Acute phase: A period when the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (hallucinations and delusions) are particularly severe – also known as a psychotic episode
Anti-psychotics: Medications that can treat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Atypical anti-psychotics: Newer class of medication used to treat schizophrenia
Long-term condition: An illness which lasts a long time, also known as a ‘chronic illness’
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): A type of psychotherapy that aims to help people manage their symptoms of schizophrenia or other mental illnesses by helping change their ways of thinking
Cognitive symptoms: These are related to the ability of someone with schizophrenia to think (eg: lack of attention or poor memory)
Compliance: Extent to which a person conforms to an agreed schedule of treatment
Delusions: Believing things that most others perceive as unrealistic, mistaken or strange
Differential diagnosis: The process of ruling out other conditions as an aid to identification of the illness
Hallucinations: Hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, tasting or otherwise sensing things that others don’t
Negative symptoms: These affect the ability to work and interact with other people (eg: avoiding people; lack of motivation, enthusiasm or emotional expression; and not talking much)
Positive symptoms: These are thoughts or events that a person with schizophrenia experiences which others don’t (eg: hallucinations or delusions)
Prodromal phase: The period of time when schizophrenia symptoms first appear but are often unrecognized
Psychotic episode: A period when the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (hallucinations and delusions) are particularly severe – also known as an acute phase
Relapse: A period of time during which the symptoms of schizophrenia worsen
Rehabilitation: The restoration of function to a person who has been ill, so that they can function in as normal, or as near normal, a way as possible
Residual symptoms: Symptoms of schizophrenia that still remain after treatment
Schizophrenia: A complex mental disorder that changes the way a person thinks, feels, behaves and perceives the world – and themselves
Sub-optimally controlled symptoms: Positive symptoms of schizophrenia that persist despite medication
