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Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

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Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#31

Post by roxgib »

rrrrrrrrrrrr2 wrote: post #25
berberous wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am skeptical that most suicidal people, who may idealize or even follow through on shooting or hanging themselves, would willingly let themselves be eaten by a lion. Fight or flight adrenaline in the face of big cats feels like a likely effective cure for suicidal ideation…

> Normally, a protozoan is not very likely to end up in a cat’s gut because rodents instinctively fear cats. In Toxoplasma-infected rodents, however, the fear of cats disappears (Vyas et al., 2007). The mere smell of a cat normally makes rodents flee, but rodents infected with Toxoplasma experience the smell of cat as sexually attractive (Berdoy et al., 2000, House et al., 2011). This makes them seek out cats, making…

I hear theories like "this parasite has evolved to make it's host want to be eaten by lions" and I instinctually think that's crazy, but then I remember all the way more crazy things that nature does, and it starts to sound reasonable. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#32

Post by DoreenMichele »

While the parasite is found throughout the world, more than 40 million people in the United States may be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite.

Once a diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is confirmed, you and your health care provider can discuss whether treatment is necessary. In an otherwise healthy person who is not pregnant, treatment usually is not needed. If symptoms occur, they typically go away within a few weeks to months. For pregnant women or persons who have weakened immune systems, medications are available to treat toxoplasmosis.

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/faqs.ht...

Maybe we should make it more of a priority to treat it rather than be all "Meh. Not symptomatic. Moving on."

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#33

Post by pyinstallwoes »

WhackyIdeas wrote: post #17

Fascinating. I self-diagnosed myself with schizophrenia once. A horrible 6 months locked in an alien world where all I could think about was time and space (at about a million miles a second). I would hear chatter in my head and was convinced I was overhearing random conversations people were having and was even certain of the locations they were having these conversations. The idea that we all shared one consciousne…

In a way, it gives an aroma of truth to reality is all perspective. It’s fascinating to think that mental models affect the rendering of reality. Language enforces a particular constraint on its own.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#34

Post by pyinstallwoes »

teshigahara wrote: post #23
WhackyIdeas wrote: post #17

Fascinating. I self-diagnosed myself with schizophrenia once. A horrible 6 months locked in an alien world where all I could think about was time and space (at about a million miles a second). I would hear chatter in my head and was convinced I was overhearing random conversations people were having and was even certain of the locations they were having these conversations. The idea that we all shared one consciousne…

I have PTSD from extremely bad psychedelic trips and this comment made me cringe (my PTSD must be getting better because I think at one point it would have given me a panic attack). I don't think I could have handled 6 months of that.

I can share the sentiment. I got stuck in a few loops on psychedelics and it was tumultuous to say the least. Overall it was a net positive effect but it’s certainly not the only way for “enlightenment.” It’s perhaps the most masochist path to enlightenment. Perhaps Alan Watts said that.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#35

Post by pyinstallwoes »

WhackyIdeas wrote: post #27
teshigahara wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have PTSD from extremely bad psychedelic trips and this comment made me cringe (my PTSD must be getting better because I think at one point it would have given me a panic attack). I don't think I could have handled 6 months of that.

It begun for me after smoking weed one night - in a flash I was outside my body with an extreme panic attack and the sudden belief that I was inside essentially a game. This first panic attack lasted around an hour or two. It was horrendous. Your PTSD is something you can manage, I have it too. It gets better and weaker as the years go on. For myself, this all happened 18 years ago but it made me a stronger person.

Marijuana actually triggers panic attacks in a similar way for me. None of the other psychedelics trigger it as bad as marijuana. Even then it’s a different type of management if it’s from shrooms or lsd. The marijuana one feels psychotic with short term memory loss vs just experiencing a different reality.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#36

Post by pyinstallwoes »

Dig1t wrote: post #13

> It is therefore possible that the behavioral changes induced by Toxoplasma in humans, including suicidality, are a part of its adaptations to increase the probability that our ancestors were eaten by lions or leopards What the what

That sounds like the bacteria that makes ants hang off of leaves to get eaten by predators to spread the parasite. Similar to that cat pee bacteria thing.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#37

Post by Dig1t »

rrrrrrrrrrrr2 wrote: post #25
berberous wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am skeptical that most suicidal people, who may idealize or even follow through on shooting or hanging themselves, would willingly let themselves be eaten by a lion. Fight or flight adrenaline in the face of big cats feels like a likely effective cure for suicidal ideation…

> Normally, a protozoan is not very likely to end up in a cat’s gut because rodents instinctively fear cats. In Toxoplasma-infected rodents, however, the fear of cats disappears (Vyas et al., 2007). The mere smell of a cat normally makes rodents flee, but rodents infected with Toxoplasma experience the smell of cat as sexually attractive (Berdoy et al., 2000, House et al., 2011). This makes them seek out cats, making…

Wow, this is amazing, I totally didn't know this.

Makes the case for this happening in humans seem more plausible.

Like my sibling comment said, thanks for sharing!

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#38

Post by pyinstallwoes »

berberous wrote: post #20
oliveshell wrote: post #3

Okay, this is fascinating. The fact that “schizophrenia is rare or nonexistent in hunter-gatherer populations” is particularly interesting. I had no idea this was the case. Clearly there is much more research to be done, but I feel like the authors are on the right track here.

Similarly interesting: “The striking difference was that while many of the African and Indian subjects registered predominantly positive experiences with their voices, not one American did. Rather, the U.S. subjects were more likely to report experiences as violent and hateful – and evidence of a sick condition.“

Seems related to how one might associate oneself to perspectives under religion. Vedic adjacent religions seem to cater to having a relationship with many entities of various forms.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#39

Post by kayodelycaon »

diyseguy wrote: post #16
ipnon wrote: post #10

"Living in an urban environment during childhood or as an adult has consistently been found to increase the risk of schizophrenia by a factor of two."[0] While city life is as complex of a confounding factor as anything, the fact that they found hunter-gatherers have practically no incidence of SZR is interesting. Is the modern megalopolis simply too intense of a stimulus for the minds of the sensitive to handle with…

Hunter gatherer societies no doubt considered them to be shamans or treated them with psychedelics

I'm bipolar and I'd definitely would be a shaman or prophet. I've got the right balance of intelligence and crazy for it.

Re: Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis

#40

Post by tiahura »

diyseguy wrote: post #16
ipnon wrote: post #10

"Living in an urban environment during childhood or as an adult has consistently been found to increase the risk of schizophrenia by a factor of two."[0] While city life is as complex of a confounding factor as anything, the fact that they found hunter-gatherers have practically no incidence of SZR is interesting. Is the modern megalopolis simply too intense of a stimulus for the minds of the sensitive to handle with…

Hunter gatherer societies no doubt considered them to be shamans or treated them with psychedelics

Or pushed them off a cliff.
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