Okay, so what is schizophrenia

One way of looking at the "schizophrenic" is to perhaps give some thought to the possibility that people who supposedly have this elusive disease are actually people who in some way are more in tune with the terrifying reality of existence, and whose so-called "illness" is not a medical problem but part of the broader problem of what it means to be human.

From this angle, the "schizophrenic" is framed as one whose defence structures are not working; figuratively speaking, he/she has stared into the sun, has seen the naked truth about the horrible world, terrifying world we live in, a world whose terrifying aspect must be repressed in order for people to adapt to it and strive in it. In this sense it is a developmental and psychosocial problem rooted in the individual's failure to adapt to his surroundings and develop a strong character structure, itself rooted in delusion, and capable of shielding the individual from the horrible truth so he can live his life in blissful ignorance of who he is and the insignificant position he occupies in a universe indifferent to his existence.

Sadly, the effect of a frank acknowledgment of life's cruelty and injustice does not conduce to mental stability, be this acknowledgment a result of intellectual endeavour or overexposure to negative experience which serves to concentrate the mind on the terrifying aspects of existence which all the so called "sane", "rational" people labour diligently to keep below the threshold of reflection and are adequately shielded from the view of by their comfortable bourgeois existence.

This fear felt in relation to the whole tapestry of existential absurdity, injustice and cruelty that presents itself so clearly to the mind of the "schizophrenic" perhaps lies at the root of so many of the so-called symptoms of the "schizophrenic", the aloofness of some, the confusion of others, and the delusions of power formulated most likely as a means of fortifying the self in the face of a world in reality beyond the control of the individual and which seems to mock him.

I've always felt that the delusions of "schizophrenics" are fundamentally no different to the kinds of delusions "sane" people construct as a kind of existential lubricant to smooth the tortuous, perilous paths of their existence, in that they essentially are coping mechanisms that we at least believe are helping us to adapt to our situation, fraught as it is with so much danger, horror and uncertainty, and so much that stretches to the limits our belief in benevolent creation and exhausts the vitality and credibility of our every theodicy.

This fear of existence sits in paradoxical harmony with a fear of death in the mind of the "schizophrenic". The fear of death is universal, and although many would deny they are fearful of death, this is only because they have managed to absorb themselves so fully in their character structure, their interests, their projects and their activities that it lies dormant in their unconscious mind where its capacity to wreak psychological havoc is impossible.

The dilemma of the "schizophrenic" is informed by man's burden of consciousness in a world where consciousness is not a gift, but a cruel trick of nature. Man must live and somehow adapt to the spiritual anguish of being, of disease, the ravages of the weather, the trauma of conflict, and the terror of his own imminent death! Man, to borrow from Blaise Pascal, is necessarily mad, and this madness, the madness of the "sane" man, is a necessary defence against a madness of a different kind, the madness of the "mad-man", to whom reality, in all its naked brutality and horror, presents itself in unvarnished form, the reality of decay and death, of conflict, of the total lack of evidence of purpose and otherworldly salvation and reward for our struggles, the utter impermanence of things etc.

Most people are hostile to the view that terror of death and the world undeprin all mental life because to dwell on such issues is so fruitless that people learn to repress it, so that it only manifests itself in veiled forms, but nevertheless it is there and essential to an understanding of human distress. Psychiatrists, apart from the philosophical theorists and practitioners, are no different to anyone else in this regards, and live confortably ensconsed in the culturally prescribed delusions that allow's man to adapt to his most ineviable of predicaments, so it should come as no surprise that one of the assumptions upon which the concept of "schizophrenia", or say "depression" has been erected is that such people merely colour the beautiful, best of all possible worlds that we live in with their own mental disease, peopling reality with the phantoms lurking in their deranged minds. In doing this, they observe the apotropaic ritual that all sane people perform in order to ward off the evil of existence, the sheer injustice, the absurdity, the unending tragedy of it all.

Perhaps psychiatrists generally are less interested in understanding the "schizophrenic" than they are in vaccinating themselves against contamination with the same distress evinced by the patient, in rationalizing the truth conveyed by his gestures, words and intonations in comforting pseudo-medical terms.

