Signs & Symptoms of Dementia Praecox

According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, schizophrenia was a term used by Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleule in 1910, meaning the same thing as dementia praecox. In fact, schizophrenia replaces dementia praecox in most literature according to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary of 2007, as well as other sources.

Whichever term you use, this disease is generally known as a form of psychosis. Abnormalities in perceiving things are common in dementia praecox or schizophrenia. Actually now schizophrenia is thought of as a group of disorders rather than a single disease. The two most common types are process schizophrenia, which is a gradual deterioration of mental and emotional stability, and reactive schizophrenia, which is sudden and is the result of a life crisis.

Signs and symptoms usually appear when a person is a young adult. It affects one percent of all adults worldwide. Research indicates that schizophrenia is probably the result of the faulty development of neurons in the brain of a fetus, which is displayed later in life as a full-blown illness, according to research done at the National Institute of Mental Health in 2009.

Early Signs and Symptoms

• The symptoms of schizophrenia differ from one person to another. There are several initial indications that there may be a problem. Inability to concentrate or think straight due to racing thoughts is one symptom. Lack of sleep (possibly due to racing thoughts), mild feelings of nervousness and unexplained anxiety also are other initial signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. Because of these things a lack of interest in school, work, or friends, develops. These symptoms are also indicators of other mental, emotional and physical problems. As the disease progresses, other more specific signs and symptoms of schizophrenia occur.

Disordered Thinking

• Schizophrenia sufferers most often find it difficult to think and reason clearly. Thoughts are scattered so they may go from one topic to another without making any sense. Schizophrenics may even make up their own sounds or words. Their speech often becomes totally nonsensical because of the disorganized thought process.

Emotional Expression

• Schizophrenia victims may not display any signs of normal emotion. They may speak in a monotone voice, or may lack facial expressions. To an ordinary observer it appears as if they just do not care about anything. Schizophrenia sufferers often display inappropriate behavior. They may scream uncontrollably over a happy event, for example.

Hallucinations

• Hallucinations are common in people with schizophrenia. Hallucinations are perceptions that happen without any link to a suitable source. They only happen in sensory forms such as taste, smell, sight, sound, or touch. Hearing voices that are not really there is the most common type of hallucination. These voices tell persons with schizophrenia to do bad things, like hurting people around them. In addition sometimes schizophrenia sufferers may think they taste, smell, see, or feel something that is not really there. They may feel bugs crawling on themselves when no bugs are present, for instance.

Delusions

• Schizophrenia sufferers may think that everyone is against them, or they truly believe they are famous or extraordinarily individuals. These false ideas are believed with total certainty and take over the mind of the schizophrenia victim. Delusions may be unusual, like seeing people from outer space coming through the ceiling, or common, like the feeling that people are taking food from a refrigerator.