# Question about schizophrenia



## fingertingle

"Lack of insight (called anosognosia). Those who are developing schizophrenia are unaware that they are becoming sick. The part of their brain that should recognize that something is wrong is damaged by the disease."

Is this true?
I found this on a website and I found it very odd... Schizophrenia is one of my number one fears for myself - probably number one. At first I found this comforting, but then I remember things my sister would say......

"I can't think."
"I can't read." 
"I can't concentrate."

So many of the things I'm dealing with right now.... and she was definitely aware of the first symptoms of schizophrenia. When her delusions hit full force, she seemed unaware, but otherwise.........

I don't know.........................

This is becoming such an obsessive thought I don't even know what to do.


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## Guest

Hi,
I think its really common for people with anxiety problems to fear that they will develop psycosis but its a seperate illness. Its true people dont know when they are going into it i have been told this by several people including doctors and also read it in books too. So if your afraid of getting an illness like this then chances are you never will. i have the same fear myself. Its just because your mind is working overtime and the intense fear of the thoughts are making them stick. without fear these thoughts would hold no importance at all. 
Try not to give them any significance, they are only thoughts after all.
If you are still worried see your gp but im sure he will tell you the same.
i hope i have been some help to you.
take care
Molkogirl


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## Guest

Yes i also heard that's how its ussually begins..but you seem aware of the problem..very aware,i doesnt neccecarily means your developing shizophrenia,lack of insight poor memory and concetration can means alot of other things like depression i can pm you some of my bookmarks if you wanna have a look


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## paranormality

i also have a fear of developing skitzophrenia, what is involved in developing it, like what are the sympoms? does it involve difficulty in diferentiating between reality and fantasy, well, basicly, when someone says stupid stuff like today is yesterday, a part of my mind reacts as though this is true, even though 99% of me knows it's absolute bollox, and i know it isn't true, a part of my mind seems to react otherwise... and it's quite annoying, i also have trouble consentrating and i seem to think 'differently' somehow, i can't explain what i mean, like my consepts of things are a lil 'different' although i think this is entirely down to DR.

i know it true that people that think they'r developing things are the ones that won't, but i'v always thought, whats worse, going mad and being mad, or knowing your going mad and freeking out because of it, like being sane 'inside' insanity, i know it sounds wierd but still... i do have trouble with, thinking witgh ease, it's like i have to keep a tab on my thoughts to stop them from going away from the norm, i have to 'consciously think normaly' i can't just 'think normaly' if you know what i mean, i have also been told that out of the people that develop psychiatric problems, the people that will recover are the strong minded deep thinkers... which i know myself to be... so, basicly, does any one else have info on the development of skitz'...

cheers.

peace out.

x


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## Guest_

I know exactly what you mean about 'consciously think normally' i felt the same way. Eventually i got tired of self monitoring and just gave in to see what happened, and nothing did. Unfortunately, you couldnt go schizo if you wanted too.


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## paranormality

ok finger tingle... this link should help with the understanding that you really most probably havn't and never will have skitzophrenia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

peace.xx


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## paranormality

also dude check this lynk, cuz if your experiancing strange effects, then you may be experiancing a minor sychotic episode, which has alot of similarities with skitz* but isn't an illness, more an 'eppisode' or 'un'health (as aposed to health)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis# ... experience


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## Guest

If I can remember back to my abnormal biopsychology class, about 3% of the population experiences a psychotic episode at some point in their life. These people are not considered schizophrenic.

That said there are two categories of symptoms for schizophrenia: positive and negative.

Positive symptoms include things like:
- Delusions
- Paranoia
- Hallucinations (Mainly auditory, mine are visual)
- Unorganized behaviour (Confusing speech, repetition, stuff like that)

Negative symptoms are the things that we are most familiar with:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Social Withdrawal
- Mania

The trouble is that the definition of schizophrenia is very broad, especially for those of us on the board who suffer from the negative symptoms. I know the feeling when you have a panic attack and you feel like you are going insane. It's not pleasant...

