what causes schizophrenia?

[random]

Just to try to hone in on objective markers of schizophrenia which could help you with a self-diagnosis, I would like to ask if you have trouble tracking moving objects like hockey pucks or thrown balls in sports, or if during periods of stress you experience anything like auditory hallucinations?

 

 

At the height of my psychotic state yes I did very much have auditory hallucinations and grandiose delusions as well as tactile and visual hallucinations. I am not arguing all the symptoms match but all the symptoms can also be caused by poor diet and sleep deprivation as well as isolation and use of stimulants. All of which I was subjecting myself to. These contributing factors were ignored. Considered the ramblings of a crazy man and therefore unimportant. However the experience has left me much more susceptible to mild psychotic episodes. Current symptoms are triggered by an extreme fear of confrontation as in when a person yells or I see a violent act in a movie I have a huge shot of adrenaline and become very uncomfortable. This in turn causes a state of paranoia where I find myself trying to think of what other people are thinking as if I am trying to read their thoughts which is an internal auditory voice of the person whose thoughts I wish to know. Adrenaline seems to cause the most severe episodes. I think it's also important to note the people whom I wish to contact in panic are most often deceased relatives whom I consult with for advice. The experience is very real and comforting for me.

On occasion I do try and read the thoughts of people I know in everyday life but I am very much aware that this is nothing more than an attempt to guess what they are thinking however during the experience I very clearly hear the persons voice conveying the thoughts.

Which I do question as being a hallucination or real.

 

Different psychosis I also believe is a result of a persons individuality I was very much into psychic's and clairvoyants so my psychotic state conforms to those beliefs Much as a person who believed in aliens would likely have a state of psychosis which reflected their beliefs. I think because psychic ability is widely accepted as possible enforces my delusions so I can sit here and say all day long I understand it isn't but in my mind I believe I am psychic and I actually contact these people. The advice and guidance given from my deceased relatives is very accurate to each of their personalities and it can be argued that it's coming from my memory of these people

but I choose not to believe so.

 

Back to your original question though I have not noticed a decreased ability to track movement but I have a great deal of difficulty integrating new memories and concentrating. I also have visual hallucinations, though rare which I believe to be apparitions and I also on occasion experience tactile sensations of someone grabbing me around the throat with their arm and pulling me back.

 

I think I actually caused PTSD within myself because during one of my most lucid episodes I was the female victim of a murder where in I experienced every sensation from having hands bound to being smothered to being zipped up in a sleeping bag (actually feeling the fabric) and being dragged up the stairs feeling my head hit in each and every stair and being cast into the water and feeling it's coldness and wetness. When you experience things so clearly and realistically well ........you'll never convince me it wasn't real that this wasn't the spirit of a dead girl who wanted someone to know what happened to her. But you know you can't say stuff like that to a psychiatrist now can you because then you'll be diagnosed as schizophrenic. Unless of course they were inclined to share your beliefs and see it as a heightened form of awareness or a religious awakening.

 

So yes in some circles I'll address the psychosis and in some circles I'll deny the psychosis. I only argue that antipsychotics are not appropriate for me because they have such severe side effects which I do not feel out weigh the symptoms. As I am not launched into a severe psychosis where I am constantly being bombarded with intrusive thoughts nor do I find the experiences frightening in the majority of cases. The symptoms that concern me are the memory loss and difficulty concentrating or learning new things. All of which are often amplified by antipsychotics. Being awakened at night and getting very little sleep is a pain in the ass too. Often the result of a flashback of the murder I "experienced" or my own abusive relationship I was in.

 

Hope this has provided some insight into the thread topic and nature of the illness. I wish I could have provided a first hand account of a person whose delusions and psychosis was not so widely accepted as possible because I have no doubt some will argue I have a gift but the individual case is what it is hopefully people stay on topic. We are not discussing if psychics are real.

 

When I was what I term full blown psychotic grandiose delusions such as i was an angel of god having a great battle with the antichrist or i communicated telepathically with neighbours who all knew of my purpose but we couldn't speak out loud about it only telepathically were also present. It's as though your brain will take steps to make sure you do not end the psychosis because the fantasy world is better than the real world. Sleep and real food ceased this symptom in a matter of days but it was present.

[Marat]

C. G. Jung once characterized the essence of schizophrenia as the breakdown of the integrity of the wall between the subjective and objective worlds for the patient, since the mind was no longer properly policing that separation. The main symptoms which appear as a result are those of thought insertion -- imagining that the ideas of other people can appear in your own mind without being conventionally communicated to you, and thought broadcasting -- imagining that your thoughts can be heard by others without being spoken aloud. While any kind of stress, whether social or physical, can unmask these symptoms, it is important not to imagine that stress itself is the actual problem, rather than the underlying schizophrenia.

