NCLEX · Mental Health Disorders

A client is admitted with first-episode psychosis. Which finding does NOT belong to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

Correct answer

Social withdrawal, flat affect, and poverty of speech — these are NEGATIVE symptoms (absence of normal function), not positive (excess/distorted function)

  1. A Auditory hallucinations
  2. B Social withdrawal, flat affect, and poverty of speech — these are NEGATIVE symptoms (absence of normal function), not positive (excess/distorted function)
  3. C Delusions of grandeur
  4. D Disorganized speech and behavior

Why this is the answer

SCHIZOPHRENIA SYMPTOM CLASSIFICATION — POSITIVE vs NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS: POSITIVE SYMPTOMS (presence of abnormal experiences not normally present): HALLUCINATIONS — false sensory perceptions; auditory most common in schizophrenia (hearing voices, often commenting, criticizing, or commanding); can be visual, tactile, olfactory; DELUSIONS — fixed false beliefs; paranoid (being followed, controlled), grandiose (special powers), referential (events have special meaning for the client), somatic; DISORGANIZED SPEECH — loose associations, word salad, tangentiality, derailment; DISORGANIZED BEHAVIOR — unpredictable agitation, catatonia, inappropriate affect; NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS (absence or reduction of normal function): ALOGIA — poverty of speech (brief, empty replies); ANHEDONIA — inability to experience pleasure; AVOLITION — lack of motivation, inability to initiate goal-directed activities; FLAT AFFECT — reduced emotional expression (face, voice); ASOCIALITY/SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL; ALOGIA combined with flat affect and social withdrawal = 'the 5 A's': Alogia, Anhedonia, Avolition, Affect (flat), Asociality. CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Positive symptoms tend to respond better to antipsychotics; negative symptoms are harder to treat and contribute more to long-term functional disability; clozapine and some newer atypical antipsychotics have some effect on negative symptoms; positive vs negative symptom distinction guides treatment planning.
Source: NCLEX-RN Test Plan: Psychosocial — Mental Health, Schizophrenia Symptoms

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