Identify the symptom Brijesh is showing:

Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Brijesh is 25 years old autorickshaw driver. He has continuous feelings of insecurity and believes that the police in the area is tracking and following him. The patrolling of the police makes him feel that they are monitoring his behaviour minutely. The intense anxiety about this is interfering with his work and relationship and his family and friends are all worried for him. Brijesh laughs abruptly and inappropriately and sometimes stops speaking mid sentence and stares into nothingness as he appears to see or hear something that is not present.

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → Both Positive and Negative symptoms

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are ‘pathological excesses’ added to behaviour; negative symptoms are ‘pathological deficits’, a loss of something normally present.

Option (1) Positive symptoms — Incorrect. Brijesh does show positive symptoms: the belief that the police are tracking him is a delusion of persecution, seeing or hearing something that is not present is a hallucination, and laughing abruptly and inappropriately is inappropriate affect. But these are not all of his symptoms, so this option is incomplete.

Option (2) Negative symptoms — Incorrect. Brijesh does stop speaking in the middle of a sentence, but his delusion, hallucinations and inappropriate laughter are excesses, not deficits.

Option (3) Both Positive and Negative symptoms — Correct. Along with the positive symptoms above, Brijesh stops speaking mid sentence. A reduction in speech and speech content is alogia or poverty of speech, a negative symptom, so his symptoms are of both kinds.

Option (4) Psychomotor symptoms — Incorrect. Psychomotor symptoms concern movement: moving less spontaneously, odd grimaces and gestures, or catatonia, as in a catatonic stupor. Nothing in the passage describes such movements.

Note: Stopping in the middle of a sentence can also be read as a break in the flow of thinking, which would be a formal thought disorder, a positive symptom; read that way, all of Brijesh’s symptoms would be positive and Option (1) would be the answer. NTA has probably interpreted his stopping mid sentence as poverty of speech, a negative symptom, and so has marked Option (3), as per the NTA answer key.

NCERT (2025-26): “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … 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 inappropriate affect, i.e. emotions that are unsuited to the situation. 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.…”