Schizophrenia - the great unknown of mental illness

The brain is very complicated, OP. I suggest you read this book.

My friend got fine after they gave her drugs, guess she had a mild form.

I got a case of it for a decade after trying pot for the first time, but thankfully it went away and I got lit in Amsterdam with no problems a couple of years ago. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

R2, you had a psychotic break, not schizophrenia.

I've read this book about a family where several of the sons had schizophrenia and their journey with the illness. One ended up murdering his wife, some of the others have been made into near catatonia because of the amount of haldol or thorazine they're on. It was a really sad book but very eye opening.

It's a terrible and cruel disease.

R2 I don't think there is such a thing as a mild form for schizophrenia. Sounds like with your friend they intervened early and she has been compliant with her medication to keep her well

Is that what King George III had?

Actually, R2, you had what is known as an episode of non-organic psychosis. It is becoming more common because pot smoking is becoming more common and it is very strong. We like drugs and alcohol, they induce a form of psychosis. Once your body cleared the THC or whatever, you were fine.

No, R7, he was Bipolar. In the movie he was having a manic episode.

R2 said he had schizophrenia for a decade, R8 and R3.

Thanks, R10, I missed the beginning of the sentence. Nevermind.

-R2

R2, what happened and how long did that episode last?

Id known one truly schizophrenic man, well (know three in total) . He was ok, until taking ridiculous amounts of LSD/E, among other things. His first year in college had his first really bad breakdown, was convinced he, and a former GF had a rare strain of AIDS that was airborne. He was planning on killing them both, fortunately he also told both his and her family about his plan, so he was thwarted.

He has clips of time that pass and he's quiet, then will see his name on a police blotter in the paper, last incident involved his family locking themselves into a bathroom (saferoom IMO), he had a weapon and was tased, taken into custody and released

He's naturally a large guy (same as a schizophrenia patient I met on a psych ward, dude was 17 and 6'8", and had two LARGE men parked in his doorway in the locked psych ward until he was stabilized and sent to the adult wing ,which was odd bc there were some older, first timers in that children's ward) but this guy is about 6'2", and bc of the drugs is rather rotund, so there had to have been something reinforcing the door. His family takes care of him, and they're pretty comfortable, financially speaking, he's really quite lucky, if his circumstances were different he'd be spending his life in jail or would be dead.

Definitely seems like men are more likely to get this diagnosis, but that's just opinion.

My brother was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder 20 years ago, when he was a teenager. Soon he was almost completely unrecognizable, physically and mentally, to anyone who'd previously known him.

He was a standout athlete whose six-pack looked more like a 12-pack, and he gained 80 pounds very swiftly on a medication that ended up not working well anyway. Even when he's medication-compliant, he won't shower due to a number of delusions involving bathrooms. Girls always threw themselves at him, and now women cross the street to avoid him.

If I were prodigiously wealthy, I'd invest whatever I could in the development of better and hopefully gentler therapies for psychosis. There's little financial incentive for anyone to help these patients, who are generally considered disposable by society.

I went away to see an old friend of mine

His sister came over, she was out of her mine

She said Jesus had a twin

Who knew nothing about sin

She was laughing like crazy, at the trouble I'm in

-- "Schizophrenia," Sonic Youth

r14, like you, my half sister (whom I didn't grow up with because I was 18 years older and in college) was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia around 17 years ago (she claims she got it after taking some ecstasy with our brother (they are full sibs) and has been in a state facility (parents couldn't afford a nice one) since. She's pretty tall 5:10" I think, but gained weight. She gets voice crises, and will never be self sufficient. Before our father died, she was actually getting pretty normal and coherent- I used to take her out shopping, manicures/pedicures, then our father died, and she decided she was normal and went off her meds. My brother was checking up on her and was shocked to find that they had moved her to an undisclosed location because she was violent (and they never notified us). When he finally got the location, he tried to talk to her, but she felt like we had abandoned her because we never got a hold of her (how could we when they never notified us or let us know where she was?).

It's been 5 years now, and she's still incommunicado. She is going to get a small inheritance (around $100,000), whenever this stupid probate is done. It's not enough to support her for her lifetime, but I hope it pays for some small pleasures. It's sad, because she's a sweet talented girl (I call her girl, because her mind is still at 23, shopping at Hot Topic). If I had unlimited money, I would put her in the best care facility available. The state run ones are so depressing.

This will be the next diagnose that the Zillenial armchair psychologists will be calling each other.

“oh my God… I swear she’s like a total schizophrenic like totes has schizophrenia!”

