Can you have schizophrenia without having auditory/visual hallucinations?

Question

I don't hallucinate yet they diagnosed me as being schizo. Is there brain tests I can get to rule out schizophrenia? MRI?

Answer 1

Not everyone with schizophrenia has hallucinations. You can also have delusions (believing things are happening when they aren't really happening)--like believing people are plotting against you and so on.

There are no brain tests for schizophrenia; it's based on the doctor's opinion of your symptoms. Sometimes CAT scans and other tests show abnormalities in the brains of people with schizophrenia, but it's not considered reliable. They probably won't use an MRI unless they think you have a brain injury or a tumor.

Answer 2

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You could just have those symptoms, but I am not sure it would give a diagnosis of schizophrenia. It would depend on the psychiatrist, but I would have thought most psych's would only give a diagnosis of "schizophrenia" with some of the other more positive symptoms, auditory/visual hallucinations and preoccupation with one or more delusion. Note there are different kinds of schizophrenia also, Catatonic schizophrenia for instance is not categorised by the former mentioned symptoms. Schizophrenia (paranoid schizophrenia) is just a label grouping together a number of symptoms in the current DSM IV and the ICD (the clinical checklists for disorders), it is quite wide and different mental health professionals can still reach different diagnosis. I wonder whether on the above symptoms would a diagnosis of depression not be more appropriate? It is very difficult to say within the confines of this answer, without a clinical interview etc. I hope your loved ones healthcare professional can produce some answers and a solution for you and your loved one. I wish you both the best of luck.

Answer 3

Hallucinations are not the only symptom of schizophrenia. Other symptoms include strange thinking, delusions and paranoia as positive symptoms. Then there are negative symptoms like apathy or catatonia (no response or immobility), etc.

Info on schizophrenia here:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+schizophrenia.htm

They can take an MRI scan, but that is mostly just to rule out brain injury. The brain of schizophrenic can be seen as different, but not always or at least not always with certitude.

Answer 4

I'm pretty sure that you can. Also, many mental disorders can have similar symptoms- ex. major depression can have psychotic features, an there are also other forms of psychosis. Here is a link to the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-ps01.html

They can give you an MRI. I think that it is pretty normal to do that to rule out physical causes for symptoms, such as a brain tumor. Sorry that you're having to go thru this. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

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