Have you ever known a schizophrenic?

Yes.

Well, r1?

Yes. He would get dangerous when not on meds and might as well be dead when on meds

Now it seems like every other person you meet, has it. Did Russia do this to us.

My aunt was schizophrenic. She had tardive dyskinesia from old-school anti-psychotics and an overall low quality of life, but she was able to live independently.

She died of an aneurysm at around age 60. What was sad was that her death was precipitated in part by the retirement of her long-time psychiatrist. She stopped taking her meds, locked her door, and refused to leave for bedroom for close to a week.

When my mom and her brother found out what was going on, they called the police to do a wellness check. But the police said they couldn't do anything since she wasn't a harm to herself or others. When they finally broke in, she was laying on the bed with a Raggedly Ann doll. She said something like, "Dr. Keller isn't retired, he's here with me!" (pointing at the doll).

She was severely dehydrated and they took her to the ER. That night, she died on the psych ward. My mom is convinced that laying in her bed catatonic for almost a week contributed to the aneurysm.

Also (r5 again), I have bipolar disorder, but I think schizophrenia is probably the worst mental illness to have. I cannot imagine living through that the rest of my life. True, treatments have improved, but most schizophrenics still have breakthrough symptoms even on meds. It would be like living in a constant, unrelenting horror film.

I remember reading an interesting stat: schizophrenics who commit suicide have a higher likelihood of killing themselves early in the disorder. Also, the more educated and/or intelligent a person with the disorder is, the more likely they are to commit suicide. (I don't know if this is just exclusive to schizophrenia or all mental illnesses.)

The only other disorder that may be worse is factitious disorder, and in particular Munchhausen syndrome. Another interesting stat: patients with a factitious disorder who feign schizophrenia have a worse long-term prognosis than patients who actually are schizophrenic.

I knew a woman who had it, she eventually starved to death in her home, unable to realize she was starving.

I know another one who is the child of a childhood friend of mine.

Also, I have a relative through marriage, whose mother is schizophrenic.

[quote]Also ([R5] again), I have bipolar disorder, but I think schizophrenia is probably the worst mental illness to have. I cannot imagine living through that the rest of my life. True, treatments have improved, but most schizophrenics still have breakthrough symptoms even on meds. It would be like living in a constant, unrelenting horror film.

Schizophrenia is not one size fits all. Not everyone is paranoid. They’re usually in their own world and are actually very rarely violent despite popular belief.

I didn't say they were violent, r8. And there are actually five subtypes of schizophrenia (catatonic, paranoid, disorganized, undifferentiated, and residual)

[quote]I remember reading an interesting stat: schizophrenics who commit suicide have a higher likelihood of killing themselves early in the disorder. Also, the more educated and/or intelligent a person with the disorder is, the more likely they are to commit suicide. (I don't know if this is just exclusive to schizophrenia or all mental illnesses.)

Bipolar disorder has an extremely high suicide rate. Only 10% of schizophrenics commit suicide. Bipolar disorder is 30% and 20x higher than the average population. People who are bipolar eventually come down and have to deal with the ramifications of their behavior. People who are schizophrenic are in their own little world.

[quote]I didn't say they were violent

I didn’t say that you did.

R6 Actually newer research shows that for schizophrenia the more intelligent and well educated you are, the least likely you are to have a more serious course of the illness.

The reason that people with schizophrenia tend to live on average 15-20 years shorter than those who don’t have the condition is not due to suicide. People with schizophrenia suffer high rates of coronary artery disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and the like due side effects of antipsychotics. Many antipsychotics, even the newer or what we call second generation antipsychotics, have side effects of weight gain. In fact it’s one of the most common reasons patients get for taking themselves off of meds. The other side effect that makes people quit meds is tardive dyskinesia, especially in severe cases.

r10 I know -- I meant, I don't know if the correlation between education/intelligence was true in other mental illnesses, or just schizophrenia.

^ Meant to say "the correlation between education/intelligence and suicide"

I had an aunt by marriage who was schizophrenic, she was the sweetest woman when on her meds and I never saw her when she was off of them. The family stories about when she was off her meds were kind of scary, but I'm sorry I missed Aunt Gladys emptying out the china cabinet at Thanksgiving, throwing plates at my uncle, going off on the sanctimonious women and nuns of the "Rosary Society" in the midst of decorating the church for Easter Sunday. (There were vases and other church items destroyed) I kniow it's not supposed to be funny, but I loved the Aunt Gladys stories!

