Read the passage and answer the following questions:

Sarita is 45 years old house wife. Her husband observed that Sarita's behaviour has changed in the past few months, as she seems to be constantly worried, is suspicious of others and very cautions of going out or even eating the food made by their maid. When asked, Sarita claimed that she hears someone is plotting against her and she may be attacked by others around her including her family members. She also complains of hearing voices of her family members and even strangers who speak ill of her. Sarita firmly believes that 'everyone should be nice to her as she is nice to everyone'. These experiences trouble her mentally, resulting into Alogia, social withdrawal, blunt affect and avolition.

The symptoms of avolition, blunt affect, alogia etc. are included in -

Negative Symptoms

The correct answer is Option (2) → Negative Symptoms

Avolition (lack of motivation), blunt affect (reduced emotional expression), alogia (poverty of speech), and social withdrawal are all classified as negative symptoms. These symptoms reflect a loss or reduction of normal functions and are commonly seen in disorders like 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.

Negative symptoms are ‘pathological deficits’ and include poverty of speech, blunted and flat affect, loss of volition, and social withdrawal. People with schizophrenia show alogia or poverty of speech, i.e. a reduction in speech and speech content. Many people with schizophrenia show less anger, sadness, joy, and other feelings than most people do. Thus they have blunted affect. Some show no emotions at all, a condition known as flat affect. Also patients with schizophrenia experience avolition, or apathy and an inability to start or complete a course of action. People with this disorder may withdraw socially and become totally focused on their own ideas and fantasies.

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. People in a catatonic stupor remain motionless and silent for long stretches of time. Some show catatonic rigidity, i.e. maintaining a rigid, upright posture for hours. Others exhibit catatonic posturing, i.e. assuming awkward, bizarre positions for long periods of time. "