Posted by rod on April 10, 2004, at 8:12:46
In reply to Can a person have Neg. Schizophr w/o Positive Sym?, posted by GIANA on April 7, 2004, at 17:00:50
> I once asked my Therapist if it were possible for a person to have Negative Schizophrenia without ever having Positive Symptoms, he replied by saying usually there are some postive symptoms resent too. The reason I ask is because I have been diagnosed with depression, but have all the negative symptoms (except flat emotions) but never had any postive symptoms. Is it possible?
As far as its known (and I know), one aspect of the neurochemistry of schizophrenia is that there is dopaminergic understimulation in some brain regions (responsible for negaive symptoms) and overstimulation in other brain areas (responsible for positive symptoms). If you experience many of the negative symptoms of schiz. you might be in a subclass of depression, which is resonsive to dopaminergic medication, in my opinion. The dilemmy is, that there are only few dopaminergic drugs other than the neuroleptics. But there are some neuroleptics which posses robust dopamine stimulation properties in the brain regions, which are understimulated in neg. schiz. like Sulpiride and Amisulpride. But also the newer atypical neuroleptics posses pro dopamine properties (via 5-HT2 blockade (correct me if I am wrong), which causes the release of catecholamines including dopamine, and also improve cognition in schiz. people). I also fullfill the criteria of "deficit syndrome" (exclusicely neg. symptoms), but I thing that just my dopamine system is out of whack.
Roland
poster:rod
thread:333792
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040407/msgs/334832.html