a relationship breakup, others do not. In this study, we aimed to identify factors that are associated with this phenomenon and to examine whether increased sensitivity to stress might be playing a role."

The researchers recruited 100 individuals with depression, 26 men and 74 women, and interviewed them extensively to determine what types of adversity they were exposed to when they were young, how many episodes of depression they had experienced and what types of life stress they had encountered recently.

The results showed that people who had lost a parent or had been separated from a parent for at least one year before the age of 18 and individuals who had experienced more episodes of depression over their lifetime became depressed following significantly lower levels of recent life stress.

Additional analysis revealed that these effects were unique to stressors involving interpersonal loss.

"Researchers at UCLA and elsewhere have previously demonstrated that early adversity and depression history are associated with heightened sensitivity to stress," Slavich said. "The present study replicates this effect but suggests for the first time that these associations may be unique to stressors involving interpersonal loss. In other words, individuals who are exposed to early parental loss or separation and persons with greater lifetime histories of depression may be selectively sensitized to stressors involving interpersonal loss."

An important question raised by these findings is how adversity early in life and prior experiences with depression promote increased sensitivity to stress. One possibility, the researchers say, is that people who experience early adversity or depression develop negative beliefs about themselves or the world -- beliefs that get activated in the face of subsequent life stress. Another possibility, which is not mutually exclusive, is that early adversity and depression influence biological systems that are involved in depression, perhaps by lowering the threshold at which depression-relevant processes like inflammation get triggered.

"Although many factors impact stress sensitivity," Slavich said, "thoughts almost always play a role. For example, when your best friend doesn't call back, do you think she is angry at you or do you think it just slipped her mind? Our thoughts affect how we react emotionally and biologically to situations, and these reactions in turn greatly influence our health. Regardless of your prior experiences, then, it is always important to take a step back and make sure you are interpreting situations in an unbiased way, based on the information available."

Other authors on the study were Scott M. Monroe, the William K. Warren Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, and Ian H. Gotlib, the David Starr Jordan Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.

The study was funded by a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellowship and by the National Institutes of Health.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Mark Wheeler.

Journal Reference:

George M. Slavich, Scott M. Monroe, Ian H. Gotlib. Early parental loss and depression history: Associations with recent life stress in major depressive disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.004

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here sciencedaily.com

Sweating the small stuff: Early adversity, prior depression linked to high sensitivity to stress

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2011) — We all know people who are able to roll with life's punches, while for others, every misfortune is a jab straight to the gut. Research examining this issue has found that although most people require significant adversity to become depressed -- the death of a loved one, say, or getting fired -- roughly 30 percent of people with first-time depression and 60 percent of people with a history of depression develop the disorder following relatively minor misfortunes. But no one knew why.

Now, a new study led by UCLA researchers suggests that people become depressed more easily following minor life stress in part because they have experienced early life adversity or prior depressive episodes, both of which may make people more sensitive to later life stress.

George Slavich, an assistant professor at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, and colleagues assessed individuals' experiences with early adversity, clinical depression and recent life stress. Slavich found that individuals who experienced an early parental loss or separation and people who had more lifetime episodes of depression became depressed following lower levels of life stress than those who didn't have these predisposing factors.

The study appears in the current online edition of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

"We have known for a long time that some people are more likely to experience mental and physical health problems than others," Slavich said. "For example, while some people get depressed following a relationship breakup, others do not. In this study, we aimed to identify factors that are associated with this phenomenon and to examine whether increased sensitivity to stress might be playing a role."

The researchers recruited 100 individuals with depression, 26 men and 74 women, and interviewed them extensively to determine what types of adversity they were exposed to when they were young, how many episodes of depression they had experienced and what types of life stress they had encountered recently.

The results showed that people who had lost a parent or had been separated from a parent for at least one year before the age of 18 and individuals who had experienced more episodes of depression over their lifetime became depressed following significantly lower levels of recent life stress.

Additional analysis revealed that these effects were unique to stressors involving interpersonal loss.

"Researchers at UCLA and elsewhere have previously demonstrated that early adversity and depression history are associated with heightened sensitivity to stress," Slavich said. "The present study replicates this effect but suggests for the first time that these associations may be unique to stressors involving interpersonal loss. In other words, individuals who are exposed to early parental loss or separation and persons with greater lifetime histories of depression may be selectively sensitized to stressors involving interpersonal loss."

An important question raised by these findings is how adversity early in life and prior experiences with depression promote increased sensitivity to stress. One possibility, the researchers say, is that people who experience early adversity or depression develop negative beliefs about themselves or the world -- beliefs that get activated in the face of subsequent life stress. Another possibility, which is not mutually exclusive, is that early adversity and depression influence biological systems that are involved in depression, perhaps by lowering the threshold at which depression-relevant processes like inflammation get triggered.

"Although many factors impact stress sensitivity," Slavich said, "thoughts almost always play a role. For example, when your best friend doesn't call back, do you think she is angry at you or do you think it just slipped her mind? Our thoughts affect how we react emotionally and biologically to situations, and these reactions in turn greatly influence our health. Regardless of your prior experiences, then, it is always important to take a step back and make sure you are interpreting situations in an unbiased way, based on the information available."

Other authors on the study were Scott M. Monroe, the William K. Warren Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, and Ian H. Gotlib, the David Starr Jordan Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.

The study was funded by a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellowship and by the National Institutes of Health.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Mark Wheeler.

Journal Reference:

George M. Slavich, Scott M. Monroe, Ian H. Gotlib. Early parental loss and depression history: Associations with recent life stress in major depressive disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.004

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here