1995[quote] Well?

oh look, it's some loser who thinks he's clever and is under the impression it's still 1995

Faye Dunaway. Not being snarky.

I have. It's very sad, because he was a nice person. A roommate I found on Craigslist. The Price was amazing But, he was convinced the neighbors were sending radiation into our apartment. He was also convinced they were selling meth. One day, I came home to find he'd put his mattress on our balcony, and spray painted "DRUG DEALERS" on it, and drew and arrow pointing to the other apartment.

It was like that for a day. Next day, I came home to find the owner of the apartment complex in our apartment. After he left, my roommate knocked on my door and said "would you help me move my mattress to the curb?" I said "Tyler, don't throw it away. You can still sleep on it." He said the guys next door made it radioactive, so it was no good now. For the rest of the time I lived there, he slept on his box spring. And he used styrofoam panels to build a fort around himself to keep out the radiation.

He held down a job, and paid rent. But it seems he would not accept that he needed any kind of treatment.

My friends former roommate has it. She moved out three months ago because the roommate thought she was an Asian spy sent to seduce her. The roommate was a lesbian and a crafter. She liked to decorate every inch of the townhouse for even the most minor of holidays, Including flag day and Presidents’ Day. I saw the room she kept the decorations in labeled plastic bins piled up to the ceiling.

I knew two guys who were/ are schizophrenic. Both were really nice, intelligent people, but just cracked up in their early 20s. Both also got very paranoid, oddly enough with a similar preoccupation with being named ("if you say my name one more time, I'm going to hang up and never speak to you again.") Sad.

Both dropped out of university as a result. I lost touch with one of them; the other one still isn't right even though he's medicated -- a sweet guy, but unable to function at anywhere near his intellectual potential.

My grandmother sounded schizophrenic after she was put in the nursing home, the best one at the time in San Diego. Believe it was due to the super strong pain meds and her total loss of independence. She'd worked full-time and supported herself since she was a child. Retirement and living alone was hard enough for her to bear.

Anyway she'd talk about how the kindly nursing home staff were trying to kill her by poisoning her food. Yet she was served the exact same meals as everyone else in the dining room. Adjustment to her pain meds helped her regain sanity until the next episode.

R5 Don’t we all have an Aunt Tarded?

R5 Don’t we all have an Aunt Tarded?

Yes, an old college friend. She accused me of all kinds of weird things, she thought I was trying to hurt her through the internet and had some bizarre logic about how it had to be true based on one word in a dream she had. She also thought people were trying to kill her non-existent unborn baby. I had to stop speaking to her and she finally got on some meds that worked for her and is doing better.

You can't be gay and schizophrenic, that is why, well you know

I have never known a schizophrenic in the biblical sense, if that’s what you mean.

I wonder if all this social media business is helping matters. And the opioid crisis.

Drugs and flashing screens cannot be good for those predisposed to the disorder.

A guy I was sort of friendly with in college had a sister who was schizophrenic. I had met her when she was in high school and came to visit him--she was completely normal and sane.

During her freshman year of college she started showing symptoms (paranoia, imagining things) and eventually the parents had to come and get her and she was institutionalized and on heavy meds.

This was about 12 years ago and from what I've heard, she's never really come out of it, lives with her parents and has been on a variety of meds, been seen by a variety of specialists to no avail.

Very sad, she was a pretty girl and very smart too.

Not just the effects of antipsychotics, R12. Most people with schizophrenia have poor eating habits and don't exercise. Rates of smoking are also way higher than in the general population. They also are poor at interpreting their internal body signals, and so tend not to seek out medical help when things start to go wrong.

Yes, I have. One for sure, another, and perhaps a third.

R17 Actually, Faye Dunaway would make a lot of sense.

3 guys I was friends with in my teens and early twenties became schizophrenic. The one who flipped out earliest is the most normal now. I don't think you'd even be able to tell anything was wrong with him, until you got to know him better. The other two…are not well.

