Read the following Case-Study and answer the questions that follow.
Vijay graduated from college and got a job at a local grocery store. After working for six months he began to hear voices of people hatching a plan to poison him. He stopped eating and drinking anything in the shop as he felt it tasted bitter and looked green in colour. He reported smelling strange odour in the shop. He would take long winding detours on his way home as he felt people were following him. He told his family that the supervisor was against him and would one day burn down the shop in an attempt to kill him. One day he slapped a customer and swore that someone else made him slap him using his hand. No evidence was found to support his allegations.
Vijay is suffering from _____ symptoms of the disorder.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Positive
Option (1) Positive — Correct. Positive symptoms are ‘pathological excesses’ or ‘bizarre additions’ to a person’s behaviour: delusions, disorganised thinking and speech, heightened perception and hallucinations, and inappropriate affect. Vijay’s symptoms are of this kind: delusions of persecution and control, and hallucinations of hearing, sight, taste and smell.
Option (2) Negative — Incorrect. Negative symptoms are ‘pathological deficits’, something missing from normal behaviour: poverty of speech (alogia), blunted and flat affect, loss of volition and social withdrawal. The case describes nothing missing in Vijay, only things added.
Option (3) Catatonic — Incorrect. Catatonia is the extreme form of the psychomotor symptoms: a person remains motionless and silent for long stretches (catatonic stupor), holds a rigid posture for hours, or assumes bizarre positions. Vijay moves about normally, taking long detours on his way home.
Option (4) Dormant — Incorrect. The symptoms of schizophrenia are grouped as positive, negative and psychomotor; ‘dormant’ is not one of these groups. Vijay’s symptoms are active and plain to see, not hidden.
NCERT (2025-26): “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … The symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped into three categories, viz. positive symptoms (i.e. excesses of thought, emotion, and behaviour), negative symptoms (i.e. deficits of thought, emotion, and behaviour), and psychomotor symptoms. Positive symptoms are ‘pathological excesses’ or ‘bizarre additions’ to a person’s behaviour. Delusions, disorganised thinking and speech, heightened perception and hallucinations, and inappropriate affect are the ones most often found in schizophrenia.…” “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … People with schizophrenia also show psychomotor symptoms. They move less spontaneously or make odd grimaces and gestures. These symptoms may take extreme forms known as catatonia.…” |