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Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

paulmorrison.org

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Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#31

Post by ada1981 »

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and ten years later, bipolar.

I didn't trust that western psychiatry could heal the underlying causes so I basically just shut up about it for a decade.

After about 10 years, I was suicidal and couldn't ignore it anymore.

My intuition told me to find another way, so I started to research on my own. I found a way through that involved MDMA therapy, NARM therapy, holotropic breathwork, and creating a loving romantic relationship.

I now live symptom-free, with no medication, and am really grateful I trusted my intuition and made my own path.

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#32

Post by loceng »

mpol wrote: post #13
monotone666 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0235-x

Thank you. Any tips for lowering inflammation? I only know of these; lower intake of alcohol, sleep well, kurkuma, aspirin. Just as a datapoint, I suffer from psychosis and experience a good response to aspirin.

CBD oil is a very powerful anti-inflammatory; CBD can be more effective for people if mixed with some THC, CBD counteracts the psychoactive properties of THC, however I believe THC is contraindicated for the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#33

Post by loceng »

monotone666 wrote: post #12
loceng wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if something like exercises for the concept of psychological flexibility could help. In reality we're all equally important, as we are one - so within this context, your belief isn't wrong. The important part then becomes in how you treat yourself and other people, being kind, and practicing non-violence (towards yourself and others). I wonder if any shamanic traditions like Ayahuasca ceremonies or one more…

The part of it that was damaging was that I was attempting to work as a data center security guard (to later become a data center tech). my employer responded to my inability to do my job or even get up and leave the building, by interrogating me. it constantly replays in my head for years now and the only time I really calm down is when I smoke weed or get drunk or something.

I don't quite understand the connection to your original post relating to the diagnosis of Delusional Dis-order, however what you're saying here sounds like post-traumatic stress? MAPS (https://maps.org/) recently did a study using MDMA to help treat PTSD with psychotherapy - perhaps a worthwhile path to explore, and worth contacting them? Perhaps there's PTSD that is acting like a linchpin causing a cascade of problems further down brain processes?

Maybe a slightly random question, though there's a purpose for me asking: do you remember having any ear infections as a child, and were they painful at all?

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#34

Post by progr4mmatic »

derefr wrote: post #21
0x8BADF00D wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems more like a defect in attention, but not a deficit; it’s an overabundance of attention to irrelevant details that the brain ascribes significant meaning to. The reason I have this hypothesis is that ADHD patients tend to have lower concentration of dopamine, whereas schizophrenics have a higher concentration than normal. An example would be ascribing significant meaning to an event that is random. But for th…

On a lower level, the brain has two hierarchies of synapses: a top-down processing hierarchy, driven by the neurochemical AMPA, and the bottom-up processing hierarchy, driven by the neurochemical NMDA. These hierarchies have salience passed back and forth between them by dopaminergic and adrenergic signalling from other brain regions. Whichever side of processing is "dominant" at the time, is training its dual to res…

Ah interesting. I didn't realize we'd categorized such a hierarchy. Reminds me of something Hoftstadter wrote in one of his earlier books.

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#35

Post by stenl »

monotone666 wrote: post #11
loceng wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any links to research or papers on this? Thanks.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0235-x

Neuroscientist here. The study shows no such thing. Maybe you refer to this: ”for the first time, identifies brain tissue macrophages proximal to neurons in over 40% of individuals with schizophrenia who are in a high inflammatory state.”

But first, the authors are confused. All brains (100%) contain macrophages in proximity to neurons. Specifically microglia (which are macrophages) and perivascular macrophages.

Second, note that they studied cases already selected to be in a high inflammatory state.

Third, they do not show the direction of causality. It’s easy to imagine how a life lived with schizophrenia could substantially increase your risk of inflammation.

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#36

Post by david-cako »

califff wrote: post #29
david-cako wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, it's possible that transcendent experiences are built into the human psyche, and that schizophrenia-like disorders are examples of the extreme end of suggestibility and ruminative thought -- i.e., an inability to properly interface with subconscious processes. The brain is a storyteller for the conscious experience, and yet the deeper that rabbit hole goes into creativity and analysis, the more disci…

Wrong. The claim that you make has been subjected to scientific testing already and it has been shown to be bogus. There is no evidence for human-god communication and there is no evidence for gods.

My point was that the human experience, all throughout history, hinges on a willingness to identify with deities, so it must be a reasonably effective evolutionary strategy. A deity is the ultimate expression of an applied ethics system, and it seems that in evolving consciousness we tend to unify around cosmological explanations for our behaviors.

Perhaps schizophrenia is a functional mutation that introduces cosmological insight to a group of people; the witch doctor/seer archetype, for instance.

It's obvious that deities are (as of yet) born of un-falsifiable hypotheses, although thank you for pointing that out...

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#38

Post by SolaceQuantum »

califff wrote: post #29
david-cako wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, it's possible that transcendent experiences are built into the human psyche, and that schizophrenia-like disorders are examples of the extreme end of suggestibility and ruminative thought -- i.e., an inability to properly interface with subconscious processes. The brain is a storyteller for the conscious experience, and yet the deeper that rabbit hole goes into creativity and analysis, the more disci…

Wrong. The claim that you make has been subjected to scientific testing already and it has been shown to be bogus. There is no evidence for human-god communication and there is no evidence for gods.

The above poster did not imply human-god communication existed, merely that humans had the capacity for non-ill transcendent experiences.

Furthermore, a lack of evidence for gods does not mean that scientifically there are no gods. The only way for things to be disproven definitely is through mathematical proof. Because this cannot be shown in a mathematical proof (there is no mathematical way to represent godhood) the concept of a god cannot be definitely disproven in scientific approaches. Otherwise the most scientific claim is merely "we cannot find any evidence for " with the logical step being that therefore doesn't exist or has a low statistical chance of happening- but this is a cognitively easy conclusion and not what science is actually doing.

Science and the scientific method is actually extremely limited when dealing with the concept of dieties. It can only say that, given claim X, experiment(s) were run that did not verify X. After enough experiments are run, they are evidence X is not true. But none of these are absolutes, and claiming a mountain of evidence is a definitive scientific proof is itself unscientific.

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#39

Post by IAmGraydon »

monotone666 wrote: post #4

I’ve been diagnosed with Delusional Disorder after a long term infection with the Epistein Barr Virus. I spent a period of time in a deep psychosis. What it seems like now is my brain trying to make meaning out of something traumatic. I believed I was one of the most important people in the world when I was in a state of shock. The delusion still persists despite heavy doses of psychiatric drugs.

How does the delusion persist if you’ve clearly just stated that you realize it’s a delusion?

Re: Understanding schizophrenia: What exactly is schizophrenia?

#40

Post by [deleted] »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #39
monotone666 wrote: post #4

I’ve been diagnosed with Delusional Disorder after a long term infection with the Epistein Barr Virus. I spent a period of time in a deep psychosis. What it seems like now is my brain trying to make meaning out of something traumatic. I believed I was one of the most important people in the world when I was in a state of shock. The delusion still persists despite heavy doses of psychiatric drugs.

How does the delusion persist if you’ve clearly just stated that you realize it’s a delusion?

[deleted]
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