Symptoms

Typically, patients develop considerable cognitive dysfunction (disordered thinking) within the first 4 - 5 years of the onset of psychotic symptoms. Some evidence indicates that the physical disease process in schizophrenia is progressive, as with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. However, schizophrenia does not progress in the same way as those two diseases. Unlike Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, cognitive function usually eventually stabilizes. Psychosis, disorganized thought, and negative symptoms often improve over time, although, even in such cases, deficits in verbal memory usually persist. (Thought disorder often improves along with improvements in negative symptoms.)