Negative symptoms in psychosis: A scoping review of qualitative studies.

Summary: People with schizophrenia often experience "negative symptoms," which means they lose normal feelings and behaviors, like the drive to do things or the desire to be around others. Because these symptoms are very hard to treat, researchers looked at studies where patients talked about their own experiences. Out of nearly 5,000 articles, they found 6 key studies.

The patients explained that their lack of motivation is often tied to things like childhood trauma, feeling judged by society, or the side effects of their medicine. Sometimes, hearing voices or having delusions (called positive symptoms) makes these negative symptoms worse. Listening to patients' stories helps doctors see the big picture and could lead to much better treatments in the future.