What does science think schizophrenia is?

while going to posts written by MNBrant I found this one in 2009 that seems insanely funny to me. I don't remember posting it but I know I did because I am against gun control. Could I be schizophrenic? It was the banning game.

MY name is Penguin too. I can do anything I want when the batman goes on vacation. And my henchmen all waddle like penguins just the the real one. And they don't carry guns.
 
MNBrant said:
I can. I used to be not able to but now I can. Sometimes we can be sitting next to one another and have a chat. I get messages in chat forums, in person, in the media, and in my head. In an earlier post I, I posted that my sister was seen wearing an image of a black angel on her tee shirt and sometime later was disagnosed with advanced liver disease and is dying. Soon thereafter someone said in a chat room I was in that she will have wings. When I asked the person directly why he said that, he said I feel a little confused. I take 2, 4 mg doses of pherphenizine with 2, .5 mg doses of klonopin. I have another 8 mgs pherphenizine prn and a 10mg olanzapine prn that I can take if I hear voices. I manage my own meds, telling my doctor what I want to take and at what dose.
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Just curious, why the perphenazine as the main medication, instead of the olanzapine? Usually teh consistent dosing with an ATP has fewer side effects.
 
Pherphenizine has fewer metabolic side effects like blood sugar and weight. I get akathasia which is controlled by the klonopin.
 
MNBrant said:
while going to posts written by MNBrant I found this one in 2009 that seems insanely funny to me. I don't remember posting it but I know I did because I am against gun control. Could I be schizophrenic? It was the banning game.

MY name is Penguin too. I can do anything I want when the batman goes on vacation. And my henchmen all waddle like penguins just the the real one. And they don't carry guns.
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I remember when you first started posting I thought you were really funny.
 
Tatyana said:
I remember when you first started posting I thought you were really funny.
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I always wondered about the pig reference. Was that a reference to demon possession, my weight, or some sort of sacrifice? My wife refers to me as piggy too. I am guessing weight but how would forum posters know that? It could also mean that I am decended from animals and in fact my wife refers to me as animal at times too.
 
MNBrant said:
I always wondered about the pig reference. Was that a reference to demon possession, my weight, or some sort of sacrifice? My wife refers to me as piggy too. I am guessing weight but how would forum posters know that? It could also mean that I am decended from animals and in fact my wife refers to me as animal at times too.
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I would guess it is a term of endearment because she loves you.

You could always ask her.

Other than that, I may entirely be missing the point you are making.
 
Thats what it seems to be. She is foul mouthed in general. Since she got pregnant she is getting more mellow though.
 
MNBrant said:
I can. I used to be not able to but now I can. Sometimes we can be sitting next to one another and have a chat. I get messages in chat forums, in person, in the media, and in my head. In an earlier post I, I posted that my sister was seen wearing an image of a black angel on her tee shirt and sometime later was disagnosed with advanced liver disease and is dying. Soon thereafter someone said in a chat room I was in that she will have wings. When I asked the person directly why he said that, he said I feel a little confused. I take 2, 4 mg doses of pherphenizine with 2, .5 mg doses of klonopin. I have another 8 mgs pherphenizine prn and a 10mg olanzapine prn that I can take if I hear voices. I manage my own meds, telling my doctor what I want to take and at what dose.
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So at times like this, when you feel you are getting messages from the media, etc., do you still feel high-functioning or does it interfere in your life? Are you ever free of this, or do you choose to keep it this way by adjusting your medications?

At any rate, I know that is off your main topic, about what science thinks, and is probably none of my business.

I think a lot of people with SZ feel it can't possibly be a brain phenomenon because the voices/presences seem so completely "not them," and from what little I have learned about the actual experience of it, I think that is an understandable way to feel. But that is indeed what science thinks, and with all of the changes beginning to be discovered in the brains of people with SZ, not to mention the well-established genetic basis (twin studies, etc.), it seems there is good reason to think so.
 
There is some dispute over whether schizophrenia is a well-defined construct. Schizophrenia (the called dementia praecox) and bipolar disorder (then call manic-depressive insanity) were originally distinguished from one another based on some aspects of clinical presentation and pharmacological intervention that were apparently relatively arbitrary.

The existences of brief reactive psychoses, psychotic mood disorders, and schizoaffective disorder call the dichotomy between schizophrenia and mood disorders into question.
 
