Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDSM-5 CriteriaDuring HospitalizationDiagnosticsDelayed DiagnosisCan You Tell You Have It?Next in Schizophrenia GuideEverything You Need to Know About Schizophrenia
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
DSM-5 Criteria
During Hospitalization
Diagnostics
Delayed Diagnosis
Can You Tell You Have It?
Next in Schizophrenia Guide
Schizophreniais officially diagnosed using theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition(DSM-5) diagnostic manual. There isn’t a single schizophrenia test or biomarker in the blood that can diagnose this chronic brain disorder.
Schizophrenia affects less than 1 in 100 people. In the United States, it’s estimated that the prevalence of schizophrenia and other relatedpsychotic disordersis between 0.24% and 0.64%.
Getting an official schizophrenia diagnosis doesn’t happen “accidentally,” but sometimes a person who’s having hallucinations or delusions will be hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation and receive an official diagnosis after other mental health disorders or medical conditions have been ruled out.
This article explains what you need to know about the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and walks you through the journey of getting an official diagnosis from the patient’s point of view.
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Getting Schizophrenia Diagnosed: DSM-5 Criteria
The DSM-5 was published in 2013.In this edition, for the first time, schizophrenia is classified as a spectrum of conditions under the umbrella term “schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs)”.
The following are characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia:
What Are Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders?Schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, and delusional disorder are all categorized under the umbrella of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs).
What Are Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders?
Schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, and delusional disorder are all categorized under the umbrella of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs).
Schizophrenia Diagnosis During Hospitalization
During this initial hospital visit, a series of psychological and physical tests are conducted to rule out other diseases orsubstance use disordersand, if needed, begin the official schizophrenia diagnostic process, which can take a few months.
What Are the Different Types of Schizophrenia?
Tests Used to Reach a Schizophrenia Diagnosis
When someone first starts having schizophrenia-like symptoms, it’s impossible to know what’s causing them until tests are run to rule out other issues like abrain tumor,encephalitis,epilepsy, orautoimmune diseasesthat affect thecentral nervous system.
To reach a schizophrenia diagnosis, the first step is to conduct a physical exam, do some blood tests, and undergo neuroimaging tests like anmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanor acomputed tomography (CT) scan. All of these tests can diagnose medical conditions other than schizophrenia that might be causing symptoms of psychosis. Because there isn’t a single test for schizophrenia, arriving at a diagnosis requires a process of elimination.
In general, lab results and brain imaging test results don’t show any red flags and appear normal in people with schizophrenia. If lab tests and brain scans don’t detect another potential cause for someone’s schizophrenia-like symptoms, the next step is to assess them based on DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Odds of Misdiagnosis
Because schizophrenia doesn’t progress linearly and the odds of misdiagnosis are high, it’s always wise to get a second opinion from a specialty clinic if possible.
Risks of Delayed Schizophrenia Diagnosis
Seeking treatment within the first few days or weeks of psychosis onset can dramatically improve outcomes for people who are ultimately officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. A 2020 longitudinal analysis on the effects of delaying treatment after schizophrenia-like symptoms appear can increase the risk of harmful symptoms progressing quickly and potentially becomingtreatment-resistant.
How Do You Know If You Have Schizophrenia?
Because the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia—hallucinations and delusions—interfere with thinking clearly, you may have difficulty acknowledging you have a problem like schizophrenia. Similarly, self-testing for psychotic disorders like schizophrenia isn’t the best option because it’s almost impossible to be objective about your mental health if you’re having delusions or hallucinations.
Summary
The diagnosis criteria for schizophrenia published in the DSM-5 includes five main symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms like not expressing emotions (flat affect). Lab tests can’t diagnose schizophrenia, but during the diagnostic process, lots of different tests are done to rule out other illnesses.