I had a friend in high school, Becca, whose older sister developed schizophrenia in her early 20s while in college. She went back home to live and Becca (who was her younger sister) had to watch the older sister deteriorate until Becca left for college. By the time my Becca graduated, the older sister had gotten so much worse that she threw herself into an abandoned rock quarry and died.

Shit happens.

BTW, everyone in that (almost destitute) family was brilliant, but all were riddled with various mental illnesses. Such a waste. I wonder whatever became of them.

I had a friend in high school, Becca, whose older sister developed schizophrenia in her early 20s while in college. She went back home to live and Becca (who was her younger sister) had to watch the older sister deteriorate until Becca left for college. By the time my Becca graduated, the older sister had gotten so much worse that she threw herself into an abandoned rock quarry and died.

Shit happens.

BTW, everyone in that (almost destitute) family was brilliant, but all were riddled with various mental illnesses. Such a waste. I wonder whatever became of them.

R18 the older sister must’ve done a lot of drugs or smoked weed. it’s unusual for girls to develop schizophrenia that young. Women usually develop it in their 40s while men tend to develop it in their late teens and early 20s.

Although schizophrenia can occur at any age, the average age of onset tends to be in the late teens to the early 20s for men, and the late 20s to early 30s for women. It is uncommon for schizophrenia to be diagnosed in a person younger than 12 or older than 40.

There hasn't been a "psychiatric community" for hundreds of years. We only figured out that surgeons needed to wear rubber gloves during operations about 130 years ago. Mental illness? We're still in the dark ages.

God entered my body, same size!

r19. there is a fine line between madness and genius- our father, my brother, and a cousin on our father's side are all geniuses. Dad was an alcoholic, brother was one, I don't think our cousin. is.

Argh, I was r16 replying to r19

One of the inherent problems with schizophrenia is that it's an illness that tells the sufferer s/he doesn't have a problem. Almost all of the symptamatology is organized to tell the individual that their issues/discomfort arises from external sources, hence issues with treatment compliance.

It’s not diagnosed nearly as much as it used to be, and the US and Europe have different definitions for schizophrenia. Who knows what countries in Asia diagnose people with.

Growing up., psychology was huge in our culture in US. There were psychology documentaries, talk shows with psychiatrists as guests, Dr Joyce Brothers was a thing. Psychology Today was a very big magazine. All news magazines had a psychology section.

Then they shut down the psychiatric hospitals and psychology was no longer interesting. Managed care came along and dictated how much money one could charge for therapy and how many visits a patient was allowed. This resulted in a mass migration out of psychiatry. Why would anyone with an MD want to make only slightly more than a social worker?

People like Woody Allen used to go to a psychiatrist 5 days a week and insurance paid for it. So it was feast to famine for psychiatry. A psychiatrist could have a hundred patients in a state hospital and charge $60 just fir writing “renew current medication” once a week. They’d maintain a private practice, then go to the psych hospital a few hours a week and pick up an extra $6k. They were making about $200k a year in 1975 just in hospital visits alone, which would be about a million dollars in today’s money.

The salad days of psychiatry are long gone. The field was decimated because it was “socialized medicine.” (It didn’t cost anybody a dime if their relative was institutionalized.

The few individuals I have known with true Schizophrenia in my life have all had the same heartbreaking disparity. They were all gifted with incredible, unique intellects, but none could ever bring this ability to fruition in a sustained way to afford themselves a measure of stability, security or success. One of life's mysterious ironies.

My friend has this. He's in now prison (or a psych ward-not sure)- for hurting someone. I've known him since sophomore year in HS. He was stauchly anti-drugs (not on principle, he was just a contrarian) until he went to some Lutheran goody-two-shoes college where everyone abstained and he didn't feel special anymore. Then he got super into pot and his personality started changing. By his mid 20's he had a full Jekyll + Hyde dual personality. By his late 20's... you couldn't take him places as he'd just end up getting thrown out. After that he aliented everyone in his life and was living in his car. By the pandemic, he was homeless and apparently screaming at people on street corners.

Finally he was arrested for hurting someone. He was supposed to go before the judge a month later but AFAIK it never happened. I think they're just holding him indefinitely, like a detaniee- probably because he's incompetant to stand trial and they don't know what to do.

As others have said- he was one of the most vibrant and brilliant people I had ever known, prior to his getting sick. It's a devastating illness.

"There's little financial incentive for anyone to help these patients, who are generally considered disposable by society."

And that's why a for-profit medical system doesn't work - the people who need the most medical care have the least money!