Another important factor I would surmise is the lack of self-esteem the patient who is classified as "schizophrenic" has. Self-esteem is essentially mediated by culture, social status and the responses of other people, especially in our formative years. "Schizophrenics" are usually people whose upbringing and relations to others fail to generate the self-esteem most of us take for granted and that endows us with an armour of the requisite self-confidence we need to protect us against the people and the things we are in conflict with. A favourable upbringing fortifies man, lends him that inner sustenance that allows him to face up to life's challenges. "Schizophrenics" live in isolation, starved all the things that lend people sustenance, such as people to make you feel special and loved, who do not ridicule and belittle you, who listen to you while you unburden yourself of all worries, who give you that vital network of interpersonal support that emboldens the individual and allows him to pursue his ambitions and the projects whose fulfillment redounds to the aggrandizement of the individual's sense of worth, fostering hearty delusions of greatness and immortality.

Cheze2 wrote:how many of you have known someone diagnosed with schizophrenia before and after they have been diagnosed? I'm not here to say that necessarily the label of schizophrenia is real or not, but there is a cognitive shift that occurs in people with this diagnosis.

I knew someone who was a grand master at chess before diagnosis, and was going to Harvard. He then became unwell and was unable to even understand the concept of how to play chess. This lingered for the rest of his life. Explain that for those of you who don't believe in schizophrenia. Perhaps we could just remove the diagnostic label and use "extreme emotional states" if it is just the word you disagree with.

While we are talking about schizophrenia, let's try to use person centered/human experience language here especially since we on this forum wish to move away from the medical model. It is no longer acceptable to use the term "schizophrenic." They are people diagnosed with schizophrenia. A "schizoid" would be someone diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder. These are two very different diagnoses so keep that in mind.

Maybe the guy couldn't play chess cause of the poison meds they gave him?

I will say this, its a disorder that can have multiple causes, and often misdiagnosed because its thrown out over other illnesses. Its also a good way of also labeling people who see more than others, the big imaginative thinkers.



People constantly look for the cause of schizophrenia, and are constantly coming up with different causes and etiological theories. My thoughts are a lot of them are right even though they can contradict one another; the diagnostic criteria simply lists symptoms that can apply to a number of psychological, genetic and neurological conditions that can cause the symptoms that then get labeled schizophrenia.


A few causes:

1. Psychological trauma. IMO, 95% of people who are mentally ill displaying symptoms that dont seem to have an organic origin (such as a tumor or dementia) have it from psychological trauma, primarily in early childhood. This is by far the most misunderstood and ignored part in psychiatry. Its also difficult to grasp, but from everything I have witnessed, enough trauma can turn a healthy person into a schizophrenic. I know, goes against what every psychiatrist was taught in school, but its true. The more sever the trauma the more server of a psychiatric illness you will have. Psychotic symptoms result and are at the severe end of the abuse spectrum.

Psychological trauma profoundly (I am very far from useing that term lightly) changes the way the developing mind processes information. It forces dissociation, and grooms the brain to use imagination to cope with pain. The same survival mechanism in child hood latter becomes the illness. It would explain why schizophrenics hallucinate because at one point it was necessary to invest vast neurological energy to super impose powerful feelings/thoughts/perceptions over the reality being perceived. The mind wires itself to be based on internal stimulation, because at that time external stimulation was to much to handle and for an exceptionally good reason. To put it bluntly the average person can separate reality from fantasy, in a schizophrenic the mechanism damaged or under developed so to speak by the environment. A childs brain is plastic par excellence, so its a perfectly plausible theory to those that doubt it. Nearlly everyone who I have known who was mentally ill and I mean almost everyone had an extensive history of childhood trauma. One of the best quotes I have heard (forget the name) was from a famous psychiatrist who said "psychosis is an sane reaction to an insane problem"

Eugene Bleuler who made the term schizophrenia had supicions it was caused by childhood trauma.