[random]

C. G. Jung once characterized the essence of schizophrenia as the breakdown of the integrity of the wall between the subjective and objective worlds for the patient, since the mind was no longer properly policing that separation. The main symptoms which appear as a result are those of thought insertion -- imagining that the ideas of other people can appear in your own mind without being conventionally communicated to you, and thought broadcasting -- imagining that your thoughts can be heard by others without being spoken aloud. While any kind of stress, whether social or physical, can unmask these symptoms, it is important not to imagine that stress itself is the actual problem, rather than the underlying schizophrenia.

 

Well I guess it's all in how you look at it the schizophrenia would not have presented itself without the stress and the stress would not have triggered the symptoms without the underlying illness being present. It's also important to note the many different types of psychotic illness which display schizophrenic like symptoms but do not meet the diagnostic criteria which defines schizophrenia.

Anyway I tend to believe it is a social disease brought on by the individual's lifestyle. I hypothesize that the same individual in a different setting would not develop the illness and also that once it forms the brain actually creates pathway's to allow it's recurrence. Much like you can train yourself to retrieve memories easier. Also that a person susceptible to the disease will have a tendency to over analyze and or dwell on events moreso than the average individual which would create a lucid dreaming state and thus lead to the formation of the illness. But what do I know just the ramblings of a crazy man.

[Marat]

Of course, 'lack of insight' of the patient into his own condition is another important diagnostic feature of schizophrenia, and that would seem to disqualify you!

[random]

Of course, 'lack of insight' of the patient into his own condition is another important diagnostic feature of schizophrenia, and that would seem to disqualify you!

 

 

well you would like to think so but nonetheless i have the diagnosis. So anyway what is your level of agreement with me having caused PTSD from a psychotic episode? Since the event was very real for me and i relive it often causing quite a bit of discomfort.

[Fredrick Boggs]

Schozophrenia is a complex illness and no single cause has been found. There are several theories about the causes which include:

 

# Heredity

 

# Brain Chemistry

 

# An abnormality within the brain

 

 

[Marat]

Schizophrenia is usually marked by emotional flattening, sometimes called 'la belle indifference,' in which a patient may say something like, "I just heard that my mother died," and then just shrug and smile, but show no appropriate affect. Since normal emotional responses to stresses are not characteristic of schizophrenia, I don't know if there is much written on schizophrenics suffering PTSD from their own episodes, which of course would be stressful in people with normal emotional reactions.

 

There is a very interesting memoir by a Berlin publisher, Friedrich Nicolai, of his experiences with schizophrenia, published in the early 19th century. You might be interested in reading it if you can get a copy. He often had both auditory hallucinations and visual delusions of dead people in varying states of decay appearing to him, but his responses to these experiences were much more flattened than those of a non-schizophrenic would have been.

[random]

Schizophrenia is usually marked by emotional flattening, sometimes called 'la belle indifference,' in which a patient may say something like, "I just heard that my mother died," and then just shrug and smile, but show no appropriate affect. Since normal emotional responses to stresses are not characteristic of schizophrenia, I don't know if there is much written on schizophrenics suffering PTSD from their own episodes, which of course would be stressful in people with normal emotional reactions.

 

There is a very interesting memoir by a Berlin publisher, Friedrich Nicolai, of his experiences with schizophrenia, published in the early 19th century. You might be interested in reading it if you can get a copy. He often had both auditory hallucinations and visual delusions of dead people in varying states of decay appearing to him, but his responses to these experiences were much more flattened than those of a non-schizophrenic would have been.

 

 

My hat is off to you Marat, your responses are always informative and well written, as per this website you have an uncanny ability to relay information without an emmotional response.......... I respect that. It shows discipline, and to accept the replies of a person such as me without hostility or a sense of aboveness (arrogance/ superiority?) shows character. I may not be able to communicate my ideas as efficiently as some of the more well spoken members but at least you make an attempt to understand and for that you should be recognized. Thank you Marat.

[Marat]

Thanks, Random!

[SeptemberMoon]

Interesting piece here on how the dopamine systems in schizophrenics and highly creative people are similar:

 

http://www.labnews.c...outside-the-box

 

Maybe we could all develop the disease if under the right conditions.

 

My family has Schizophrenic tendencies. However, I have been categorized as having PTSD. In my opinion, I could not tell the difference in other family members "seemingly" schizophrenic episodes and my own PTSD episodes. As a very young child my imagination was a huge distraction which limited my ability to fit in with the world around me. I walked in a dream state more often than not, and I cannot remember much from my childhood due to this. Even my family members said they observed this while I was growing up. I never seemed "quite there."The things I do remember are moments from photos my family have... and some traumatic events. I still cannot remember common daily conversations, but i can remember facts from books. My imagination is my favorite part about myself. I do wonder if what you have pointed out has anything to do with the way I live my life. I am social, but in a limited fashion due to the unimaginative reality of the world around me. I get along very well with young children. I know I share their view of the world more than that of adults.