The very old, the disabled, and the chronically ill are the biggest users of the medical system, and that includes the chronically mentally ill. They need a lot of care, sometimes they need constant care to keep functioning or to stay alive, and they have little or no money, and they don't generate profit for anyone. So the for-profit system has already abandoned the mentally ill to wander the streets and die in gutters with only the most minimal care, who's next? Diabetics, who are already having trouble affording enough insulin to stay alive? Or will it be elders? They don't generate profit for anyone, why keep THEM alive!

I suddenly came down with schizophrenia in my 40s, literally I just started hearing voices one day and then I started hearing them around the clock. It got REALLY bad and I was a paranoid freak for a while. They put me on Risperidone and it did nothing, then Vraylar, which also did nothing. Then we tried Latuda and over the course of about two weeks, the voices got softer and softer and then went away all together. I've been on it about two years and have had no symptoms at all since, I'm doing great!

Definitely Gerg

R31 are you male or female?

[quote]I got a case of it for a decade after trying pot for the first time, but thankfully it went away

This never happened.

R29 Sadly that is par for the course for the USA justice system when confronted with Schizophrenic inmates. Same thing happened to my nephew. He's been declared mentally unfit to stand trial. He's been shuttled from prison to prison. They just dope him up on Adderall which is a disastrous stimulant for him. He gets violet they strap him down and put him in solitary confinement. He's only 26. Heartbreaking. No good end in sight .Think they are just hoping he kills himself.

I am thankful dry day that I have bipolar disorder rather than schizophrenia.

“Every.” ^

R33 - I am a male.

My stepson (47) had a psychotic break in his early/mid twenties, diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder, exacerbated by daily pot use. Was institutionalized for a week, then released. No longer uses pot (his psychiatrist said it interacts poorly with schizo), but lives a hermit’s life (he has ASD traits too) and can afford to, as he worked for a major tech company in Silicon Valley and retired before 30 with 5M in assets. He is so disconnected from everyday life that he’s not a harm to anyone (yet), but thank God he moved several hours away and only Zooms with his dad once a week. My stepdaughter has Bipolar I , was institutionalized last summer for two weeks, met her current “bae” in the facility and also a man (who ended up in the hospital when stopped by cops with an arsenal of guns in his car; she lost custody of her son for a few months several years ago but got him back. Then her substance of choice was whippets; today she has a daily pot habit (the amount she smokes would make her an alcoholic if it were liquor). She is constantly demanding money from her dad (my husband) because has cash flow problems, despite seeing herself as a player in real estate in Texas. When she demanded I have her dad sell stocks and send her 50,000, I did but said that would be the last time I’d consider such large cash requests. She threw a tantrum (she turns 50 in March, btw) and accused me of not doing what her dad would want—he is in mid-stage Alzheimer’s, still in good spot and physical health (he’s 85 and has shown signs of decline for 2-3 years. Fortunately I have power of attorney and I told her never to contact me again. She’s never had a real job. I’m not saying pot caused either child’s mental illness, but it sure hasn’t helped anyway.

Yes, my life sucks right now. I’m glad to be here to help my husband ;I’m twenty years younger, but still not a spring chicken myself. If my husband dies before I do, I am executor and primary beneficiary. I want him to live as long as possible, but also know I will not exchange a word with his family except through lawyers at that point.

Families are highly overrated.

I know someone with this, it is a hell of a thing to suffer from, extremely isolating and very hard to treat with any degree of success. I cant think of many illnesses worse to have.

Some sort of group housing is best for those that suffer from this, so they have their own space, but have someone on hand to talk to or seek help from if needs be

Schizophrenia usually appears gradually over a decade in adolescent males. Really becomes apparent in early 20's. Most are imprisoned or commit suicide by mid 30's. Hell for family.

My brother in law has it. Won't take his meds. Walks around the streets topless and shouting at himself. Thinks Kofi Annan was his father (his actual father is still alive but has dementia). He's 41 and his poor Mother doesn't know what to do. His wife left him a few years ago. He doesn't see his kids much (and in some respects that really is not a bad thing). Sends long rambling incoherent messages. Everyone at their wits end trying to cope/get him to take his meds. Just impossible situation to deal with

You could, always call police and tell them he has a gun.

I think Gerg has schizophrenia!!!

One of my dad’s godsons had early adult-onset schizophrenia. His marijuana use as a teenager was the key that unlocked the genetic illness.

my dad had schizoid tendencies, visions, delusions, couldn't sleep EVER.

Back in the day they diagnosed everything as schizophrenia. My uncle had "schizophrenia" but it's pretty obvious now it was actually bipolar disorder. I have bipolar disorder but they first diagnosed me as schizophrenia for a year, then schizo-affective disorder and finally bipolar which is when I started taking the correct meds and improved.

I don't believe that you can trust any diagnosis of schizophrenia from 50 years ago or prior.