Can it be schizophrenia?

I think something has gone wrong with a friend of mine. As a reaction to a lot of stress and some bad events in life, he suddenly ran out of all his positive and negative emotions and feelings, and says he's become more like an observer of the world with a flattened affect and voice, and he's lost ALL his motivation, sex drive and interest in life in general. He doesn't enjoy his hobbies anymore and he doesn't say this feels any bad at all (unlike people with depression). He's been like this for a month now. I knew him before, and the difference is really dramatic. He's got no paranoid symptoms or delusions though. He's in his early-mid-twenties and his mother is schizophrenic. Do you think it could be schizophrenia? Are there any other people out there with similar symptoms?

Well let me start first by saying that psuchology states that schizophrenia can be inherited. In fact if someone in your family has schizo, then you are about 4 times as likely to get it than someone that doesnt have schizo lurking in his family gene pool.

What really caught my attention in your description is the fact that your friend seems to have lost all interest in life. This characteristic of loss of motivation and emotion is typically described as the "negative symptoms" of a common schizophrenia case, with the "positive symptoms" being the auditory hallucinations and visual illusions.

Another important note here is the fact that schizophrenia seems to hit men in the age range of 18-25 years old.

Also, the fact that schizophrenia does not have distinct symptoms, makes it extremely difficult to diagnose. In fact to receive a diagnosis of schizo, a person has to have a serious long lasting decline in his ability to work and care for himself and/or connect with other people. In addition he must have at least 2 of the following 5 symptoms:

Delusions: False ideas the sufferer believes they are true

Hallucinations: Usually auditory, i.e.hearing voics etc

Disorganised Speech: Sufferers usually jump wildly and illogically from one idea to the next a phenomenon known as flight of ideas

Extremely Disorganised Behavior: Behavior that is completely inapropriate with a current situation like wearing layers upon layers of wool clothes on a summer day.

The last symptoms has to be one of the negative symptoms i've mentioned above i.e. loss of motivation.

A final note here: Schizo has the tendency to go from an extremely mild to an an extremely dangerous mental disorder. Some people with a minor form of schizo are not dangerous at all -> as long as they take their medication, their behavior can be controlled. But you also have to understand that The symptoms may not seem important but you have to understand that there are severe cases as well. Especially delusions and hallucinations can be a dangerous combination: A sufferer can have the delusion that she is the Queen of England and she constantly hears voices that someone wants to kill her. In this case, its very likely for the schizo patient to get a knife and go on a killing spree.

My advice to you though is to keep an eye on your friend. If things get uglier then take him to a doctor to be evaluated. Source(s): Psychology Major

take him to a doctor and find out
It sounds more like depression and he is in denial. He needs a psychiatrist RIGHT AWAY. Or it could be maniac depressive. In any case he nees a doctor since he lost motivation, interest in life, interest in all the things he used to like. That's mostly depression but maybe he does not want to admit he feels bad because it would mean he is weak and depression is not about if you are weak or not.
sounds like a hemroyd
In the families of schizophrenics there is not only more schizophrenics but also more of the other mental diseases than in the general population. Only a doctor can tell.
Like someone else said, it sounds more like depression--consult a doctor!!!