My mother, somehow she's made it to 74. She was diagnosed relatively late in life (fifties). According to the 5 types of schizophrenia she has "residual schizophrenia," not actively experiencing delusions but... is pretty much in her own world. She doesn't go out very much, has neglected her health to an extreme extent, barely bathes, washes her hair, brushes her teeth. Insists she's doing just fine, of course! She recently had a medical issue earlier this year which required her to go to the hospital, which was sort of a relief because she was forced to face what she's become for a bit. Turns out, however, that her health is fine aside from high blood pressure. She never took her meds for schizophrenia and my father never argued with her about it, so it's surprising that she's taking care of her blood pressure now. Honestly, having a mother like this is very depressing at times. I'm so envious of people with parents who are active and independent, my mother has just become an energy suck.

My brother has it. Its very sad. The last time I remember him being "normal" was when he was 13. I love him so much, but he isnt functional anymore. He is 42 and lives in a care facility now, and is zonked out on meds. We had to put him away when he became a danger to himself. He stood in the driveway holding a gun, and asked me to take him out into the woods to kill him. He said I deserved to be the one to do it, because he knew how much i cared, and wanted me to make the voices stop for him.

Evidently not one blind person has ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I also read somewhere that Ireland has the highest rate of schizophrenics.

I am so sorry, R34.

Interesting about the blind thing.

One of me has. One of me hasn't.

I is one

These people should be able to suicide if they want to....it is cruel to keep them alive. We all die anyway, when people need to go, help them along.

You’re thinking of MPD, r38. Often confused with schizophrenia but completely different.

R35 Google “Schizoprenia rates by Country”

The US, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom are at the bottom of the list - least prevalent out of 192 countries.

Most notable was the friend of my husband’s. They were boarding school friends and my husband gave him a job. He was Asian and extreeeemely intelligent. He could discuss almost any subject knowledgeably. He was articulate and funny and well-bred (his parents were very accomplished upper middle class professionals) and polite to the point of being almost courtly. And he was also a talented graphic designer.

Over the course of a year, my husband started coming home with more and more stories about the weird things that David had done. His roommate had kicked him out. He’d been staying up all night pacing the block. He was getting increasingly annoyed at the government “zapping” his testicles with remotely-operated and targeted electrical currents. He went downtown to FBI headquarters to complain in person. (This one made me LOL at the time, but it’s really not funny. My husband begged him not to do this.)

He was not on very good terms with his parents, and a few friends staged a sort of intervention and collected some money for him and sent him off on a bus to another school friend in another state who was a social worker and could help him get better help than he could get in NYC. IIRC, he arrived safely but disappeared soon after.

He was in his 30s at the time, and I know it’s not typical for symptoms to start that late, but it seems like he did have schizophrenia. I really hope David is getting help wherever he is. There isn’t much we can do for people who don’t have a really vast and strong safety net.

And even then...

My brother in law. He's in his 60s and his 92 year old mother takes care of him. Since he became ill in his teens, all his mother does is obsess over him. He was occasionally violent in his younger years, but his parents used that as an excuse and put him in the hospital every year. Medicaid paid for 180 days a year in hospital, so my in laws would put him in for three months and then they'd go on vacation and basically take a break from him. Each time they'd say he became violent - that's the only thing that would get him a hospital admission.

One day my MIL was talking to his social worker about when she and her husband die. "He'll go into a nursing home," MIL said.

No, said the MSW. He's been hospitalised every year for violent episodes. He won't go in a nursing home. It's unfair to other nursing home patients to have a violent schizophrenic in their midst; they're a vulnerable population.

MIL flipped out and never hospitalised him again.

So when she dies, my husband will sell her house, buy a small condo and pay immigrant home health aides to care for him 24 hours off the books. He's had the same health aides for years who take care of his mother and we pay them to care for him as well, so they'll do it. My MIL's house is a dump but is in a location that is extremely desirable to Asian immigrants who pay top dollar to get their kids into the school system. It should get at least $750k.

You talking to me? YOU talking to me? You TALKING to ME?

I went on two dates with a guy from the Boston area and he seemed pretty normal. And then after a third date he seemed a little off but thought he might just have been stoned. He quickly went off the deep end but it took me a minute to realize that he is probably schizophrenic. I don’t know if it was just starting or if it was a periodic thing but alas, I did not continue to see him. I always wondered what happened to him. He was so gorgeous and sweet.

