Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

psychiatrymargins.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 422 posts

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

#141

Post by euranon96 »

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”

Do you know what is considered as "latent schizophrenia"? Is it like in your 40's or 30's or just couple years after the mean?

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

#142

Post by heisenbit »

hopelite wrote: post #128
cjbgkagh wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The huge number of them who smoke cigarettes prior to their first episode - a different form of self medication. 90% of people with it smoke and there is research indicating a greater likelhood prior to first episode. I’ll have to look up those numbers though. (Edit, seems about 60% at a time when the average US population was at 20%)

[flagged]

Could there be a similar cliff function for alcohol and psychoactive drugs iff used in moderation which may confer to a society an advantage to the detriment of individual health. If used above a limit things fall of a cliff. Abstinence however may also be sub-optimal even if best for any individual.

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

#143

Post by [deleted] »

woodpanel wrote: post #124

Interesting article. Also a good amount too high above the paygrade for me to decipher all concepts in it, but as someone who had close contact with schizophrenics a lot, I was missing one aspect in particular: All schizophrenics I know didn’t start as obvious psychopaths, but rather have their personal „cliff“ usually around an age associated with hormonal changes (eg early twenties, menopause). So in other words th…

[deleted]

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

#144

Post by giantg2 »

suzzer99 wrote: post #9

I've lost one of my best friends to what I think is schizophrenia. We don't know because she's cut off all contact with friends and family and refuses to see a doctor. It's definitely psychosis. She thinks she's in some kind of Truman show that she calls "the game". Since none of her friends or family are willing to admit to it, then we must be in on it. We don't know her full family medical history because her dad w…

Of course there's a downside. It's a tale as old as time. Some new miracle cure comes on the scene and people promote it without relaying the risks. You see this with mushrooms, pot, etc going back to snake oil and silphium. I've never looked into it, but I would bet that there are no medications that exist that don't have some sort of side effect or increase in risk of some negative outcome. So if someone is pushing a cure/medicine its best to assume there is risk, even if we don't yet know the risk.

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

#145

Post by [deleted] »

motorest wrote: post #137
overu589 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re right and wrong. The voices are quite real, we’re not alone in our own minds, and the it is the greatest taboo of society to discuss. It’s really sad, all of these sharp modernists determined upon the cult of science explanations for everything. Those who refuse to believe our thoughts are not all our own. That much mysticism is rooted in something that merely cannot be explained by the logical empirical mind.…

> It’s really sad, all of these sharp modernists determined upon the cult of science explanations for everything. That which you try to attack and downplay as "cult of science explanations" is actually something extremely simple: you need to show something, anything at all, that actually supports your beliefs. How can you tell something exists or works as you think it does if you are unable to show it? Do you expect…

[deleted]

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

#146

Post by andai »

suzzer99 wrote: post #9

I've lost one of my best friends to what I think is schizophrenia. We don't know because she's cut off all contact with friends and family and refuses to see a doctor. It's definitely psychosis. She thinks she's in some kind of Truman show that she calls "the game". Since none of her friends or family are willing to admit to it, then we must be in on it. We don't know her full family medical history because her dad w…

Cannabis is also a potent psychedelic, and its association with psychosis is well established.

(Not to condemn psychedelics, I just think the pendulum has swung a bit too far in the "it's totally harmless" direction.)

Could you elaborate on The Game? What did she say about this?

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

#147

Post by FollowingTheDao »

sakoht wrote: post #83

The article suggests a possible model where the schizophrenia is an extreme linear progression. But the inability to find a culprit genes suggests something more complex. It is possible that there are is a group of genes that all have variations that confers benefit, but when those variations are all together negative effects occur. That makes the positive variants overall beneficial, and keeps them in the gene pool.…

This is true for every population. For instance, the price of protecting many African populations from malaria is sickle cell disease.

But I think environment plays a bigger role in modern society to increase the risk of mood disorders than genetics alone.

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

#148

Post by jajko »

winrid wrote: post #15
suzzer99 wrote: post #9

I've lost one of my best friends to what I think is schizophrenia. We don't know because she's cut off all contact with friends and family and refuses to see a doctor. It's definitely psychosis. She thinks she's in some kind of Truman show that she calls "the game". Since none of her friends or family are willing to admit to it, then we must be in on it. We don't know her full family medical history because her dad w…

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.

One of my ex' father triggered a lifelong episode of schyzophrenia by excessive drinking during mandatory military service around age 18-19. So i'd say there are number of triggers

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

#149

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

Genetics is messy - as I understand it most genes don't code for a single thing, so assuming evolution is "selecting for schizophrenia" that only implies that there is an evolutionary benefit to some of the things controlled by the same gene(s) that control schizophrenia, that outweighs the disadvantage of schizophrenia.

Homosexuality is interesting from this perspective too - common enough that evolution has to be selecting for it, yet basically fatal to reproduction, so what are the benefits that evolution is selecting for? Is it advantageous to groups, or maybe the same genes confer an individual benefit to non-homosexuals?

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

#150

Post by dsego »

andai wrote: post #146
suzzer99 wrote: post #9

I've lost one of my best friends to what I think is schizophrenia. We don't know because she's cut off all contact with friends and family and refuses to see a doctor. It's definitely psychosis. She thinks she's in some kind of Truman show that she calls "the game". Since none of her friends or family are willing to admit to it, then we must be in on it. We don't know her full family medical history because her dad w…

Cannabis is also a potent psychedelic, and its association with psychosis is well established. (Not to condemn psychedelics, I just think the pendulum has swung a bit too far in the "it's totally harmless" direction.) Could you elaborate on The Game? What did she say about this?

As someone who has a person with psychosis in my family, I don't think you can find any interesting insights from the details of their delusions. It's like dissecting dreams or AI slop, there is no hidden meaning behind it. Usually best not to discuss it.
Post reply on HN