How to tell if I'm schizophrenic test. A few simple questions about schizophrenia

Psychiatrists have been using tests for schizophrenia for a long time, but among them there are studies that make it possible to determine initial stages diseases or verify the level of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is enough dangerous diagnosis, so it cannot be installed based on tests alone. The method is used to identify early signs illnesses when you need to see a psychiatrist.

Experts will appreciate clinical symptoms, brain functionality. Only after comprehensive examination there is a possibility of making a diagnosis.

An online picture test for schizophrenia is recommended for people whose parents are prone to psychosis, different forms schizophrenia to determine the likelihood of the disease. Upon receipt positive results you need to see a psychiatrist. The ability to study the condition anonymously helps to take adequate therapeutic procedures at an early stage to protect against further progression of the disease.

Answering test questions anonymously increases the likelihood of receiving correct result, since the person is not burdened with the burden of making a disappointing diagnosis.

Test for schizophrenia using pictures: Rorschach test - diagnostic features

Diagnosis of schizophrenia using the Rorschach test is aimed at determining psychological state person. A special feature of the test is the analysis of unique blots and spots in the picture. Mental condition determined based on associations of pictures with certain objects.

Hermann Rorschach's inkblots online cannot be deciphered by psychiatrists. When analyzing, you should write down your own associations, and then contact a specialist who will assess the likelihood of schizophrenia.

Here is an approximate list of Rorschach test answers to the question, what do you see from a whole spot in the picture:

1. I see a man jumping, moving, singing;
2. In the image bat, another animal that wags its tail;
3. I observe a dragon, a witch or other mythical characters who harm surrounding creatures;
4. It seems to me that the picture shows an uninhabited house in which aliens nest;
5. The whole spot is associated with love and friendship.

When analyzing the answers, we can assume which options are typical for a person with schizophrenia. The final conclusion can be obtained after evaluating the answer options to 10 questions after analyzing the entire spots.

Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental illness. The characteristic features of this pathology are a combination of productive and negative varieties mental symptoms, as well as combinations of behavioral and cognitive disorders. The prognosis of the disease is usually unfavorable. According to epidemiological studies, the prevalence of this disease in human population is in the range of 0.8-1%.

Characteristic features of the disease

In order to be highly likely to have schizophrenia in a person, they must have at least one clearly present symptom from the following list:

• the so-called “echo of thoughts,” “taking away” or “investing” thoughts, broadcasting thoughts (openness);
• delusions of influence, influence, related to movements of limbs or other parts of the body, actions, thoughts or sensations, delusional perception of the environment;
• hallucinations in the form of voices discussing and commenting on the patient’s behavior; other types of hallucinatory voices are also taken into account, regardless of the source (emanating from any part of the body);
• persistent delusional ideas of any other kind that are not adequate for a given social culture and do not have a rational explanation for their content.

The patient must have at least two symptoms from the list below. Moreover, the symptoms must persist for at least a month:

• constant hallucinations relating to any area, accompanied by delusional ideas that are not fully formed, unstable, and do not have a clear emotional coloring;
• interruption of the thought process due to mixed thoughts, which lead to fragmentation or diversity of speech, neologisms;
• catatonic disorders: undifferentiated stereotypical excitations, impulsive acts, rigidity or waxy flexibility, negativism, stupor, exaggerated mannerisms;
• negative symptoms: pronounced apathy, the appearance of poor speech, pallor, smoothness or inadequacy of emotional reactions - features leading to isolation, lack of intelligence - provided that these signs are not caused by depression or drug effects;
• significant changes in behavior, manifested by loss of interests, lack of focus and inactivity.

It should be borne in mind that the sudden onset of schizophrenia is not typical. Before the formation of symptoms, there is a period of prodromal phenomena (precursor symptoms), the duration of which in most cases lasts at least five years. During this period of time, features such as mild cognitive impairment, changes in motor skills, isolated perceptual disturbances, episodes of loss of interest in work, and social activities, episodes of ignoring hygiene habits. These signs in some cases can be mistaken for fatigue and absent-mindedness. Recognize pathological changes Systematic observation of a person and communication with him help.