R41 Actually with schizophrenia, there are some interesting facts that research tell us so far about age of onset and gender. Many people are aware that symptoms of schizophrenia tend to declare themselves during teen years to mid-20s. This is where most are diagnosed with their first episodes of psychosis. However, men tend to show symptoms earlier than women, as it's not uncommon for women to present with symptoms in their late 20s or even early 30s. Aside from that, all of us (both genders) are at a slightly increased risk again around our early-mid 40s. After that period, it's rare to show initial signs of schizophrenia.

Also, symptoms of schizophrenia breaks down into positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Negative symptoms are when you feel apathy and disinterest in life to the point of self-neglect; generally you'll present to others as having a blunted affect and show little or no emotions/ feelings. Believe it or not, it's often these negative symptoms that are the most debilitating, and this is where second generation antipsychotics are much better in treating than with older antipsychotics. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are what people usually think of when they picture psychotic patient with schizophrenia. People with positive symptoms have delusions, auditory or visual hallucinations, and very disorganized/ odd speech and behavior. Both types of symptoms mess with your cognition including memory, thought process, and focus/ attention. Some people present with a mix of both positive and negative symptoms, and almost every patient with schizophrenia will have some level of cognitive dysfunction over time.

Who does better with treatment? Generally the later your symptoms present e.g. experiencing first episode of psychosis at late age, the better you tend to respond to medications. Also, women and those with higher IQs tend to do well with treatment. My personal experience is with my older cousin who first showed signs of both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia when he was around 14-15. He'd been in an institution since his late teens, and he's now 55. Part of the reason why I went into psych/ mental health is due to that experience. I see a lot of patents with schizophrenia and have heard a lot of crazy stories, and we may laugh about them (it's how we cope sometimes). For instance last week I'd seen one of my favorite patients, she thinks she's written a book with Oprah and that they're going on tour together. Anyways I always go back to seeing the humanity behind this terrible disease. The best way to treat this illness is with antipsychotics and it's a balance between being on the right combination of meds; ones that would give you the most efficacy while having the least amount of tolerable side effects. Tolerability is a main factor in non-adherence to therapy. Now of course we're more knowledgeable about combining meds with psychotherapy because mixed treatment are now considered to be most effective longterm.

My mother and uncle, I believe both in their 60s. The third sibling, my aunt, is the one that raised me before I was 1 because my mother was unfit.

I lived in some fear that I'd get symptoms too, especially given that I felt that my imaginative and conspiracy-speculating (it was mostly for fun, I like absorbing all sorts of narratives and that's why I'm here too) mind was possibly more susceptible somehow. My early 20s have passed and I'm on an extended sigh of relief that I'm probably okay.

Until this year, I hadn't seen either relative in over a decade. My uncle is now in a halfway house, likely addicted to meth or something, and has become a totally haggard mess. He was shot on Christmas or New Years on the streets a year or two ago and he hasn't been the same physically. He'll steal and sell away anything for his addictions. His room smells worse than garbage. My mother has been with her husband most of this time but he's also snapped, took any of the money to gamble away, and left her alone. She may have died, like of dehydration in the examples in an earlier post, but my aunt pushed for wellness checks and eventually she was taken to a hospital. She's clearly incapable of living alone so thankfully she's been placed in assisted living indefinitely(?). I visited her this summer and it was a big mix of feelings.

I feel guilty. That I couldn't and still can't do much to help her, myself. But I know it isn't as simple as that, and I have my own obstacles being the son of a woman with severe schizophrenia. Up to my teens I'd have weekly phone calls with her but every time was like an emotional stab, that I'd never have 'real parents'. In almost all other times I feel I'm consciously entirely okay with that, but contact with her... well, its the thing I need most to see a therapist about. But we talk every 1-2 weeks so far now, they're better conversations than before because she's not being controlled by her husband and she's living better with probably a better medication, and I can better handle the pain.

In terms of delusions, I know my uncle was boastful of things he never actually owned and accomplishments he had or were done to him (like surgery by world class doctors flying in) that never happened, and my mother sometimes has signs of paranoia and also believes she had had more influence and success than she actually did (like changing laws, getting funding support for things, etc). They were both smart when younger, especially my mother, who had to drop out of university after a bad trip to Europe and her symptoms becoming clear.

