High-Functioning Schizophrenia: Diagnosis, Treatment, Stigma

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Does High-Functioning Mean?DiagnosisTreatmentSchizophrenia & Stigma

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What Does High-Functioning Mean?

Diagnosis

Treatment

Schizophrenia & Stigma

Close

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that changes how the brain works. It is usually a chronic and lifelong issue that includes symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and a lack of ability to express emotions, also known as ablunted affect.

While schizophrenia significantly affects many of those who have it, those with high-functioning schizophrenia are often able to perform daily tasks more independently. Although not an official diagnosis, high-functioning schizophrenia generally refers to being able to function successfully in work or social realms in the face of symptoms of the illness.

The following are criteria that must be met for a schizophrenia diagnosis per the fifth edition of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-5):

What Are Psychedelic Drugs?

High functioning can often be a subjective—and sometimes problematic—term. But, generally, it means that a person is able to carry out their daily activities. This includes self-grooming, carrying on meaningfulinterpersonal relationships, and the general ability to function socially and occupationally or educationally.

Those with schizophrenia who have been able to successfully work share some similar characteristics, according to research.Proactively managing their symptoms and engaging inself-carewere commonly cited as factors that helped people with schizophrenia remain high-functioning.

One key takeaway was that many altered their work schedules (for example, shifting to part-time) to suit them so that they were not feeling stressed or exacerbating their symptoms.

In fact, some of the people in this studyreport that working is its own coping strategy—it allows them to remain high functioning in ways. However, some of the participants did still report activeschizophrenia symptomslike delusions and hallucinations and trouble managing other things in their daily lives.

This research shows that while schizophrenia still impacts the lives of those who have it, it is possible for some to maintain high-functioning lifestyles as well.

Additionally, these days, more programs such as theAmericans With Disabilities Actallow for protections for people with schizophrenia to be able to work without discrimination.

It also allows for reasonable accommodationssuch as flexible hours, adjusted work load, leave (paid or unpaid) during illness orhospitalization, being assigned a supportive boss, and regular feedback about job performance.

Diagnosing High-Functioning Schizophrenia

Some common assessmentsused to diagnose schizophrenia include:

5 Things to Do If You Feel a Loss of Interest

Treatment for High-Functioning Schizophrenia

People who live with schizophrenia are typically treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Antipsychotics are often prescribed to treat and prevent the symptoms of psychosis.

There are several different kinds of therapy that have proven helpful to treat schizophrenia, including individual therapy, group therapy, andfamily therapy.

As more than halfof people with schizophrenia have at least one co-morbid diagnosis, including substance use disorders,post-traumatic stress disorder,obsessive-compulsive disorderandmajor depressive disorder, ongoing psychiatric assessment and appropriate treatment of other diagnoses is important.

Schizophrenia and Stigma

While mental health conditions in general are facing lessstigmathan they have in the past, the same isn’t necessarily true with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Andsocietal and cultural stigmacan lead to internalized stigma, as well as worse prognoses for those with schizophrenia.

Even those with high-functioning schizophrenia will still face stigma,such as being afraid to disclose their diagnosis to employers and potentialdiscrimination.

A Word From Verywell

While schizophrenia can be a difficult condition to live with sometimes, it is more than possible—with careful management—to live a full life despite your diagnosis.

The Internal Experience of Schizophrenia

12 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.5th ed. Washington, D.C.; 2013.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Impact of the DSM-IV to DSM-5 changes on the national survey on drug use and health.World Health Organization.International Labour Organisation, Nations for Mental Health, World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health. Mental Health and Work: Impact, Issues and Good Practices.Cohen AN, Hamilton AB, Saks ER, et al.How occupationally high-achieving individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia manage their symptoms.PS.2017;68(4):324-329. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201600031Social Security Administration.How the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with mental illness.Kane JM.Tools to assess negative symptoms in schizophrenia.J Clin Psychiatry.2013;74(6):e12. doi:10.4088/JCP.12045tx2cFirst MB.Structured clinical interview for the dsm(Scid). In: Cautin RL, Lilienfeld SO, eds. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015:1-6. doi:10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp351Lefort-Besnard J, Varoquaux G, Derntl B, et al.Patterns of schizophrenia symptoms: hidden structure in the PANSS questionnaire.Transl Psychiatry. 2018;8(1):237. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0294-4Kumari S, Mph M, Malik M, et al.An assessment of five (Panss, saps, sans, nsa-16, cgi-sch) commonly used symptoms rating scales in schizophrenia and comparison to newer scales(Cains, bnss).J Addict Res Ther. 2017;08(03). doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000324Grover S, Kulhara P.Deficit schizophrenia: Concept and validity.Indian Journal of Psychiatry.2008;50(1):61. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.39764Tsai J, Rosenheck RA.Psychiatric comorbidity among adults with schizophrenia: A latent class analysis.Psychiatry research.2013;210(1):16. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.05.013Hoftman GD.The burden of mental illness beyond clinical symptoms: impact of stigma on the onset and course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal.2016;11(4):5-7. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.110404

