Symptoms of Schizophrenia: There is no single symptom that identifies schizophrenia.  The symptoms that characterize schizophrenia can be found in other brain disorders.    Symptoms of schizophrenia are organized into three categories including positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Positive Symptoms These symptoms are very noticeable and usually involve a loss of contact with reality.  Unusual thoughts or perceptions, including hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, and disorders of movement are present.   Negative Symptoms An individual experience a loss or a decreased ability to initiate and sustain a planned activity, speak, express emotion, or find things enjoyable in daily life. These symptoms are often harder to recognize as they are often mistaken for laziness or depression.   Cognitive Symptoms (also known as Cognitive Deficits or Disorganized Symptoms) Problems with working memory (the ability to store recently learned information and use it right away), sustain attention and poor executive functioning (the ability to absorb and interpret information and make decisions based on that information).  These symptoms are often only detected when neuropsychological tests are preformed.