The nature and impact of negative symptoms of psychosis – a discussion

Introduction There is now general agreement that there are three groups of symptoms associated with a diagnosis of psychotic illness: 1. Positive symptoms – hallucinations, delusions, ideas of reference, passivity phenomenon such as thought insertion, withdrawal, broadcast. 2. Negative symptoms – social withdrawal, apathy, demotivated behaviour, flattened mood and a lack of pleasure or interest. 3. Cognitive / disorganised symptoms disordered thinking leading to difficulty in forming thoughts, poor speech content and flow, poor concentration, poor memory and difficulties in learning, problemsolving and abstract thinking (Morrison et al 2004).