In the diagnosing of psychotic disorders, the DSM-5 refers to positive symptoms and negative symptoms. What is meant by that? Step 1. Define positive and negative symptoms. What is meant by those terms? Step 2. Describe how these symptoms might have an impact on day to day functioning of someone with a psychotic disorder. Step 3. Use outside peer reviewed articles in the online discussion posts and cite your sources.

Positive and negative symptoms are used in the DSM-5 to describe psychotic disorders. Positive symptoms are those that involve excessive functioning, meaning more of a function than what is normal. For example, as the link below on schizophrenia explains, schizophrenia is diagnosed in someone having positive symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations. Delusions involve mistaken perceptions of reality or exaggerations of reality. For example, someone with schizophrenia may believe that someone who calls them by mistake after dialing a wrong number is really the FBI trying to tap their phone. Hallucinations involve distorted sensory perceptions, such as auditory hallucinations, "hearing voices." A person with schizophrenia may also show disordered speech or thought. In other words, these are symptoms that show a distortion in or excess of normal functioning.
Negative symptoms, on the other hand, involve a loss of regular functioning. For example, someone with schizophrenia may have a flattened affect and show less emotion than a non-schizophrenic person, and this person may also show alogia, or a loss in the richness of speech. People with schizophrenia may also show the loss of volition, or the unwillingness to carry out goal-directed behavior. For additional information, see the article by Crow (cited below).
Raj (see the source cited below) explains how living with schizophrenia can affect someone's life. It may be difficult, Raj (2013) explains, for this person to have normal relationships, as the person may show excessive paranoia about others and may show disordered thought. A person with schizophrenia may also have a difficult time working, as this person may have confused or disordered thoughts and may show a loss of will to carry out their work. As Raj (2013) points out, a person who is diagnosed with schizophrenia at a relatively young age may also not have the ability to finish their education. Other psychotic disorders affect people in different ways.
Additional sources:
Crow, T. (1980). Positive and Negative Schizophrenic Symptoms and the Role of Dopamine. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137(4), 383-386. doi:10.1192/S0007125000071919
Raj S. (2013) Living with a disability: A perspective on disability in people livingwith schizophrenia (PLS). International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. Vol 18(1) 115-123.
http://schizophrenia.com/diag.php