12 TYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA, SYMPTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The types of e squizophrenia can vary according to the classification given by the different diagnostic manuals (DMS, WHO, ICD-10). Schizophrenia does not have a unique way of presenting itself, although all its classes have common characteristics.

One of the main characteristics is the obvious disconnect that exists with reality. The person is immersed in her own world: she has beliefs that most people do not share, she can perceive in an altered way through the senses, she can have a language that is difficult to understand, etc.

In addition, this disease has very negative consequences for the person. Patients tend to isolate themselves and suffer greatly with their delusions (they may think they want to poison you) or hallucinations (they may hear voices that insult you). This will inevitably be reflected in your relationships, your work, your studies, your health, personal care, etc.

Schizophrenia and its different types have multiple causes, although it is undeniable that genetic factors are important, always combined with environmental factors, drug use throughout life, developmental problems, or alterations in certain brain mechanisms.

Below, you can read about the different types of schizophrenia that are currently used to diagnose these patients.

Types of schizophrenia according to DSM-V

The different types of schizophrenia can be framed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) within the group “Spectrum of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. This section includes all the disorders related to schizophrenia, which are:

Schizotypal personality disorder

When schizophrenia is part of the person throughout their life and permanently, it is considered a personality disorder. Its main characteristic is a great difficulty in establishing and maintaining close relationships with other people. Generally, they have cognitive or perceptual distortions and an eccentric way of behaving.

It is common for these people to have so-called reference ideas, which means that any event that occurs or incident is interpreted by giving it an unusual or special meaning for themselves.

Therefore, they tend to be very attentive to paranormal phenomena (which do not belong to their culture) and it is common for them to be superstitious.

They present strange beliefs or magical thinking, that is to say: they believe in fantasies, telepathy, sixth sense… manifesting in their way of speaking, which can be metaphorical, vague, very overloaded or stereotyped.

Their social relationships are further damaged by paranoid ideation, which makes them be on guard, since they believe that others want to harm or take advantage of them. These social ties cause him great anxiety, which does not stop despite continually interacting with other people. Therefore, the affection or the expression of emotions and affection is inappropriate or very limited.

It is important to know that this is not related to having low self-esteem, but to your paranoid ideas.

If you find this section interesting, don't miss this article where we reveal 7 keys to schizotypal personality disorder.

Delusional disorder

Formerly called paranoid disorder, it is a type of mental illness that is considered serious since the affected person cannot differentiate reality and what is imagined.

The main characteristic of this disorder are delusions, that is, firm and immovable beliefs about something that is irrational, false or very unlikely.

Ideas are usually of the type being hunted, poisoned, admired, or secretly loved. In addition, the affected person reaffirms them by misinterpreting experiences or perceptions of their daily life.

Delusional disorder is differentiated by criteria such as: that it must have more than one delirium of a month or more in duration, if hallucinations occur they are associated with the delusional theme (for example, if that person is convinced that they are persecuting them, they will have hallucinations of hearing footsteps behind him or voices that threaten him) or that is not better explained by another mental disorder.

In addition, they can present extravagant content if the delusions are not credible, are difficult to understand and are not part of ordinary life experiences; Or, the contents can be part of real life (even if they are not fulfilled in the patient).

Within delusional disorder there are several types:

• Erotomanic type: when the patient is convinced that another person is in love with him.
• Greatness Type: Thoughts of being exceptional and / or having important knowledge or talents that are not recognized by others.
• Celotypic type: the person who suffers from it lives with the certainty that his partner is being unfaithful.
• Persecutory type: the central theme of delusions is that other people are against you, deceive you, persecute you, want to harm you, poison you, drug you, harass you or prevent you from reaching your goals.
• Somatic type: this subtype refers to physical sensations of the body itself, and may think that your body is not working properly because you have a medical problem.
• Mixed type: it is defined when no particular type of delusion predominates, but has several.
• Unspecified type: when it cannot be clearly determined according to the types defined above.

Brief psychotic disorder

It differs from other disorders related to schizophrenia in that it appears suddenly. Its duration is short (from a day to a month) and the person can return to her previous state of functioning.

Thus, it is born abruptly by one or more of the following symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized or catatonic behavior, and disorganized speech.

The latter appears as they have trouble thinking clearly and understanding what others are saying. The person who thinks in a disorganized way, jumps from one topic to another (which has nothing to do with it) or simply their narration will seem incoherent to others.

Disorganized behavior means that the patient carries out movements without a clear purpose, repeats gestures constantly, or carries out peculiar behaviors such as drinking water with a spoon.

Sometimes these people can stop moving or talking completely, remaining still for a long time.

The fundamental thing to consider that they are symptoms, is that the manifestations do not form part of the culture where the individual is immersed.

According to the DSM-V, it must be specified if it is a reactive condition, that is, it arises due to events that are objectively very stressful for the person (thus called brief reactive psychosis). Or, without stressors to cause it.

Obviously, this condition can be more or less serious depending on the number of symptoms that accompany it.

