How can you diagnose schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is actually rather complicated to diagnose, particularly because of the need for rather extensive biographical information and because the criteria sets are rather involved, but here's some general info that hits the highlights:

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is an illness that is biogically based. You inherit a predisposition for the disorder which is generally triggered by stress. The typical age of onset is in the late teens to early 20's (the college years).

The general characteristics include both "positive" (acute) symptoms and "negative" (residual) symptoms and there is a prodromal phase, acute phases and residual phases. There are a lot of technical aspects to the correct diagnosis which I won't elaborate, but in general the characteristic signs are any combination of the following:

"Positive" signs:
-Hallucinations (primarily auditory, less often visual and rarely tactile, gustatory or olfactory)
-Delusions (fixed or variable, paranoid/persecutory and grandiose, somatic, erotomanic, nihilistic, etc.-they run the gamut of various types, "ideas of reference" where a person believes that random events have a special meaning meant just for them, delusions of thought control or thought insertion)
-Disorganized Thinking ("Loose associations" where thoughts are strung together with little cohesiveness, "perseveration" where a person gets stuck on the same thought or theme over and over like a needle that skips on a record and keeps replaying )
-Disorganized Behavior (catatonic excitement, catatonic stupor which is like posturing-usually only seen in extremely severe cases and rarely any more)
-Poor Concentration and inability to focus on a thought, sometimes "blocking" where a thought becomes interrupted in midstream)
-Disorganized speech (incoherence, rambling or circumstantial speech-lots of fancy terms like echolalia, word salad, verbigeration, clanging)
-Inappropriate Affect (inappropriate giggling, tears, silliness, etc. that is out of context to the situation)

"Negative" signs:
-social withdrawal and preference to isolate
-flattened or blunted affect (emotional expression)
-Amotivation (lack of motivation, apparent apathy)

There are 5 distinct types:
1-Paranoid: most organized thinking of the types-prominent delusions and hallucinations
2-Disorganized (Hebephrenic): Grossly disorganized thinking and behavior predominates and inappropriate affect
3-Catatonic: catatonia, rarely seen any more
4-Undifferentiated: no clear predominant symptoms
5-Residual: Primary negative symptoms-often seen as a "burned out" version where there are fewer positive or acute symptoms

Schizophrenics often are able to maintain jobs in low stress environments with minimal interpersonal demands once they are stabilized. Others may work in sheltered employment with support and guidance. Social skills are greatly impaired and schizophrenics often have great difficulty reading the social cues most of us take for granted and thus they misjudge or misread social situations which reinforces their tendency to self-isolate as do paranoid symptoms. Intimacy is exceptionally difficult as well and they rarely form close or deep bonds with others, making it difficult to function as husbands and parents. They tend to appear aloof and distant emotionally, although often this is a way of coping with feelings of being overwhelmed by other people's emotional expression and demands.

Medication often serves to either completely control the acute symptoms or dampen their impact, but tends to have minimal impact on the negative symptoms. The side effects are often horrendous and intolerable and this leads to a familiar pattern of stopping medication, beginning the trend of repeated courses of decompensation leading to re-hospitalization.

The ineffectiveness of meds and the emotional blunting they can cause often leads to attempts to self-medicate with alcohol or marijuana (usually) which often increase symptoms.

Schizophrenics often perceive the world in unique and idiosyncratic ways which can cause them difficulty in complying with social norms and expectations, even simple things like generally accepted standards for cleanliness or hygiene. It can also lead them to exceptional creativity and expression in arts and abstract disciplines. Examples of famous schizophrenics are the poet and artist, William Blake (I have many of his works in my office for inspiration) and John Nash, the Nobel Prize winner featured in the movie "A Beautiful Mind".

People often assume someone who hears voices is schizophrenic, however their are many different disorders for which this may be a symptom and an extensive history and assessment are required for differential diagnosis. Source(s): 20 years as a psychotherapist

go to a docter. I believe schizophrenia proceeds a period of time ranging from weeks to months where the suffer loses touch with reality. If u have a lot of symptoms u could go to docter, u may very well have some other personality disorder if not schizophrenia. Best to get diagnosed. It's better than doing it in 2 or 3 yrs time.
I think the most distinctive symptom is that the patient suffers sensory delusions; either seeing things that aren't there or hearing things that aren't there. Also present is paranoia, where the patient assigns motives, typically harmful, to people nearby.

But the best source for any of this is to look up the definition in the psychology dictionary, which perhaps we can do with the Yahoo search feature here...

Okay: here ya go, and good luck:

.....

Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia (USA criteria)

Characteristic symptoms: Two (or more) of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period (or less if successfully treated):

Delusions - false beliefs strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: for example,
Paranoid delusions, or delusions of persecution, for example believing that people are "out to get" you, or the thought that people are doing things when there is no external evidence that such things are taking place.
Delusions of reference - when things in the environment seem to be directly related to you even though they are not. For example it may seem as if people are talking about you or special personal messages are being communicated to you through the TV, radio, or other media.
Somatic Delusions are false beliefs about your body - for example that a terrible physical illness exists or that something foreign is inside or passing through your body.
Delusions of grandeur - for example when you believe that you are very special or have special powers or abilities. An example of a grandiouse delusion is thinking you are a famous rock star.
Hallucinations - Hallucinations can take a number of different forms - they can be:
Visual (seeing things that are not there or that other people cannot see),
Auditory (hearing voices that other people can't hear,
Tactile (feeling things that other people don't feel or something touching your skin that isn't there.)
Olfactory (smelling things that other people cannot smell, or not smelling the same thing that other people do smell)
Gustatory experiences (tasting things that isn't there)
Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence) - these are also called "word salads".
Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (An abnormal condition variously characterized by stupor/innactivity, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs).
Negative symptoms, these are the lack of important abilities. Some of these include:
lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy acitivities as much as before
Low energy - the person sits around and sleeps much more than normal
lack of interest in life, low motivation
Affective flattening - a blank, blunted facial experession or less lively facial movements or physical movements.
Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people
Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends
Social isolation - person spends most of the day alone or only with close family

Note: Only one Criterion A symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person鈥檚 behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing with each other.

Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Cognitive symptoms refer to the difficulties with concentration and memory. These can include:
disorganized thinking
slow thinking
difficulty understanding
poor concentration
poor memory
difficulty expressing thoughts
difficulty integrating thoughts, feelings and behavior
This is from the cheery web page, http://www.schizophrenia.com. It seems to be pretty comprehensive.
There is a diagnostic manual called the DSM IV. If you meet the criteria set then you can met the diagnosis for schizophrenia. You will also find differntial diagnoses to look for. Google DSM IV Schizophrenia. You will also find that there are different tyes of it.
I whent to a phychiotrist, and she told me that my imagination was too big, and that I should focus on reality, and find a friend who's willing to be honest and tell me the truth, if I'm talking to someone who's not actually there.

I dont do it much, but....well....anyway.
I've diagnosed myself with schizophrnia, because my symptoms are drastic, but I dont tell anybody, and I didnt mention much of it to my counselor, so she doesn't know all of it...
but if you really want to know if it IS schizophrenia so you can back up your hypothesis, then check out a bood about mania, schizophrenia, etc. and read up.
Then take it to your doctor, and explain why you think you may have it.