I think that endogenous production of psychoactive type neurochemicals is a major factor in schizophrenic type symptoms. Thus why a lot of people with schizophrenia like self medicating with recreational drugs, especially cannabis; which ironically usually makes the symptoms worse in the long run even if the person gets a short lived relief. Anti-psychotics tend to shut down such brain functions, probably stopping the production of the chemicals that produce the hallucinatory effects. In terms of what neurochemicals create this effect I don't think anyone really knows yet.

I know two people with schizophrenia and they are both extremely nice people that are able to function perfectly normally when not in an acute stage of their condition.
 
mijopaalmc said:
There is some dispute over whether schizophrenia is a well-defined construct. Schizophrenia (the called dementia praecox) and bipolar disorder (then call manic-depressive insanity) were originally distinguished from one another based on some aspects of clinical presentation and pharmacological intervention that were apparently relatively arbitrary.

The existences of brief reactive psychoses, psychotic mood disorders, and schizoaffective disorder call the dichotomy between schizophrenia and mood disorders into question.
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The forms of schizophrenia would suggest this, which is why I mentioned the broad categories:

-disorganised, catatonic, paranoid, which really are good descriptors, because they don't really match with the words in the case of paranoid.

-disorganized is areal thing these are the people who show major thought disruption and thought disorders

-catatonia is a real thing as well, however not very commonly seen because of medication, it used to be considered to be associated with the degenerative schizophrenias as well

paranoid would be better characterized as 'primarily associated with delusions' and high functioning

the other two (not in the DSM)

-predominant negative symptoms

-affective features

And the other things to consider: there are currently over 300 chemicals implicated in neurotransmission, so there are going to be a huge potential of possible paths to schizophrenia

And as you rightly point out then there are the other forms of psychosis and affective components. I don't think it is a dichotomy in practice, too many clients/patients have mixed symptoms for that. And there are huge battles between psychiatrists over where those lines lie, some use schizophrenia, some use bipolar disorder.

One of my supervisors suggested that ideally the categories would really be spectrum. And you could use a pyramid with four points:

-psychosis
-depression
-mania
-anxiety

And categories people on those four scales, however it leaves out the negative symptoms.

Then there are the weird things like intrusive thoughts in OCD, which look a lot like delusions, but aren't
 
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Zeuzzz said:
I think that endogenous production of psychoactive type neurochemicals is a major factor in schizophrenic type symptoms. Thus why a lot of people with schizophrenia like self medicating with recreational drugs, especially cannabis; which ironically usually makes the symptoms worse in the long run even if the person gets a short lived relief. Anti-psychotics tend to shut down such brain functions, probably stopping the production of the chemicals that produce the hallucinatory effects. In terms of what neurochemicals create this effect I don't think anyone really knows yet.

I know two people with schizophrenia and they are both extremely nice people that are able to function perfectly normally when not in an acute stage of their condition.
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And the evidence of these high levels of endogeous psychoactive neurochemicals in people with schizophrenia?
 
I do not take illegal drugs, smoke, or drink. Most of what I have heard I am somewhat secretive about as from what I hear, as hallucinations supposedly can affect reality. I am not really sure how. Maybe sane people believe the hallucinations, or that they can really change reality.
 
MNBrant said:
I do not take illegal drugs, smoke, or drink. Most of what I have heard I am somewhat secretive about as from what I hear, as hallucinations supposedly can affect reality. I am not really sure how. Maybe sane people believe the hallucinations, or that they can really change reality.
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MNBrant, you don't have to be secretive for that reason. Sane people do not believe hallucinations can affect or change reality in any way. Just the opposite. Sane people believe hallucinations are produced by the brain.

That said, an internet forum may not necessarily the best place to share them anyway. A family member, good friend, counselor or someone you know personally might be better.

It's also possible an adjustment or increase in your medications could help you to get a little better perspective on the nature of the hallucinations.
 
ExMinister said:
MNBrant, you don't have to be secretive for that reason. Sane people do not believe hallucinations can affect or change reality in any way. Just the opposite. Sane people believe hallucinations are produced by the brain.

That said, an internet forum may not necessarily the best place to share them anyway. A family member, good friend, counselor or someone you know personally might be better.

It's also possible an adjustment or increase in your medications could help you to get a little better perspective on the nature of the hallucinations.
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Its pretty hard for you to make that assumption since I have given you very little information to support it. Thanks ok, thats what sane educated people do. That is why I am secretive about it. I am sure that upping my meds would give me a new perspective on things but, I am not prepared for the side effects.
 
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