Testing

To identify those predisposed to this disease A number of testing systems have been developed to diagnose people and establish a correct diagnosis. Such tests are primarily recommended by experts to be carried out by persons, relatives, especially parents, who are prone to neurotic disorders or other anomalies that could be interpreted as prodromal phenomena of schizophrenia, symptoms of this disease.

It is not possible to make a diagnosis based on the test results. Diagnostic systems only make it possible to identify the presence of a predisposition to the formation of a disorder and understand whether the person being studied belongs to a risk group.

Eye test

Diagnosticians claim that the result this survey is 97-98% reliable, allows you to test a person for schizophrenia and detect the disease at early stages.The study takes into account following features oculomotor system of patients with schizophrenia:

• the patient’s inability to focus his gaze on a stationary object for a certain time;
• It is very difficult for a patient with schizophrenia to keep their eyes focused on an object that is moving at a slow speed.

A disorder in the oculomotor area, which makes it possible to diagnose the disease using this test, is associated with the following features:

• in schizophrenia, a disorder occurs in the conduction of nerve pathways between the hemispheres of the brain;
• the correct interaction between peripheral receptors and the cerebral subcortex is disrupted: in this case, a violation of the interaction between the nerve endings on the retina and the visual centers.

During the diagnosis, warning symptoms are the inability to track a moving object for a long time, when tracking a moving object eyeballs will lag behind the subject.

Due to its high information content, the eye test attracts a lot of attention from specialists and is still being improved.

Test drawings

Another technique that allows us to assume the presence of a disease is a test pattern. Diagnostic value has impaired color perception in schizophrenic patients. They are capable of confusing colors and shades, so the objects in the picture will typically have an unnatural color: the Sun is green or purple, the trees are red, the sky is yellow, and so on.

Rorschach test

The Rorschach test, which is included in the list, is also valued by experts diagnostic procedures. The patient is offered to review ten cards with images in the form of color and black and white blots. He must, slowly, carefully examine the images one by one and tell what, in his opinion, they look like. By analyzing the patient's answers, the specialist draws conclusions about the patient's state of mind.

Schizophrenia, like any mental illness, has its own symptoms, which can only be considered in combination. Single manifestations taken out of the general context are not signs only, but may correspond to the symptoms of other mental illnesses.

Scientists are looking for ways to diagnose schizophrenia, offering various test methods. However, none of them can accurately determine schizophrenia.

The first ones begin to appear already in childhood and adolescence. To already determine schizophrenia, you need to know the features of its manifestation.

External manifestations of schizophrenia: symptoms and signs

Schizophrenia differs from other mental illnesses in the variety of forms and long period of time of its onset. The first ones usually shock the patient’s relatives. This reaction is understandable, since none of the people are ready to accept this disease into their family. Therefore, when faced with the first signs, they reject even the thought of the disease, explaining the problems as overwork or stress.

This situation is fraught with consequences, as the symptoms will increase and the person’s well-being will worsen.

As a rule, patients with schizophrenia experience several groups of symptoms:

1. Psychotic. This group includes signs that are completely absent in healthy people: delirium, obsessions, .

Delusions are not based on real situations, but are completely fictitious. Patients with schizophrenia create their own picture of the world around them. Patients develop aggressive tendencies: the person feels inferior and believes that the whole world wishes him harm.

Hallucinations can be of several types:

• visual, when a schizophrenic sees non-existent objects, people, animals or other creatures;
• auditory, in which a person with schizophrenia hears voices or sounds that do not exist in reality;
• tactile, causing non-existent pain and sensations in patients (burns, blows, touches);
• olfactory, in which patients feel certain odors.

1. Disorganized. This group of symptoms characterizes the situation inadequate reaction to what is happening due to problems with mental operations. Patients with schizophrenia may say meaningless things, and accompanying this aggressive behavior. Even with meaningful positions, the patient’s speech is fragmentary in nature without the possibility of its systematization. Schizophrenics cannot establish a sequence of actions. They are distracted.
2. Emotional symptoms. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit abnormal emotional reactions on what is happening: a person can experience joy at a funeral and negativity in positive situations. Another characteristic component is the state of affect in patients with schizophrenia. Situations often arise when patients with schizophrenia exhibit suicidal tendencies.

