Diagnostic Criteria for Paranoid Schizophrenia
For diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia to be officially confirmed, the patient must beat specific DSM symptom criteria. DSM stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. This manual is used by health care professionals to diagnose mental conditions.
The diagnostic criteria for paranoid schizophrenia include:
A preoccupation (obsession) with at least one delusion
The presence of recurrent auditory hallucinations.
Sometimes a long time may pass before a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia is confirmed.
Testing a sample of neurons from the nose to diagnose schizophrenia
Scientists from Tel Aviv University, Israel, explained in Neurobiology of Disease (April 2013) that collecting neurons from a patient's nose may be a fast way to test for schizophrenia.
Noam Shomron of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and colleagues describe how they created a potential way of diagnosing schizophrenia by testing microRNA molecules that exist in the neurons inside the patient's nose. A sample can be taken via a simple biopsy.
The authors say this could become a "more sure-fire" way of diagnosing schizophrenia. With this method, the disease could also be detected early on. Early diagnosis and treatment for schizophrenia usually results in more effective treatment.