Disorganised Schizophrenia

“Who do your children take after?”
Pointing to her eldest son, she said:
“Well, that’s his father sitting there.”
The second son does not take after anyone.
“Sister takes after David. That’s part of the trouble, she is beginning to take after David.”
“Who does David take after?”
David takes after me.
“What is the matter with David then?”

R.D Laing. The
Politics of The Family. p23.

Defined by the DSMiv as:

A type of schizophrenia in which the following criteria are met:

  1. Incoherence, marked loosening or associations, or grossly disorganized behaviour.
  2. Flat affect or grossly inappropriate affect.
  3. Does not meet the criteria for Catatonic Type.

The essential features of Disorganised Schizophrenia are incoherence, marked loosening of associations, or grossly disorganized behaviour, and, in addition flat or grossly inappropriate affect.

There are no systematized delusions (as in Paranoid Type), although fragmentary delusions or hallucinations, in which the content is not organized into a coherent theme, are common.

Associated features of Disorganised Schizophrenia include grimaces, mannerisms, hypochondriacal complaints, extreme social withdrawal, and other oddities of behaviour.

Disorganised Schizophrenia is usually associated with extreme social impairment, poor premorbid personality, an early and insidious onset, and a chronic course without significant remissions.