2. Adding to the top, undiagnosed trauma disorders: Dissociative, complex PTSD, BPD, ect.
Trauma disorders especially dissociative disorders share a whopping amount of symptoms to psychotic disorders, but its not something widely know to psychiatrists. Probably because psychiatrists are taught dissociative disorders are rare, so rare dont worry about it. PTSD isnt as graphic either. Sooo... anyone who displays symptoms from a trauma disorder will automatically be labelled as schizophrenic or psychotic further reinforcing the belief trauma disorders are rare. Its all from the influence from the pharmaceutical industries who push the chemical imbalance theory as the driver of mental disorders because it easily gives nearly every single psychiatric illness drugs to use. Bipolar, ADHD, schizophrenia, whether real or not, chemical imbalance or not one thing is real: Every time a psychiatrist make a diagnosis of schizophrenia/bipolar/ADHD its drugs al carte for the patient which means another financial score for the pharmaceutical industries. So any influence by big pharma will be to get any and all symptoms under disorders like schizophrenia which are predominately drug treatable unlike Dissociative disorders or PTSD. Add to the fact Dissociative disorders and PTSD are treatable, having a person get a schizophrenic label over what they really have means they the patient will never recover and take drugs for life since they both have a misdiagnosis and doctors are told schizophrenia is not curable thus requiring drugs for life.

Truth is DID in particular has more Schneiderian first rank symptoms than schizophrenia. And anyone who tells a classical psychiatrist 'I hear voices talking in my head with each other or to me' and 'I believe I have alternate personalities' will automatically bing 2 points for schizophrenia: 1. hearing voices and 2. the delusion other live in you. Both of which are perfectly normal for DID but also fit the schizophrenia criteria. DID also dissociative amnesia, fugue ect have symptoms very similar to the negative aspect symptoms in schizophrenia. Dissociative disorder patient are also highly hypnotizable making them very suseptable to delusional thoughts or fayning schizophrenia because its what the psychiatrist might be looking for. Flash backs of abuse can cause the patient to feel paranoid or unsafe, but that often gets labelled a delusion as well. Rapid switching or a very dissociated patient may also do poorly on reality testing further increasing the chance of the schizophrenic diagnosis. There are other that overlap well but to keep it short those are some of the biggest.

3. Sleep disturbances: I have come across this theory more than once that a patient who has difficulty staying in REM sleep or isnt getting enough of it can develop frank psychotic symptoms. Some schizophrenics report not being able to sleep before a major psychotic episode. Its possible that if the mechanism of REM sleep is broken or the brain is so deprived of it that while awake the person goes into REM. The brain is essentially awake but in REM. The REM being triggered while awake and conscious can certainly explain the florid hallucinations. A lot of schizophrenics call it being like in a dream but awake.

4. Pseudo seizures: Supposedly complex undiagnosed seizures can cause alterations in perceptions and reality processing. Its another proposed explanation out of many.

5. Electro magnetic hypersensitivity disorder. I hear its recognized in Sweden? EMFs from cell phones, electricity, ect bother those who are suseptable to it. A lot of it is debated since its unknown how non ionizing radiation truly effects the body. But its nothing I don't close my mind off to.

6. Fetal growth: this branches off into a lot of different sub theories. Supposedly virusius during pregnancy, cerebral atrophy, fetal drug exposure ect change the brain or inflict brain damage.

7. Heavy metal poisoning. This is a bigger problem then most people want to admit, and most psychs don't do this test. IMO it should be routine as drug prescriptions in psychiatry. Its well enough documented exposure to lead, mercury, arsenic ect which are all classified as neuro toxins and can produce delirium, hallucinations, flat effects, aggression (especially lead in children), lethargicness, catatonic stupors... almost every symptom of schizophrenia. And of course in a case like this psychiatric medications will do nothing but harm the patient more.

8. Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia. I believe its real, it has been proven with spinal taps and medications that target the believed mechanism of action reliving the symptoms. But I do not believe its as common as its made out to be.

9. Genetics. This gets complex, Google is better at explaining it then me.

10. Inborn cognitive deficits which effect reality processing or the way information is stored.

11. The chemical imbalance theory. Should be also number 8 since its part of it. Its this theory that is the most researched, most beloved, advanced upon and IMO full of the most misunderstandings. Its is heavily pushed by big pharma hence funded by universities. Every psychiatry student is flooded with the chemical imbalance theory and its spin offs a lot of which is nothing more than a theory. Reading up on the chemical imbalance theory may make you feel smart since its incredibly complex, but its heavily influenced by big pharma because it creates the perception that there is a scientific validation and bases for the mass drugging of people .