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychiatric Association.What is schizophrenia?NIH. National Institute of Mental Health.Schizophrenia.American Psychiatric Association.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC; 2013.Borbála Dombi Z, Barabássy Á, Sebe B, Laszlovszky I, Németh G.Clinical staging in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In: Fukao K, ed.Psychosis - Phenomenology, Psychopathology and Pathophysiology. IntechOpen; 2022. doi:10.5772/intechopen.98276Barch, D. M. (2021).Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds),Noba textbook series: Psychology.Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.Skott M, Durbeej N, Smitmanis-Lyle M, et al.Patient-controlled admissions to inpatient care: A twelve-month naturalistic study of patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and the effects on admissions to and days in inpatient care.BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):598. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06617-8Lopez-Castroman J, Leiva-Murillo JM, Cegla-Schvartzman F, et al.Onset of schizophrenia diagnoses in a large clinical cohort.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):9865. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46109-8NYU Langone Health.Diagnosing schizophrenia.Coulter C, Baker KK, Margolis RL.Specialized consultation for suspected recent-onset schizophrenia: diagnostic clarity and the distorting impact of anxiety and reported auditory hallucinations.Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 2019;25(2):76-81. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000363Drake RJ, Husain N, Marshall M, et al.Effect of delaying treatment of first-episode psychosis on symptoms and social outcomes: a longitudinal analysis and modelling study.The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(7):602-610. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30147-4
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychiatric Association.What is schizophrenia?NIH. National Institute of Mental Health.Schizophrenia.American Psychiatric Association.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC; 2013.Borbála Dombi Z, Barabássy Á, Sebe B, Laszlovszky I, Németh G.Clinical staging in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In: Fukao K, ed.Psychosis - Phenomenology, Psychopathology and Pathophysiology. IntechOpen; 2022. doi:10.5772/intechopen.98276Barch, D. M. (2021).Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds),Noba textbook series: Psychology.Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.Skott M, Durbeej N, Smitmanis-Lyle M, et al.Patient-controlled admissions to inpatient care: A twelve-month naturalistic study of patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and the effects on admissions to and days in inpatient care.BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):598. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06617-8Lopez-Castroman J, Leiva-Murillo JM, Cegla-Schvartzman F, et al.Onset of schizophrenia diagnoses in a large clinical cohort.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):9865. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46109-8NYU Langone Health.Diagnosing schizophrenia.Coulter C, Baker KK, Margolis RL.Specialized consultation for suspected recent-onset schizophrenia: diagnostic clarity and the distorting impact of anxiety and reported auditory hallucinations.Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 2019;25(2):76-81. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000363Drake RJ, Husain N, Marshall M, et al.Effect of delaying treatment of first-episode psychosis on symptoms and social outcomes: a longitudinal analysis and modelling study.The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(7):602-610. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30147-4
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Psychiatric Association.What is schizophrenia?NIH. National Institute of Mental Health.Schizophrenia.American Psychiatric Association.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC; 2013.Borbála Dombi Z, Barabássy Á, Sebe B, Laszlovszky I, Németh G.Clinical staging in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In: Fukao K, ed.Psychosis - Phenomenology, Psychopathology and Pathophysiology. IntechOpen; 2022. doi:10.5772/intechopen.98276Barch, D. M. (2021).Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds),Noba textbook series: Psychology.Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.Skott M, Durbeej N, Smitmanis-Lyle M, et al.Patient-controlled admissions to inpatient care: A twelve-month naturalistic study of patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and the effects on admissions to and days in inpatient care.BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):598. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06617-8Lopez-Castroman J, Leiva-Murillo JM, Cegla-Schvartzman F, et al.Onset of schizophrenia diagnoses in a large clinical cohort.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):9865. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46109-8NYU Langone Health.Diagnosing schizophrenia.Coulter C, Baker KK, Margolis RL.Specialized consultation for suspected recent-onset schizophrenia: diagnostic clarity and the distorting impact of anxiety and reported auditory hallucinations.Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 2019;25(2):76-81. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000363Drake RJ, Husain N, Marshall M, et al.Effect of delaying treatment of first-episode psychosis on symptoms and social outcomes: a longitudinal analysis and modelling study.The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(7):602-610. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30147-4
American Psychiatric Association.What is schizophrenia?
NIH. National Institute of Mental Health.Schizophrenia.
American Psychiatric Association.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC; 2013.
Borbála Dombi Z, Barabássy Á, Sebe B, Laszlovszky I, Németh G.Clinical staging in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In: Fukao K, ed.Psychosis - Phenomenology, Psychopathology and Pathophysiology. IntechOpen; 2022. doi:10.5772/intechopen.98276
Barch, D. M. (2021).Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds),Noba textbook series: Psychology.Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.
Skott M, Durbeej N, Smitmanis-Lyle M, et al.Patient-controlled admissions to inpatient care: A twelve-month naturalistic study of patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and the effects on admissions to and days in inpatient care.BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):598. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06617-8
Lopez-Castroman J, Leiva-Murillo JM, Cegla-Schvartzman F, et al.Onset of schizophrenia diagnoses in a large clinical cohort.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):9865. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46109-8
NYU Langone Health.Diagnosing schizophrenia.
Coulter C, Baker KK, Margolis RL.Specialized consultation for suspected recent-onset schizophrenia: diagnostic clarity and the distorting impact of anxiety and reported auditory hallucinations.Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 2019;25(2):76-81. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000363
Drake RJ, Husain N, Marshall M, et al.Effect of delaying treatment of first-episode psychosis on symptoms and social outcomes: a longitudinal analysis and modelling study.The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(7):602-610. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30147-4
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