Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffSigns and symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia fall into several categories of disorganized thinking and behaviors, including:
- Disorganized thinking. With disorganized thinking, you can't form logical or coherent thoughts. This disorganization is also noticeable in your speech patterns. You may not be able to stay on track in a conversation, instead jumping from one unrelated idea to another. Your disorganized speaking is so severe that it may appear garbled and unintelligible to others, and you may make up words. These same disorganized patterns are evident in your written communication.
- Grossly disorganized behavior. The disorganized behavior of this type of schizophrenia is severe and causes significant impairment in your ability to function in regular daily activities. You may not be able to bathe, dress appropriately or prepare meals, for instance. You may have unprovoked agitation or confrontations, wear many layers of clothes on a warm day, appear disheveled or engage in sexual behavior in public.
- Absent or inappropriate emotional expression. When you lack emotional expression (flat affect), your face appears blank. You don't make eye contact or display common body language. Although you may occasionally show some emotion, your range of expression is usually very limited. Sometimes you may have emotions that are inappropriate to the situation, such as acting silly or laughing loudly during a serious event.
Other signs and symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia
Although the main symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia are disorganized thinking and behavior, you may also have some of the other common signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, such as:
- Having beliefs not based on reality (delusions)
- Seeing or hearing things that don't exist (hallucinations), especially voices
- Grimacing
- Odd postures
- Trouble functioning at school or work
- Social isolation
- Clumsy, uncoordinated movements
When to see a doctor
If you have any symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia, seek medical help as soon as possible. Disorganized schizophrenia doesn't get better on its own, and may worsen without treatment. However, if you're like most people with disorganized schizophrenia, you may not recognize that you need help. Family and friends, or people at work or school, may be the ones who initially suggest you seek help.
If you're reluctant to seek treatment, try to work up the courage to confide in someone, whether it's a friend or loved one, a health care professional, a faith leader or someone else you trust. He or she can help you take the first steps to successful treatment.
Helping someone who may have disorganized schizophrenia
If you have a loved one you think may have symptoms of disorganized schizophrenia, have an open and honest discussion about your concerns, if possible. You may not be able to force someone to seek professional help, but you can offer encouragement and support and help your loved one find a qualified doctor or mental health provider.
If your loved one poses a danger to himself or herself or to someone else, you may need to call the police or other emergency responders for help. In some cases, emergency hospitalization may be needed. Laws on involuntary commitment for mental health treatment vary by state.
Suicidal thoughts
Suicidal thoughts and behavior are common when you have schizophrenia. If you're considering suicide right now and have the means available, talk to someone now. The best choice is to call 911 or your local emergency services number. If you simply don't want to do that, for whatever reason, you have other choices for reaching out to someone:
- Contact a family member or friend
- Contact a doctor, mental health provider or other health care professional
- Contact a minister, spiritual leader or someone in your faith community
- Go to your local hospital emergency room
- Call a crisis center or hot line
- Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: Disorganized type. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 30, 2008.
- Minzenberg MJ, et al. Schizophrenia. In: Hales RE, et al, eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.; 2008. www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 7, 2008.
- Schizophrenia. National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia/complete-publication.shtml. Accessed Oct. 27, 2008.
- Jibson MD, et al. Schizophrenia and related disorders. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: Schizophrenia. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Oct. 30, 2008.
- Dyer JG, et al. Update on early intervention in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing. 2008;46:19.
- Turkington D, et al. Cognitive behavior therapy for schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2006;163:365.
- Treating schizophrenia. A quick reference guide. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Dec. 9, 2008.
- Schultz SH, et al. Schizophrenia: A Review. American Family Physician. 2007;75:1821.
- Hall-Flavin DK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Rochester, Minn. Dec. 12, 2008.
- Treatment of patients with schizophrenia, 2nd ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed Dec. 9, 2008.