Always enjoy your comments, r47. Thank you for them. If you had a blog, I’d read it.

A college acquaintance. We saw less and less of him junior year, and he eventually dropped out, but we never learned why. We were shocked several years later when he killed his girlfriend. It was only then that the full story of his illness came out.

This is kind of an aside (r50 reminded me of it), but I've always found the case of killer Richard Chase rather sad.

This thread is too depressing! Paging Instahoe threads

I worked with one, she thought I was sending her messages by how I arranged papers on my desk or the angle I had my computer monitor at. I didn’t realise at first as she seemed apparently normal her first few days, but then the weirdness started. She claimed to have attended the college that I attended but in conversation, didn’t seem to know anything about the place, so my initial assumption was that she was just full of shit. It then became clear she was telling other bizarre lies about being a widow, being qualified as a lawyer, having cancer.

She pretty rapidly escalated to sending increasingly batshit emails to dozens of people inside and outside the company, everyone in the cc line with names visible to each other, with clearly schizophrenic delusions. She finally (this was all over just a few weeks) went to see the big boss and explained to him that he needed to stop everyone else in the workforce “messaging her” with the colour of the ties that they wore or whatever, and was paid to leave and become someone else’s problem.

I left the company too and several months later she found details of me on my new company website, and showed up in my reception with a story about how her thoughts were being listened to via her TV, and explaining that she had left her apartment half-naked yesterday because she couldn’t take what was being communicated to her via her cutlery, or something. She said she had no money and I gave her the $50 cash I had in my wallet to make her go away. She tried to call me several further times at work and to email me but never with an offer to repay me, all of which I ignored, and naturally I never saw the money again.

R49 Thank you, I wish I had time for a blog, I have so many stories from working in psych.

For those interested, this video gives an idea of how negative symptoms in schizophrenia present in a patient. There are of course various presentations but this particular patient is interesting because when I first saw this video I'd guessed that he'd been on meds and his symptoms appear to be controlled. However notice he still had the apathy, blunted affect, poverty of speech/ thought, and inability to interpret social input/ cues, among other pathological, telltale signs of negative symptoms.

BTW with schizophrenia, you're not going to have complete eradication of symptoms, rather the goal is to have decrease in symptoms to the degree that they're no longer intrusive to daily functioning. Anyways going back to the patient in this video, to me he could also present initially as someone who's a high functioning on the autism spectrum. But notice the delineation between, say, a high functioning person with autism and someone who has delusions and distorted thought process as this patient obviously demonstrates the further the interview went on.

R52 It may be depressing but it is a fascinating subject. Perhaps as a happy medium someone can create a thread about a schizophrenic Instaho .

Sad to say, yes. One of my closest friends developed schizophrenia, refused to take his meds or follow a treatment regimen, ended up homeless, and later died of a heart attack in his late 40s. It was painful to watch it unfold and heartbreaking when he died.

What is catatonic schizophrenia vs being catatonic? The man in r54's video takes a long time to answer the questions, why is that? Is there some type of delay in his head, where he's hearing the questions come in a few seconds later than they are actually being asked? Or does it just take longer than usual for him to think of his answers?

R57 Yes the delayed answers relates to the decrement in cognition that is a big part of the conglomerate of symptoms in schizophrenia. Who knows what that patient was thinking, but it has to do with the dysfunction in thought process. Perhaps he was having auditory hallucinations at the same time and thus had to sort that out from the interviewer speaking to him directly.

Interesting thing with auditory hallucinations is that they can come from “outside” as in voices talking or mumbling to you, or they can be internal as in your own voice is saying things to yourself. Patients who can manage auditory hallucinations better if the voices are neutral or in some cases positive, they’re better able to tune them out or consider them as background chatter. The ones who don’t do as well are those who hear voices that are commanding or the voices are very intrusive to the point that they cannot be ignored.

^^^Sorry for the grammatical errors, long day and now only getting a break to eat lunch

A friend's younger sister was diagnosed at a fairly early age (about four years old). I met her only once when she was home on a rare visit, by then in her early twenties (this is 30 years ago), and after five minutes in her company, I understood the profound difference between a neurotic and an authentically mentally ill person. It was deeply disturbing, I've never forgotten the hair on my neck rising slightly and the deep sense of pity I felt.