Although, don't worry about having schizophrenia because you are related to someone who does have it, as the genetic concordance rates are very slim (less than 15%).

For more info check out this website: http://www.psychosissucks.ca


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## CECIL

Seriously, stop trying to diagnose yourself with mental illnesses right now. It will do you no good and ultimately leave you feeling worse than when you started. Many people on this site have done this over and over again and will assure you that you are more than likely not going crazy and thinking you are just makes it worse.

Instead of trying to figure out what's "Wrong" with you, instead look at how and why you have come to believe there is anything wrong with you in the first place. Perhaps find a good psychoanalyst that will help you do this and talk it through with them.

Oh and don't believe anyone (not even yourself), when they tell you you're crazy or mentally ill. There's no such thing. Everyone is different, everyone's minds work in different ways and just because yours happens to exist outside of the social norm does not make you ill or insane.


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## Guest

CECIL said:


> Oh and don't believe anyone (not even yourself), when they tell you you're crazy or mentally ill. There's no such thing. Everyone is different, everyone's minds work in different ways and just because yours happens to exist outside of the social norm does not make you ill or insane.


I disagree with this. True, when you break things down "illnesses" are just different states, but...if someone is suffering due to the state of their mind then they have an illness that is negatively affecting them and thus requires treatment.

Yes, there is a lot to be said for acceptance of things - but suffering is something that is hard to debate.


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## blackwinded

fingertingle said:


> "Lack of insight (called anosognosia). Those who are developing schizophrenia are unaware that they are becoming sick. The part of their brain that should recognize that something is wrong is damaged by the disease."
> 
> Is this true?
> I found this on a website and I found it very odd... Schizophrenia is one of my number one fears for myself - probably number one. At first I found this comforting, but then I remember things my sister would say......
> 
> "I can't think."
> "I can't read."
> "I can't concentrate."
> 
> So many of the things I'm dealing with right now.... and she was definitely aware of the first symptoms of schizophrenia. When her delusions hit full force, she seemed unaware, but otherwise.........
> 
> I don't know.........................
> 
> This is becoming such an obsessive thought I don't even know what to do.


Many people with schizophrenia ARE aware there is something wrong. I have schizophrenia and i was very aware when it all started up. Even When i became delusional, i was still aware that my beliefs were concidered "crazy" to everyone else, even though i didn;'t see it that way and i believed every bit of them.
I've read that lack of insight occurs in only about 50% of schizophrenics.


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## Guest

Hello Blackwinded, how is it to be schizophrenic?

I know it must be very hard, but like could you describe it? Is it like you wanna kill yourself and see/hear delusions 24/7?
Also what was your first symptoms, and how long did it take from you noticed your first symptoms to get a fullblown delusional episode?

The reason I ask is because I'm very very VERY terryfied of developing this illness and I got every reason to be.
Please read my story and comment if you got time(it would help me A LOT cuz this fear combined with DP/DR/panic disorder is basically killing all my chances to get a decent life again, if I just "knew" I wasn't going schizo, it would help me a lot):

