negative symptom

negative symptom,

diminishing or absence of a characteristic of normal health as an indication of disease, such as the flat affect or mutism sometimes seen in schizophrenia. Compare positive symptom.

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negative symptom

Deficit symptom Psychiatry Any Sx involving loss of normal mental function, seen in schizophrenia, depression, and other mental disorders Examples Blunting of or ↓ range of affect, loss of will, pleasure, fluency, and content of speech, range of emotion, sense of purpose, social drives, poverty of speech, loss of interests. See Positive and Negative Symptom Scale, Schizophrenia. Cf Positive symptom.