According to DSM IV, there
are four subtypes of schizophrenia:
Paranoid Type: Individuals with this type
of
schizophrenia experience delusions and auditory hallucinations while
maintaining relatively normal cognitive functioning.
Disorganized Type:
Individuals with this type of
schizophrenia have a hard time leading a normal life.They can’t perform daily activities
like showering and dressing.They also
have disorganized speech, flat affect, disorganized
behavior, random outbursts of laughter, odd mannerisms and have a
tendency
to
grimace.
Catatonic Type: Individuals with this type of
schizophrenia exhibit various disturbances in their movement patterns.They may experience a decrease in their
ability to move, possibly to the point of motor immobility, or there
can be an
excessive increase in their activity, as seen in excessive motor
activity.Voluntary movement, bizarre
postures,
echolalia (parrot-like and senseless repetition of words/phrases) and
echopraxia (repetitive imitation of other’s movements) are also
common. These individuals also tend to be resistant to
instructions and are opposed to others helping them move.
Undifferentiated Type:
Individuals with this type of schizophrenia have symptoms of the
disease
(positive and negative symptoms), but they are not specific enough to
be
classified as the other subtypes: Disorganized, Paranoid and Catatonic
type.
Residual
Type:Individuals with this type of
schizophrenia
have had one or more episodes of the disease, but in the present there
are no
prominent positive symptoms.However,
evidence of the disease is still prevalent in the individual’s
continuing negative
symptoms.
