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Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

psychiatrymargins.com

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Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#101

Post by FollowingTheDao »

crtified wrote: post #47
winrid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia it's starting to seem like drugs that seem harmless like marijuana (specifically THC?) can definitely bring it out. At least, that's what seemed to happen to my mother and another friend.

I wonder if alcohol is one of the seemingly harmless drugs whose abuse catalyzes such conditions in susceptible people. Because, if so, then alcohol's ubiquity in society would imply that it is probably responsible (in the sense that substances are responsible) for most such conversions.

The aldehydes that are produced from drinking alcohol heighten the risk for schizophrenia if you carry certain genetics.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26941382/

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#103

Post by winrid »

el_benhameen wrote: post #48
tony69 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe this (some rec drugs bring out latent schizophrenia) is taught in med school as a “known fact” (source: psychiatrist friend) so it’s well beyond “starting to seem”

This was treated as pretty much a fact when I took a class on psychological disorders in the US circa 2007, too.

Ah okay, good to know!

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#104

Post by anthk »

tony69 wrote: post #19
winrid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia it's starting to seem like drugs that seem harmless like marijuana (specifically THC?) can definitely bring it out. At least, that's what seemed to happen to my mother and another friend.

In Europe this (some rec drugs bring out latent schizophrenia) is taught in med school as a “known fact” (source: psychiatrist friend) so it’s well beyond “starting to seem”

And at High School too on talks about drugs; the marijuana->schizophrenia link it's widely known.

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#105

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

bad_haircut72 wrote: post #4
crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's dangerous to existing systems for people to become aware they're capable of creating/conjuring/channeling useful new voices in the mind to help learn different things. People get burned at the stake for that.

I've never ever had any symptoms of schizophrenia but the idea of trying to consciously encourage myself hearing voices is terrifying, Im sure I could send myself truly insane with probably not much effort.

I once accidentally came up with another conscious voice in my head & we decided to govern through the 12 traditions of Codependents Anonymous. She also had specific qualities I'd chosen 3 weeks prior as qualities I chose to believe I could come to embody, so that was an interesting pointer to what's possible.

And as others have pointed out, it really depends what kind of programming you're carrying around. Feeling terrified of something isn't the issue...it's how you've trained to respond to terror that matters. If you lash out or avoid, yeah....don't cultivate multiple voices. If, instead, you're choosing to purge the addiction to violence & domination fairly rooted in American imperial colonial indoctrination, it's really quite something. I'm now working on bringing in 16 others as a way to better connect with different parts of the population and spread this and other blackness-embracing ways.

Hearing/seeing things that aren't there has historically for the majority of humanity's time on Earth not been an issue. We can get back to living in such ways, especially since doing so can be extremely helpful.

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#106

Post by K0balt »

jackcosgrove wrote: post #51
K0balt wrote: post #34

Random layperson musing: I wonder if schizophrenia (or perhaps psychosis) could be in some way analogous to the LLM temperature function becoming disregulated? I mean, what is the extreme opposite of psychosis? If it is matter of degree, which it seems to be, then there is probably a tuning mechanism. Perhaps too little and you fail to account for factors that might not be apparent but might be guessed or inferred, t…

There was a theory that autism and schizophrenia were opposite ends of a spectrum, but it's fallen into disfavor. The theory went that autism produces mechanical, rigid thought patterns while schizophrenia takes free association too far. I think it is possible to be diagnosed with both schizophrenia and autism which is why the theory is not considered anymore.

Interesting. I wouldn’t have intuited autism as being on the opposing end of psychosis, really, at least not based on my experience of both in my family.

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#107

Post by pfannkuchen »

alganet wrote: post #65
jongjong wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be age related. I could never play a musical instrument until my mid thirties. Nobody in my family could. My wife found a Ukulele which was left on the side of the road and which was in good condition and took it home. I started playing just randomly tugging strings to understand the sounds and I kept doing that maybe 10 to 30 mins a day for about 2 months and the tunes became less and less random and now I can…

I had a guitar since I was 16, and never gave up trying to learn. I reached a plateau very quickly (knew some chords, simple songs), and could never go past it. I then spent almost 20 years in that plateau. Then, suddenly, it all started to click. I was reharmonizing, writing my own lines, improvising, soloing. It was uncanny. I moved to other instruments at similar speed, stuff I never played before. It became so ea…

Did the diagnosis perhaps relax some defensive structure in your mind which freed up an ability to tolerate the discomfort of actually identifying what you need to improve?

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#108

Post by have-a-break »

tony69 wrote: post #19
winrid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia it's starting to seem like drugs that seem harmless like marijuana (specifically THC?) can definitely bring it out. At least, that's what seemed to happen to my mother and another friend.

In Europe this (some rec drugs bring out latent schizophrenia) is taught in med school as a “known fact” (source: psychiatrist friend) so it’s well beyond “starting to seem”

The fact that in different parts of the world the voices can be helpful instead of intrusive makes me feel like the drugs are not the problem but how external forces view the drugs or if we really wanna talk like crazy people how the drugs influence the people around you even if they do not directly know you are using the drugs.

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#109

Post by colechristensen »

crtified wrote: post #47
winrid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia it's starting to seem like drugs that seem harmless like marijuana (specifically THC?) can definitely bring it out. At least, that's what seemed to happen to my mother and another friend.

I wonder if alcohol is one of the seemingly harmless drugs whose abuse catalyzes such conditions in susceptible people. Because, if so, then alcohol's ubiquity in society would imply that it is probably responsible (in the sense that substances are responsible) for most such conversions.

Even peculiarly stressful life events can trigger onset

Re: Schizophrenia is the price we pay for minds poised near the edge of a cliff

#110

Post by bettercallsalad »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #94
bettercallsalad wrote: post #75

As someone who is currently dating someone with history of psychosis, I have vested interest. 90% of the time she is truly the most amazing, compassionate, full of life and thoughtful person one can ever meet. Then there are times when it’s truly awful. She can barely sleep at all, leaves house without telling anyone seemingly thinking the presence of third person around. And she strongly feels others around are judg…

I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type, and I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you for staying with your partner. I’ve never been able to get someone to stay through my illness with me through my life. But that’s probably because I am man. I was on so many meds. I can’t even count them. Now I’m not on any, and I consider myself essentially cured after living with it for 35 years. If she has triggers, that m…

Thank you for sharing your journey! Most difficult part of this relationship has been to have her not worry about me leaving her because of her symptoms. Communication is the key. The only thing that can get tiring is when sleep schedules are so messy, and I have to go to work in the morning.

If you don’t mind sharing, what was your progression towards being cured? Did you do anything different lifestyle wise? I have consulted many psychiatrists but the general consensus seems to be that the management is the only option.

I am also somewhat concerned about the genetic component of it. The general feedback I received from pedestrians is most meds are not safe during pregnancy and postpartum episodes are very likely. And the risk of passing down is also about 10-20%. Her dad’s sister also seemingly had it.

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