Schizophrenia

Two or more of the symptoms listed below must occur, extending significantly for more than 6 months. At least one of them must be from the first 3:

• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Disorganized speech.
• Very disorganized or catatonic behavior (motor immobility).
• Negative symptoms: they are linked to alterations in emotional experiences and in the way of behaving, and are more difficult to recognize symptoms because they can be confused with depression or other disorders.

Among these symptoms appear:

• The flattened affect: they seem not to express any kind of emotion on their face or in their voice, as if they were a robot.
• A reduction in the ability to feel pleasure.
• Difficulties starting and maintaining certain tasks (due to not being motivated).
• They can speak very little.
• They neglect their hygiene and basic personal care.
• They may need help with daily activities.

On the other hand, the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, which you may have heard of, consist of hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorders (the first 3 symptoms on this list).

Coinciding with the disorder, there are problems in the level of functioning in one or more places where the individual develops: work, studies, relationships with others, personal care, etc.

Schizophreniform disorder

It differs from schizophrenia itself in how long it lasts. This diagnosis is used since professionals are reluctant to diagnose schizophrenia, since the latter is serious and irreversible.

So, while the existence of schizophrenia itself or not is confirmed, the diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder is made. In about a third of people this disorder resolves, while in the other majority the diagnosis of schizophrenia is confirmed.

The symptoms and criteria are exactly the same as those of schizophrenia, and as we have said, the difference is in the duration. Thus, in schizophreniform disorder, the symptoms of schizophrenia must occur in a significant part of the time over a period of one month (minimum) up to 6 months maximum.

Schizoaffective disorder

It is a condition in which a combination of typical symptoms of schizophrenia are experienced: hallucinations, delusions, disorganized behavior and other symptoms associated with mood disorders (such as mania or depression).

This disorder is not as defined as other conditions, since it is a mixture of several clinical manifestations and in each person it can have a different development.

Thus, it can be linked to bipolar disorder (bipolar-type schizoaffective disorder) or depression (depressive-type schizoaffective disorder). They can occur at the same time or interchangeably. The development of this disorder is usually cycles of severe symptoms with other cycles of improvement.

The criteria are:

• Uninterrupted period of illness during which there is a major episode of mood (manic or major depressive) coinciding with the criteria for schizophrenia.
• Delusions or hallucinations for 2 or more weeks, without a major episode of mood disorders (bipolar or depressive).
• Symptoms must be present in most stages of the disease.
• The disturbances are not caused by drugs, pharmaceuticals, or medical illnesses.

Types of schizophrenia according to DSM-IV

In the old DSM-IV, the types of schizophrenia were classified according to other criteria that have not been considered in the new version, but it is not surprising that they continue to be used. These types are:

Paranoid schizophrenia

This type is characterized by the absence of disorganized and incoherent language. Neither does catatonic or disorganized behavior nor affective flattening appear. What predominates here are delusions (one or more) and hallucinations, which are very frequent.

Disorganized schizophrenia

Contrary to the above, here the symptoms of disorganized behavior and language and flattened or inappropriate affectivity stand out above all else.

Catatonic-type schizophrenia

You must present at least two of the following symptoms: motor immobility, or excessive motor activity that does not have any objective or responds to a stimulus from the environment, extreme negativism (resists without reason to any order that is given, remaining in a rigid posture Without moving).

Muteness (remaining silent), putting strange or inappropriate postures, stereotyped movements (behavior), striking grimaces, echolalia (repeating words or phrases that someone or himself has heard involuntarily) or echopraxia (the same, but repeating movements may also appear).

Undifferentiated schizophrenia

This type is used when diagnosing schizophrenia, but it does not fit the paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic type.

Residual schizophrenia

In this type there are no delusions or hallucinations, or disorganized behavior or language. On the other hand, other alterations are manifested as negative symptoms (pathological alterations in mood) or more symptoms that we have mentioned before but that occur in a mild way. The latter are about strange beliefs or perceptual experiences outside of normality.

ICD-10

In the International Classification of Diseases (tenth version) another type of schizophrenia is added that may be useful to take into account:

Hebephrenic schizophrenia

It usually appears between 15 and 25 years of age and is characterized by affective and motivational disorders. In contrast, delusions and hallucinations only appear a few times, being transitory. The disease has a poor prognosis since negative symptoms such as apathy and affective dullness appear immediately.

Behavior is often unpredictable and irresponsible, and affectivity is inappropriate for the social context. She laughs when she shouldn't or in a superficial way, acts contemptuously, repeats phrases continuously, makes faces, etc.

Sometimes he can show an absorbed smile, as if he is proud of himself; although they also define that he can present hypochondriacal complaints.

Disorganized and inconsistent thinking and language are common. The topics of their conversations are difficult to follow and tend to focus on the abstract, religious or philosophical. You tend to be isolated, and to carry out behaviors that have no purpose. Thus, he has no real motivation to do things and his behavior looks empty and erratic.

References

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