Thenegative symptomsrelate to things like thought blocking, response latency, and poverty of speech.
About 15 to 30 percent of those with schizophrenia have negative symptoms.
These are described in more detail below.
Chris Garrett / Getty Images
Alogia can also be a secondary effect, resulting from primary symptoms such as psychosis or anxiety.
Similarly, you might not speak due to feeling paranoid around other people or nervous/anxious.
In schizophrenia, it is considered a negative symptom related to the illness.
This suggests once again that alogia related to schizophrenia is due to semantic memory disorganization.
Examples of Alogia
Q:Do you have a job?
A:Yes
Q:What is your job?
A:Janitor
Q:Where do you work?
A:At the school
A:Yes, I work as a janitor.
I do the night shift.
A:I work at Woodside College, it’s a school on the other side of town.
Non-Alogia Example
Q:It’s good money and I like working nights.
Not too many people around and it’s quiet.
Alogia Treatment
Treatment for alogia follows along with treatment for the underlying condition.
In the case of schizophrenia, this typically means a combination of medication and therapy.
Below are the main ways that medication and therapy may be used in the treatment of alogia.
Medication
Medications such as second-generationantipsychoticsorantidepressantsmay be used to treat alogia.
However, medications can sometimes have adverse effects.
Therapy
What forms of therapy are helpful for alogia?
It all depends on the underlying cause.
In the case of schizophrenia,social skills trainingor family education might be offered.
Coping With Alogia
Living with alogia can have impacts on your quality of life.
This could have long-lasting effects on your quality of life.
Know first of all that social situations will tend to worsen alogia.
It may be hard to recognize this yourself.
Be kind and compassionate toward yourself when experiencing alogia.
Your symptoms are a result of your illness and not a personal failing.
Alogia can be one of the early negative symptoms of schizophrenia that emerges prior to symptoms of psychosis.
Your doctor will be able to refer you to a mental health professional for further assessment and treatment.
They should be able to direct you toward individuals who can help.
Marder SR, Galderisi S.The current conceptualization of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.World Psychiatry.
2017;16(1):14-24. doi:10.1002/wps.20385
Kuperberg GR.Language in schizophrenia Part 1: an Introduction.Lang Linguist Compass.
2014;5:116. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00116
Paraschakis A.Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine.
2005;74(1):91-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2004.05.011
