The Symptoms of Schizophrenia
By Sharon White
Hallucinations are a positive symptom, in most cases the hallucinations suffered by schizophrenics are not the usual visual hallucinations I would imagine most people experience when ill with a temperature. The most common hallucinations in schizophrenics are auditory hallucinations, usually consisting of one or more voices, which may speak to them directly, but quite often the voices are not directed to them, but do concern them, usually in a derogatory way, making suggestions to harm themselves or others, criticizing, or giving a running commentary on their own thoughts and actions. Hallucinations can involve any of the senses, such as visual, olfactory and tactile hallucinations, but auditory are the most common in schizophrenics .
Delusions, which are false irrational beliefs, not based on reality, can take many forms, the schizophrenic may be deluded that they are more powerful or important than any other human, that they have god like powers or knowledge, they may believe they are a person from history; these delusions are referred to as delusions of grandeur They may experience paranoid delusions, that they are being persecuted and that someone or something is conspiring against them, or trying to harm them.