Know one? I married one.

He's somewhat better now, but when his symptoms were bad, he'd wake me up in the middle of the night and say, "How can I know you're not one of them?"

He was self-medicating for the first decade of his symptoms and I didn't understand what the problem was. Eventually he developed a meth problem. That actually made things bad enough that I got him to agree to see a doctor and get some medication, which has helped a lot.

He's now about two months into what's supposed to be a six-month stay at his sisters to keep him clean for a while. He hasn't used meth but he still drinks. He is taking his meds -- that part is good. I know when he comes back it'll be straight back to the meth, though, and I'm scared for that.

I love him very much, and he can be a sweet, funny and lovable guy. But the one-two punch of schizophrenia and meth addiction turned him into someone I barely recognize.

Yes, a friend of mine in college was schizophrenic. She was very sweet, witty and funny. She came from a wealthy family and got very good care and it was nice to be around her.

Her sister was intensely neurotic and kind of tough to deal with.

My grandmother was a schizophrenic. Her behavior throughout her entire life could only be described as bizarre but nobody did anything about it. My mother is one, too. She's never had a firm grip on reality but it's gotten worse in her later years. My brother committed suicide a few years back; she thought the CIA had killed him. I'm lucky to be as sane as I am.

I thought the person in the video in R54 was an actor, acting. It's been posted here before.

R40 is one big piece of shit

My ex boyfriend of 9 years was a schizo. When off the meds it is walking on eggshells for everyone. Rasperdil would snap him out of that bizarre thoughts. But he would sometimes refuse to take the medication. Ugh. It's a lot dealing with a schizophrenic! He would punch me in the middle of the night saying he saw a demon on top of me. Just crazy ass shit!

A guy in college had it. He was 30 and living in the dorm, so already didn’t fit in. Then he went off his meds. I watched him walk by, holding a grapefruit up to his face in the palm of his hand, and arguing with it. The dorm girls got scared and complained, and got him taken away. I recall he chain smoked.

R67 what a bunch of Cunts!

yup, my dad

I knew of one, a temporary employee. Lived in a world of her own design. As her fantasy world often got in the way of her ability to get her work done, it was for the best that she was only temporary. I hope she's well, but I'm not optimistic.

That’s what I thought, R68. But his argument with that grapefruit was pretty spirited.

I've been battling it for 30+ years. I can't tell you how disrupting it is. I finally finished my degree in 2016 after numerous interruptions, first in my family to do so. I know people here will throw shit at me for sharing my whole story. Mental illness isn't fun or funny.

R72 good for you!! Keep it up!!

R72 Good for you for battling the disease and congratulations on the degree

Psych DNP, why is it I've never heard of schizophrenic's voices being kind? I've only heard of them being mean, or scary.

R75 I am not Psych DNP but I read a fascinating article years ago stating that in non western cultures, schizophrenics would sometimes hear kind and helpful voices while in western societies the voices were exclusively negative.

Wow r76, I wonder why.

R74 It is not a disease, why do people keep saying such stupid shit

I dated one off and on for a year. He held a knife to my neck one night. The sex was great, though. He more in tune with my body than anyone else I've experienced.

R78 Of course it's a disease you ignorant twat. It is recognizable in brain scans and treated with medication. That's a disease.

R80 Right, like alcoholism is a disease

“and after five minutes in her company, I understood the profound difference between a neurotic and an authentically mentally ill person. It was deeply disturbing, I've never forgotten the hair on my neck rising slightly and the deep sense of pity I felt.”

My teenage stepdaughter is borderline psychotic, not schizophrenic, but I completely recognize your reaction. I’m fairly neurotic myself (sometimes have difficulty returning phone calls because it makes me so anxious) but what I saw unfold with my stepdaughter was on a whole different plane. The combination of pity and helplessness, and then the hackles on your neck rising telling you to back off keep your distance and stay safe. After the most recent hospitalization she’s been stabilized on four different psychiatric medications which is a relief but she’ll never get back to how she used to be. That happy child is gone.

Of course alcoholism is a disease. The medical community recognizes it as such.