The appearance of signs of schizophrenia should alert loved ones and make them want to seek help from a specialist.

Diagnosis of schizophrenia

Given the variety of forms of schizophrenia, when diagnosing this disease, it is necessary to take into account the complex of symptoms that are observed in patients for six months. Single manifestations do not characterize the disease.

First of all, experts pay attention to mental disorders: thoughts, general mood, the presence of hallucinations, movement disorders, and disturbances in mental operations. Special attention at the same time deserves a common emotional condition person.

The presence of schizophrenia in relatives speaks in favor of the disease.

When defining schizophrenia, it is worth distinguishing this disease from schizotic conditions and psychotic disorders. The signs of these deviations are similar in many respects, but their main difference is that similar conditions last about two weeks, and people come out of them on their own, without the help of a doctor.

However, the presence of psychotic and schizotic disorders is an indicator of the possibility of the onset of schizophrenia, which should cause caution in both the patient and his environment.

Delusional disorders can be a symptom of schizophrenia, or they can characterize obsessions. Delirium can be caused by brain diseases that are easy to identify. In schizophrenia, brain diseases are not detected.

Signs of the hebephrenic form of schizophrenia are movement disorders that are not controlled strong-willed manifestations. The patient may make grimaces and make caricature movements. In this case, manifestations of inadequate emotional reactions are observed.

The symptoms are similar to those of schizophrenia. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between these states.

When defining schizophrenia, it must be remembered that it is characterized by manifestations in almost all areas of human existence:

• apathy towards self: sloppiness, strange style of clothing, lack of self-care, lack of interest in life;
• disruption of communication, lack of trust in people;
• fragmented thinking and incoherent speech, the presence of neologisms (new invented words), meaningless texts;
• conflicting emotions that are inappropriate to the situation;
• anxiety;
• changes in behavior characterized as eccentricity and foolishness;
• suspicion.

Schizophrenia is a very specific disease. To determine it, it is necessary to take into account all the signs in a complex, which led to the need to develop tests for schizophrenia.

Tests for schizophrenia have been developed and improved over several decades. Some tests have gone through a lot of modifications and changes, while others are considered ineffective. At the present stage, there are many tests that are at the testing stage.

Let's look at the most common tests for schizophrenia:

• Mask. The essence of the test is that a person is shown a mask with the concave side facing the patient. Normal person immediately reacts to color, shadows, refraction of light and perceives reverse side convex masks. A person with schizophrenia has a split consciousness, and he does not unite the play of color and shadow and perceives the reverse side as a concave part.
• Luscher test. Color test offers a set of eight different colors, from which you need to choose the color you like, arranging the color range according to your degree of liking. It is important that the colors are normal without any glare or spots. The mechanism of this test is such that a person chooses a color on an unconscious level. Therefore, Luscher's results can be considered reliable.

Speaking about color preferences, it should be noted that schizophrenics perceive color in a unique way. Patients with schizophrenia may exhibit negativism towards certain colors or show irritation. Sometimes they completely abstract colors. Therefore, attitudes towards color can also be an indicator of schizotic disorders or the disease schizophrenia itself.

And so?

Most healthy people see a raised image here, ignoring the obvious signs of light and shadow. The effect is that human eye, or rather, the brain is unable to imagine a concave image of a human face ( reverse side masks representing a face). And it completes the concave picture so that it seems normal, that is, a convex image of a face.

But schizophrenics do not fall into this visual trap and can calmly observe a concave image of the face. To understand the reasons for this phenomenon, a group of German scientists analyzed the results of MRI brain scans in 16 healthy subjects and 13 volunteers with schizophrenia. During the experiment, subjects were shown both regular and concave 3D images of faces and had to determine which one they saw in this moment. The scientists found that subjects with schizophrenia found this task very easy. They made categorization errors in only 6% of cases. Healthy subjects were unable to do this task - in 99% of cases they mistook the concave mask for a normal face.

The scans showed that when healthy subjects viewed concave images, there was an increase in the activity of information exchange between two areas of the brain: the visual cortex (which receives information from the eyes) and the frontoparietal region (which interprets them). In schizophrenia, the interaction between these zones is disrupted.