P0ci wrote:Maybe the guy couldn't play chess cause of the poison meds they gave him?

except this difficulties happened before taking medications.

Riccola wrote:I will say this, its a disorder that can have multiple causes, and often misdiagnosed because its thrown out over other illnesses. Its also a good way of also labeling people who see more than others, the big imaginative thinkers.

VERY true. Thank you for pointing this out at as well. There are numerous other things that could cause someone to have similar symptoms to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. All things need to be ruled out in my opinion.

Schizophrenia is very specific medical condition, not just a random label. It is a psychosis. No one who has ever met a schizophrenic could possibly think they are more in touch with reality than the rest of us.

You may be confused because the word "schizophrenic" is sometimes used by uninformed people to mean "weird" or "crazy." I've heard it used to describe people who just change their minds a lot. The word literally means "split head" so some people think it means multiple personalities. It's none of those things, and it is also different from "schizoid personality disorder" or "schizoaffective disorder." Those things may have many components and the person who has them may be more or less able to function normally in society.

Actual schizophrenia is something completely different. It is extremely painful and terrifying to the person who suffers it and to their family and friends. There is no up side. There is no way to consider it just a different perscpective or being more sensitive or imaginative. Saying that it is seriously belittles what its victims and their families go through.

Tauran wrote:Schizophrenia is very specific medical condition, not just a random label. It is a psychosis. No one who has ever met a schizophrenic could possibly think they are more in touch with reality than the rest of us.

You may be confused because the word "schizophrenic" is sometimes used by uninformed people to mean "weird" or "crazy." I've heard it used to describe people who just change their minds a lot. The word literally means "split head" so some people think it means multiple personalities. It's none of those things, and it is also different from "schizoid personality disorder" or "schizoaffective disorder." Those things may have many components and the person who has them may be more or less able to function normally in society.

Actual schizophrenia is something completely different. It is extremely painful and terrifying to the person who suffers it and to their family and friends. There is no up side. There is no way to consider it just a different perscpective or being more sensitive or imaginative. Saying that it is seriously belittles what its victims and their families go through.

Uh, I've met lots of "schizophrenics", and supposedly am one myself, so you are simply wrong on that issue. Maybe you should engage that organ between your ears next time before you make a comment. I've spent six months in a nominal hospital whose catchment area is at the lowest end of the socio-economic spectrum, the kind of conditions within which this most elusive of "diseases" supposedly metastasizes, and nothing I saw engrained in me the conviction that these people were suffering from a medical disease, after all, I'm not going to accept that someone is ill based purely on the ipse dixits of a group of people with no independent verification of their "diagnoses", which belong more in the category of oracular pronouncements and pontifical statements than they do with real medical diagnoses empirically corroborated and not just accepted on the authority of the speaker.

Whilst we should tailor our interpretations of the individual so labelled according to the particulars of their circumstances and the "symptoms" of their "disease" (after all the label is little more than an umbrella term for the subsumption of a broad, diverse range of individuals whose experiences and situations are often not really susceptible of being grouped together, which is one of the reasons why the light this subject generates lends itself to refractions through many different interpretative lenses), some of the patients I've met seemed to be especially sensitive to the provblems of being human and the reality of human existence.

That's not belittling, what you are saying is belittling, treating adults as if they were ignorant children in need of deliverance from the arbiters of reason, a viewpoint that has been put in the service of the ongoing abuse of the patient by his so-called benefactors and runs like a blood red thread through the whole historical tapestry of man's oppression of his fellow man.

When you talk about reality, do you perchance mean the reality of people who are so intellectually bankrupt (with the corresponding lack of intellectual humility that that implies, after all, the two are extremes that rarely meet, as the mental health movement amply attests to!), they paradoxically believe that giving brain damaging drugs and the administration of electricity to people and their brains respectively somehow cures them of an unproven brain disease; that all sorts of human, existential problems can be localized to a specific imbalance of chemicals in the brain; that a prison for extra-legal detention and punishment of individuals whose behaviour cannot be dealt with under the rule of law is a hospital; who believe that behavioural control and torture is a medical treatment? I could go on. I want absolutely nothing to do with such a "reality".