Unfortunately, yes

I know a lesbian with schizoaffective disorder and she has a horrible life. She hasn't worked in years and lives with her elderly parents. She's in and out of "behavioral health treatment" (i.e. committed.)

Not only is she a zombie from her meds, she has a variety of physical ailments I'm convinced are unacknowledged side effects of her medication. Bone density issues, joint deterioration, fibromyalgia (yes, yes, I know.)

She was always a little spacey and off, but it's heartbreaking to see her fade away completely.

R72,

How did you find out you had it? Did you always know? Tell us more.

I get the social consequences, but what is it like to live with it?

[quote]Evidently not one blind person has ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I also read somewhere that Ireland has the highest rate of schizophrenics.

Not quite true, what you meant to say was not one person born blind at birth has been diagnosed with schizophrenia

R87:

Yes. I had a good friend who was diagnosed bi-polar about 20 years ago, and subsequently diagnosed as also having schizoaffective disorder. He was a brilliant man. Formerly a Methodist minister who had given up on religion. Once, about 5 years ago he attempted suicide (pills) just before going to bed (didn't say a word to his wife) but she saw something was wrong when she woke up to go to the bathroom and called 911. She died from a pulmonary embolism a couple years ago as they were returning home from a restaurant. He died last year from a combination of Parkinsons, heart problems, and all the other problems he had.

Hi R75, no the auditory hallucinations come in both derogatory and non-derogatory general types. In fact, I have a fairly new female patient who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder about 2 years ago. She’s now 34 and had to quit her job because of psychotic episodes which landed her in psych hospital. In her case, her auditory hallucinations are those of angels talking to her in non-derogatory ways. She’s thus pretty successful in tuning them out. But during times of stress, such when arguments arise between residents in the group home she lives in, those angelic voices become louder, or what we call intrusive and she also sees e.g. visual hallucinations when under emotional distress. During those times, she becomes anxious and begin to think that those voices are real even though she knows they are not. She’s a high functioning person with schizophrenia most of the times, but as characteristic of the disease, at times of stress those psychotic symptoms may worsen.

This is why we’re careful in differentiating between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder where a mood component is involved. Because many times just as with people with mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorders, people who have schizoaffective disorder can be negatively affected by symptoms and sequelae associated with mood disorders. That means we treat both schizophrenia and mood symptoms in these patients.

As for voices being kind, yes there are many patients with I guess “kind” auditory hallucinations. My experience with these patients is that the voices tend to come from deceased parents or other close relatives, or from that patient’s idol (could be Jesus or celebrities) that run the gamut. Thing is with neutral or even some cases “kind” voices, they’re mostly non-intrusive. It’s when your auditory hallucinations are commanding and intrusive that you begin to experience scary shit that becomes disabling. Also remember that even “kind” voices can command you to do crazy shit. I had a patient who told me that Dwayne Johnson/ The Rock is telling her to be healthy and not do drugs anymore, but he also commanded her to only eat McDonalds french fries and chicken nuggets.

Yes, during the late 80s I had an acquaintance whose brother was schizophrenic. He seemed intelligent, was on meds so that he was able to go to school and hold down a part time job. He hated the meds as they made him lethargic but took them dutifully. The family was fundie christians. They believed in the power of prayer, self denial and healthy food. The sister, a closeted lesbian, told me he once told their father he thinks he might be gay. The father told him to not think about it and that was the end of the discussion. At least they never made him go to conversion therapy.

A friend's brother has it. He has a ton of support from her and her siblings and parents, but he's been homeless on and off for most of his adult life and has sometimes disappeared for months. He's doing well now, on regular medication and has a work program he goes to, but there's no recovery so who knows how long that will last. He's very intelligent and kind, and never been violent toward anyone but himself. She says that he has moments of lucidity where he realizes that he's very ill and that it's irreparably derailed his entire life, and that breaks her heart most of all to see. I agree it has to be the worst mental illness to have.

These must be tough times for them. Try deserve a all the support they can get.

I read an article about a schizophrenic doctor a few years ago but now can’t find it because when you google those two words together, a list of psychiatrists pop up.

Their minds work differently, but if put to good use, they could be very productive.

In risk management, for example.

And you just know that when someone does finally discover aliens, it will be a schizophrenic.

And no one will believe them.