First off, before all "this" happend my 3 year long loving relationship ended out of the blue. This broke my heart and fucked me up completely.
Got caught by cops twice for marijuana, my dad died and a lot of other bullshit's been goin' on.
I've been a HEAVY weed smoker for the past 2 years from age of 15 'til now, 17years old.
I loved it more than anything, I felt so good on weed. I smoked like 10 joints everyday for 2years.
Then I got my first panic attack, this was incredibly intense, I was high as fuck and my heart started racing as fuck, my thoughts got all mixed up(not from the weed), it seemed like the world tilted and I was left in hell(literally). I was sweating, my legs were trembeling worse than a severe parkinson sufferer. So I went upstairs,( I was high and panicking like hell ) got on top of the stairs to find both of my cats looking at me. I thought to myself: "OH Shjjjjt those creatures are Gods" and ran into the livingroom and shut the door, the cats started scratching at the door which made my "delusion" only stronger... (I had just read a few months earlier that cats were considerd Gods in Egypt back in the days so maybe this was the reason for that delusion?)
The thought of them being Gods was gone by the next day, I still had some minor "fear" about it, but I understood I just freaked out.
Then a week later I decided to smoke some potent stuff again, got the same panic feeling.
This time it didn't pass, the next weeks I had atleast 10 panic attacks a day(FULLBLOWN!) was only laying on the couch shaking,screaming,sweating,thinking I was goin nuts and dying...
One of these days I had the most horrifying experience of my life, I was talking to my parents (in the middle of panic) and suddenly when I looked my stepfather in his eyes I just _KNEW_ he was trying to controll my thoughts, completely... this delusion passed in a matter of seconds, but it was scariest I've ever experienced.
Later the same night we were watching a movie, and it felt like everything being said on the movie was some kind of message to me... This passed after night sleep.
Though for a 2-3weeks after that sometimes when people talked to me/someone said something in a movie I watched, it felt like what they said was a thought I had just thought of, like I was psychic...
All this has passed, but I'm still experiencing DP/DR and panic attacks from time to time, during this time I've been smoking weed regularly, with 9 out of 10times getting fullblown panic/racing madness thoughts.
So I've decided to fully quit weed and tobacco, finally.
But the fear of going schizo is still so amazingly strong.
My dad was a heavy drug user, mostly shrooms cannabis,lsd and amphetamine, but also did heroin, coke and every other drug thats known to man, he went through A LOT of shit in his life plus he was ADHD, but at the age of 31, he just snapped, believed he was jesus for months, maybe even a year (he was very into all kind of religions and spiritual stuff before all of this)
he got diagnosed schizophrenic, and they forced anti-psychotic in him, which only fucked him up worse. After this first incident he snapped about once a year after either being in prison too long, or being on the street for too long... 
My best hope's is that it was only a combination of amphetamine psychosis and all the shit he'd been through.
Neither he or my family ever believed the diagnose, and he denied to take medicine accept when he was in the looney bin and they forced him, knowing someone that close in my genes was diagnosed schizo makes me S C A R E D to death...
I've been to therapists, but I rather talk to a rock, they just say "it's just normal anxiety" and denies dp/dr even exist soo..
I hope you got some comments/opinions/thoughts/tips on this, it would REALLY help A LOT!


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## blackwinded

hi mentallyill,

well the first thing you have to keep in mind is that you obviously have a severe anxiety disorder and people with severe anxiety are often afraid of becomming schizophrenic. It's pretty common from what i've seen.

It sounds like you have had a few spurts of delusions, but this could easily be because you were under the influence of drugs at the time. Using drugs, even marijuana has been known to cause psychosis while you are under the influence of them.

BUT, for those who have the schizophrenic gene, using any kind of drug, even weed is a very bad idea because it can trigger the beginning of the illness or worsen it. So it's a good thing you've stopped using pot. If your afraid of psychosis, and like you said you have experienced some delusions, i'd stay far away from all drugs from now on.

When your father was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was he no longer using drugs? If so, i'd say from what you described it does sound like he was schizophrenic.

oh, my symptoms started out with depression and then i started hallucinating mildly: seeing shadows, faces in the walls, etc. About 6 months into it, i developed a bizarre delusion believing trees and objects like chairs, street signs, etc were communicating with me through telepathy. I was paranoid about people reading my mind and watching me. the symptoms continued to get worse and about a year later, i was full-blown paranoid delusional believing the government was after me. They sent spy cars out to follow me. I got signals from their headlights that they were onto me because i knew too much, there were cameras installed along the highways, they were playing mind games with me, etc, etc.
Also around this time i started hearing voices. Mostly inside my head, but sometimes i hear them externally. Mostly it is just mumbling and gibberish that i can't understand. Sometimes they say strange things that make no sense, sometimes they comment on what im doing.

With medication, i don't have any delusions and i only hear voices sometimes and they dont really bother me.

concidering your father may have been schizophrenic and with all the drug use you've done and the few delusions you've had, there is reason for some concern, but still, try not to worry so much about it because it's more likely that you will not develope schizophrenia, and if you do, there are medications that can control the symptoms. Schizophrenia isn't always as bad as it sounds. For me, a lot of it has actually been a facinating experience
My best advice is to stay off drugs and alchohol and if you are extreamly worried about it, you might try asking your pdoc to put you on a low dose of antipsychotic meds.

if you have any more questions, im here.