Scientists believe that it is the deterioration of connections between different areas of the brain that is characteristic of schizophrenia and recall that the very name of the disease comes from the Greek “schizio” (to split, to divide).

Video for clarity:

2) Some questions from tests for schizophrenia. You must answer immediately without hesitation!

- shoe and pencil
- milk and hedgehog
- glass and rooster
- kitten and apple
- gun and umbrella
b. What is the difference between a drum and a violin?
V.

The answers of schizophrenics are in parentheses. A healthy person will not be able to immediately, without thinking, give an answer to such a question.
A. What do the following pairs have in common?
- shoe and pencil(both the shoe and the pencil leave marks)
- milk and hedgehog (milk and hedgehog can curdle)
- glass and rooster (Rooster and Glass are masculine. Ribs. Both the rooster and the glass are washed before use)
- kitten and apple(bones)
- gun and umbrella(click)
b. What is the difference between a drum and a violin? (If you throw a drum from a mountain, it will roll, but if you throw a violin, then it won’t. You can play a drum with a violin, but you cannot play a violin with a drum.)
V.Is the clock on the wall standing or running?

The doctor asks the patient, “Is the clock on the wall standing or running?”
The patient answers: they are hanging.
Based on this, the doctor concludes that the patient is seriously ill.

Instructions

The patient may behave strangely. He begins to be tormented by a feeling of persecution and the fact that invisible and mystical forces are spying on him. At the same time, he does not hide from others the fact that he sees people who are actually not around. Hallucinations gradually intensify, the person begins to rush around and constant feeling fear.

But visible hallucinations are not everything. A person begins to hear voices and thoughts of other people who are not nearby. He is also able to carry on a conversation with them, which causes complete misunderstanding among healthy people around him. At the slightest hint that there is no one nearby, he looks carefully and begins to prove that someone is talking to him. It happens that a patient blames completely healthy people for their mental abnormality. If you notice this in the behavior of people you know, don’t hesitate, it’s obvious mental disorder and a person can cause harm not only to himself, but also to others. Need immediate hospitalization and treatment intensive care.

If a person begins to pose strangely or behave inappropriately without good reason, then this can also be a symptom. During the period of antics, the patient may hear voices or even see. Usually he begins to share with others what he sees and does not understand how they can not notice it healthy people.

Not always with such vivid episodes of behavior. Sometimes a person becomes withdrawn, taciturn and begins to avoid communication with people around him. Speech becomes sluggish and incomprehensible; this occurs due to atrophy of the parts responsible for speech. The patient also begins to fear everyone and look with distrust.

In some cases, a person first becomes strange, and over time the course of the disease takes on more distinct forms. Strangeness and isolation are replaced by inappropriate and overly active behavior. Without treatment, the patient begins to hear and see hallucinations. Schizophrenia can very easily turn into acute form and cause the death of the patient as a result of an accident or deliberate suicide. Be vigilant - call ambulance.

Related article

Sources:

• how to recognize schizophrenia
• How to recognize a schizophrenic?

Strange behavior, hostility, causeless aggression and anger, suspicion of everything that happens can be not just a sign of temporary mental disorder, and the disease in which it occurs irreversible change personalities, i.e. schizophrenia.

Instructions

The development of schizophrenia may be preceded by frequent and severe headaches, attacks of which appear and disappear with intervals of years. Over time, an indifferent attitude towards everything that happens and towards oneself arises. Because of this, sloppiness in clothing or a strange, eccentric style appears. Lost interest in work and past hobbies.

A person with schizophrenia stops communicating with others, even with close friends and relatives. He sees in everyone conspirators and enemies who wish him harm and even death. He often makes absurd assumptions about this that he is a clear sign paranoid schizophrenia.

The attack is often replaced by excessive talkativeness, which is like a set of unrelated words or sentences. And attacks of aggression or hostility are replaced by complete disposition towards one’s surroundings. He often talks about scientific and philosophical topics or, unexpectedly for everyone, begins to really get carried away by them.

As schizophrenia progresses, hallucinations and delusions may begin. The patient begins to hear voices, to which he often responds, giving the obvious impression of being insane. Often this is what helps identify a schizophrenic.