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

271–280 of 422 posts

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

#271

Post by [deleted] »

vbezhenar wrote: post #202
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…

She will break down, then she'll get strong meds and she'll change unrecognizably. Think twice before making a long relationship with this person. You'll get a lot of stress and eventually she'll change drastically. Schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, so think twice about making a children as well.

[deleted]

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

#272

Post by KittenInABox »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #149

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 s…

> Homosexuality is interesting from this perspective too - common enough that evolution has to be selecting for it,

Are we sure this is the case? I think it's more like homosexuality isn't extremely selected against on a population level. Evolution doesn't really select for, more like evolution is a process in which least-viable-specimens are killed off for their environments. It could very well be that a small number of homosexual specimens are simply irrelevant to evolutionary fitness.

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

#273

Post by suzzer99 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #269
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…

> 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. Schizophrenia is not defined strictly enough that it's possible for you to be right or wrong when you say your friend has it. Here's a discussion of the change in diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV to DSM-V, which has the side…

Yes, I agree with that. I'm just guessing because she's super paranoid of doctors. One of the downsides of being in and around the wellness community for decades.

I don't know if she's seen The Game, but I do know that she's always had a deep insecurity about being the naive one in the room, being the one not in on the joke. It seems like this thing plays on your worst fears and brings them to life.

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

#274

Post by _ink_ »

varjag wrote: post #267
tempestn wrote: post #254

This is fascinating, and makes me wonder if human intelligence itself is such a cliff edge trait. For most of human history our advanced intelligence has obviously been a benefit, but now we see, as people and societies become wealthier and better educated (both correlated with intelligence), their reproduction rates drop precipitously. Perhaps we've overshot the intelligence cliff and evolution is now gradually pull…

There is no evidence people are measurably more intelligent now than two-three decades ago.

I think there is evidence: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

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

#275

Post by suzzer99 »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #154
andai wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 had psychotic breaks, you aren’t going to learn anything from what was going on in their head.

100% agree with this. It's not rational in any way. From the period of time when she was still talking to us at least, there's no reasoning with it.

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

#276

Post by [deleted] »

varjag wrote: post #267
tempestn wrote: post #254

This is fascinating, and makes me wonder if human intelligence itself is such a cliff edge trait. For most of human history our advanced intelligence has obviously been a benefit, but now we see, as people and societies become wealthier and better educated (both correlated with intelligence), their reproduction rates drop precipitously. Perhaps we've overshot the intelligence cliff and evolution is now gradually pull…

There is no evidence people are measurably more intelligent now than two-three decades ago.

[deleted]

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

#278

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

Fraterkes wrote: post #224
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #149

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 s…

For evolution to “select” for homosexuality, wouldn’t it have to be hereditary in large part? As far as I can tell, to the extent that theres any evidence for that the effect of genes on sexuality is kinda limited

Male vs female differences, including differences in typical sex-specific sexual attraction, are obviously genetic, even if we've yet to figure out all the specifics (where are the male's "curve detector" genes, etc).

Do men and women both have the coding for male/female attraction, with one typically disabled ? This perhaps seems most likely, in same way both sexes have nipples, etc. Without knowing exactly how this all works we can only speculate how male/female genes can combine to create same-sex attraction. Obviously it's not so simple as inheriting a gay gene from one of your parents!

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

#279

Post by suzzer99 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #244
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…

People who reject in-group socio-economic norms and isolate themselves from their previous in-group may or may not be mentally ill. If they were in one of those cults that programs their members behaviors incessantly, then it's entirely plausible that they became sane and escaped from a community of insane people. For example, I've met several people who reported the set of symptoms and behaviors you describe - but i…

This isn't one of those cases. She had a career and tons of friends and now she's shunned everything. Her family lives in another state and had zero influence on her life.

But we can't do anything because she still knows how to take care of herself and isn't a danger to herself or others. So it's just sad.

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

#280

Post by [deleted] »

Xmd5a wrote: post #134
have-a-break wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41980986 What happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads?

[deleted]
Post reply on HN