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## Guest

Hey, first off: THANKS, for taking your time to read my long story and answer it detailed.

My delusions, was 3-4 days after last cannabis use, tho prior to those days I had almost been on it 24/7 in 2 years.
So thc was still in my system, but I wasn't high, I was in some sorta hardcore panic disorder and depersonalization.
Before this I've never had a single panic attack, no anxiety (except when I was like 4-8 years old, normal kid anxieties).
I've experienced the "paranoia" from weed, this was faaaar worse... 
I wouldn't call weed paranoia, paranoia, it's mostly fun cuz deep in your mind you know this is just you freakin' out of gettin' caught from the police.
You'd have the same paranoia if u just had some weed in your pocket.

But these delusions was fullblown, I was sittin' there talkin' about my panic attacks and in a split second it just tilted and when I looked him straight into his eyes it really felt like he was trying to controll my mind. 
I was left in horror, my skin turned white and I couldn't talk.
In my head I remember talkin' to myself like "WTF WTF WTF, OKOK ur just trippin' this is nothin'" and then it faded.

As for the TV sending secret codes to me, that lasted an hour or two.

The psychic thing lasted weeks, but I was really psychic, 100%, everytime I thought of a word or a setence, it would be said by somebody in the room or some guy on the tv in like 2seconds later.
It didn't always work, but most of the time.
Could this just be a combination of withdrawing from heavy weed use and extreme panic / dp dr?

As for my dad, he was ALWAYS on amphetamines and weed, thats why everyone in my family just think it is drug induced psychosis, but it's not like they have ever researched the condition.
Thats what makes me so worried, everytime I say like "forreal mom, I'm going schizo, I got every single symptom" she and my stepfather is like "you gotta stop thinking about that, it's just anxiety"
They won't hear a word about it, and claims my dad never was a schizo.
Though my dad never believed the diagnosis himself, and never took anti-psychotics.
Every spring he'd just snap for a few months, except from when he was 45-47(when he died), those two years he was perfectly healty, no mad man.
It gotta be taken in consideration, theres no man(atleast i know) that has ever been through half the shit he went through and be so strong and not comit suicide.
So maybe that was a reason for him to snap? 
Bad councious for never takin' care of his kids, cheatin' on his wife, stealin' from his family.
Plus he saw all his friends die, his brother, dad +++
I just don't get it if he was prone to be schizo, how come it never got triggerd before, he started marijuana at age of 12, amphetamine at age of 16, before this he was an alcoholic, and it wasn't until he was 31 that he snapped.
It doesn't make sense?

I wanna be able to have a joint, sometimes, like once a month, I wanna be able to drink every other weekend...
I don't want to change my life completely and live in fear of going schizo and let it rule my life.
Is there anyway to rule out if ur prone to schizophrenia?

Thanks again!


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## Ayato

Yeah, trying to self-diagnose is a very bad idea. I used to think I was developing schizophrenia for the longest time and was really scared of going insane but couldn't talk to anyone about it...when I finally found out it was just DP it was like an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders.


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## comfortably numb

^^^ The very same thing happened to me. I thought for a long while that i was developing schizophrenia because i felt so weird and i didnt have a clue what dp/dr was. When i got diagnosed as having dp/dr and anxiety it was actually a relief.

Its very common for people that have anxiety and dp/dr to constantly worry about going insane. In fact thats one of the major symptoms of a anxiety disorder.


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## CECIL

Of course its possible that you really were psychic.

IMO people who are developing Schizophrenia don't think they are going crazy because they aren't. All that is happening is their reality is changing. Every person's reality is 100% real to them, so by telling a Schizophrenic person "That's not real, its all in your head, you are crazy" really does them no good.

IMO what you need to do is accept their reality as truth and then start unravelling their anxieties.


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