12 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.5th ed. Washington, D.C.; 2013.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Impact of the DSM-IV to DSM-5 changes on the national survey on drug use and health.World Health Organization.International Labour Organisation, Nations for Mental Health, World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health. Mental Health and Work: Impact, Issues and Good Practices.Cohen AN, Hamilton AB, Saks ER, et al.How occupationally high-achieving individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia manage their symptoms.PS.2017;68(4):324-329. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201600031Social Security Administration.How the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with mental illness.Kane JM.Tools to assess negative symptoms in schizophrenia.J Clin Psychiatry.2013;74(6):e12. doi:10.4088/JCP.12045tx2cFirst MB.Structured clinical interview for the dsm(Scid). In: Cautin RL, Lilienfeld SO, eds. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015:1-6. doi:10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp351Lefort-Besnard J, Varoquaux G, Derntl B, et al.Patterns of schizophrenia symptoms: hidden structure in the PANSS questionnaire.Transl Psychiatry. 2018;8(1):237. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0294-4Kumari S, Mph M, Malik M, et al.An assessment of five (Panss, saps, sans, nsa-16, cgi-sch) commonly used symptoms rating scales in schizophrenia and comparison to newer scales(Cains, bnss).J Addict Res Ther. 2017;08(03). doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000324Grover S, Kulhara P.Deficit schizophrenia: Concept and validity.Indian Journal of Psychiatry.2008;50(1):61. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.39764Tsai J, Rosenheck RA.Psychiatric comorbidity among adults with schizophrenia: A latent class analysis.Psychiatry research.2013;210(1):16. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.05.013Hoftman GD.The burden of mental illness beyond clinical symptoms: impact of stigma on the onset and course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal.2016;11(4):5-7. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.110404

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.5th ed. Washington, D.C.; 2013.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Impact of the DSM-IV to DSM-5 changes on the national survey on drug use and health.World Health Organization.International Labour Organisation, Nations for Mental Health, World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health. Mental Health and Work: Impact, Issues and Good Practices.Cohen AN, Hamilton AB, Saks ER, et al.How occupationally high-achieving individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia manage their symptoms.PS.2017;68(4):324-329. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201600031Social Security Administration.How the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with mental illness.Kane JM.Tools to assess negative symptoms in schizophrenia.J Clin Psychiatry.2013;74(6):e12. doi:10.4088/JCP.12045tx2cFirst MB.Structured clinical interview for the dsm(Scid). In: Cautin RL, Lilienfeld SO, eds. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015:1-6. doi:10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp351Lefort-Besnard J, Varoquaux G, Derntl B, et al.Patterns of schizophrenia symptoms: hidden structure in the PANSS questionnaire.Transl Psychiatry. 2018;8(1):237. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0294-4Kumari S, Mph M, Malik M, et al.An assessment of five (Panss, saps, sans, nsa-16, cgi-sch) commonly used symptoms rating scales in schizophrenia and comparison to newer scales(Cains, bnss).J Addict Res Ther. 2017;08(03). doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000324Grover S, Kulhara P.Deficit schizophrenia: Concept and validity.Indian Journal of Psychiatry.2008;50(1):61. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.39764Tsai J, Rosenheck RA.Psychiatric comorbidity among adults with schizophrenia: A latent class analysis.Psychiatry research.2013;210(1):16. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.05.013Hoftman GD.The burden of mental illness beyond clinical symptoms: impact of stigma on the onset and course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal.2016;11(4):5-7. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.110404

American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.5th ed. Washington, D.C.; 2013.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Impact of the DSM-IV to DSM-5 changes on the national survey on drug use and health.

World Health Organization.International Labour Organisation, Nations for Mental Health, World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health. Mental Health and Work: Impact, Issues and Good Practices.

Cohen AN, Hamilton AB, Saks ER, et al.How occupationally high-achieving individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia manage their symptoms.PS.2017;68(4):324-329. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201600031

Social Security Administration.How the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with mental illness.

Kane JM.Tools to assess negative symptoms in schizophrenia.J Clin Psychiatry.2013;74(6):e12. doi:10.4088/JCP.12045tx2c

First MB.Structured clinical interview for the dsm(Scid). In: Cautin RL, Lilienfeld SO, eds. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015:1-6. doi:10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp351

Lefort-Besnard J, Varoquaux G, Derntl B, et al.Patterns of schizophrenia symptoms: hidden structure in the PANSS questionnaire.Transl Psychiatry. 2018;8(1):237. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0294-4

Kumari S, Mph M, Malik M, et al.An assessment of five (Panss, saps, sans, nsa-16, cgi-sch) commonly used symptoms rating scales in schizophrenia and comparison to newer scales(Cains, bnss).J Addict Res Ther. 2017;08(03). doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000324

Grover S, Kulhara P.Deficit schizophrenia: Concept and validity.Indian Journal of Psychiatry.2008;50(1):61. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.39764

Tsai J, Rosenheck RA.Psychiatric comorbidity among adults with schizophrenia: A latent class analysis.Psychiatry research.2013;210(1):16. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.05.013

Hoftman GD.The burden of mental illness beyond clinical symptoms: impact of stigma on the onset and course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal.2016;11(4):5-7. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2016.110404

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?