Screening for Schizophrenia is a valuable way to diagnose and identify Schizophrenic patients before their symptoms worsen. Screening is usually undertaken by people who do not exhibit any present symptoms of Schizophrenia but are at a high risk of suffering from the disorder, either due to a family history or because of an occasional psychotic behavior in the past. Methods that are employed to screen a person for Schizophrenia include the following.

Questionnaire by the psychologist

Screenings are commonly done by visiting the psychotherapist. The psychotherapist will ask several questions and the patient will have to answer honestly. Listed below are some of the questions that often asked:

1. Are you able to see, feel and touch things or people which no one else can?
2. Can you hear voices speaking to you?
3. Do you prefer to be alone?
4. Do you feel that people around you are always staring at you?
5. Do you feel that there is someone who is trying to poison or harm you?
6. Can you feel an external power trying to control you?
7. How long have you been experiencing such feelings?
8. Are there any major changes, incidents or accidents in your life recently?

Sometimes, the psychotherapist might invite the patient's families and close friends to participate in the questionnaire as well. With all the answers collected, the psychotherapist proceed to perform an analysis to see if the person is likely to be suffering from Schizophrenia.

Eliminating any False Diagnosis

The psychotherapist will eliminate any false judgment which might occur simply as a result of:

Social phobia - in which a person fears any situation of embarrassment in public, the person feels that people are constantly observing and judging him all the time.

Personality Disorder - in which a person feels that others are not trustworthy and hostile, the person feels profound suspicion for everyone, including his friends and family members.

Biopolar Disorder - is another mental disorder whereby the person experiences extreme changes in mood

Blood Tests:

As a screening step, it is important to perform a blood test analysis on the person undertaking screening to confirm that the symptoms he is experiencing are not due to the consumption of alcohol or addictive drugs.

Imaging:

Brain imaging is a suggested method for screening because the observed symptoms that are being associated with Schizophrenia might be because of brain abnormality like congenital birth defect, brain tumor, brain injury. It is vital to use brain imaging technology such as MRI or CT scan to rule out these possibilities.

The Müller-Lyer illusion:

Studies have found that " Müller-Lyer Illusion", a type of optical illusion introduced by Müller-Lyer in the year 1,889, can also be used as a tool for screening schizophrenia.

Scientists are looking forward to develop precise and advanced tools for the screening and diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Such tools will inevitably have to be developed at the molecular and genetic level.

At this moment of time, researchers are working hard to work out the molecular and genetic level of things where new information is being found constantly. There is a database of information on Schizophrenia genetic studies development at szgene.org.