A positive symptom of Schizophrenia is?

Appeared in: IGNOU Post B. SC. Nursing entrance-2019

Explanation

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are psychotic behaviors not generally seen in healthy people; they represent an excess or distortion of normal functions.
Hallucinations are a classic positive symptom, defined as sensory experiences that occur in the absence of any real external stimulus.
These can be auditory (hearing voices), visual (seeing things), olfactory (smelling odors), gustatory (tasting things), or tactile (feeling sensations on the skin).
In contrast, negative symptoms involve a reduction in normal emotional and behavioral states.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

Option B: Flat affect is a negative symptom, not a positive one. It refers to a significant reduction in the intensity of emotional expression.
Option C: Anhedonia is a negative symptom. It describes the inability to derive pleasure from previously enjoyable activities.
Option D: Avolition is a negative symptom characterized by a severe lack of motivation or initiative to accomplish purposeful tasks.

Related Visual

column chart comparing positive symptoms e.g., hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thought and negative symptoms e.g., flat affect, anhedonia, avolition, alogia of schiz...

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Knowing Classification of Schizophrenia Symptoms (Positive vs. Negative) helps nurses interpret findings accurately and avoid errors in routine assessment, medication administration, and patient teaching.
Nurses must differentiate between positive and negative symptoms to plan appropriate care. Positive symptoms (like hallucinations) often require immediate safety assessment and antipsychotic medication.
When a patient experiences hallucinations, the nurse's priority is to assess for command hallucinations (voices telling the patient to harm themselves or others) and ensure safety.
Negative symptoms (like avolition and anhedonia) are often more persistent and debilitating, requiring psychosocial interventions, skill training, and support for activities of daily living (ADLs).

How to Approach the Question

First, understand the question is asking to identify a 'positive' symptom of schizophrenia.
Recall the definition of positive vs. negative symptoms. 'Positive' means the addition of a behavior, thought, or perception. 'Negative' means the absence or reduction of a normal function.
Evaluate each option against the definition of a positive symptom.
Hallucination is an added sensory experience, which fits the definition of a positive symptom.
Flat affect (lack of emotion), anhedonia (lack of pleasure), and avolition (lack of motivation) are all deficits or 'absences' of normal function, classifying them as negative symptoms.
Therefore, hallucination is the only positive symptom among the choices.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Classification of Schizophrenia Symptoms (Positive vs. Negative)
Stem keywords: Schizophrenia, positive symptom
Lead-in keywords: is
Negative lead-in flag: false

Question ID

Q5ReAGXzT4vw6eS9pHyNbh

Reference Book

E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 1097-1099

E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) p. 4730-4732

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