skizophrenic for a day?

[IHrtHalucingens]

ever since hearing about skizofrenia ive been really intrigued by it. i know taht it can be a horrible thing, but ive always thought it would be cool to either be skizofrenic for a little while or see things the way one would if they were skizofrenic, like in movies such as beautiful mind , identity, the jacket .... and all the case studies ive read in psych. It could be like trippin 24/7, always entertaining urself with a new adventure in code breaking, or solving murders, or traveling in time, i dunno what goes on in their heads has got to be incredible its gotta be such a real dillusion! of course the only way to enjoy this would be to know that there is somehting wrong, which would ruin the illusions. i dunno ive just always thought it would be rediculously interesting!! maybe thats y i love hallucinogens so much?

anyone else ever feel this way?

[Freak_]

LSD could be used to "view" in an ill psyche, some psychologists used it this way.

[Jatelka]

Originally Posted by IHrtHalucingens

It could be like trippin 24/7

Could be... But it's not.

SWIM has a schizophrenic friend: Who said this in response to your statement:

"Never feeling like you belong. Realising that you're different. Sometimes feeling that you have the answers to the universe at your fingertips, sometimes feeling that everything bad that's ever happened is your fault. Absence of visual hallucinations, presence of audio hallucinations. Lack of insight into your situation, depersonalisation, emotional blunting, paranoia 24/7. Hating yourself for "doing this" to the people you love. Realising that you will never be like other people and that your only chance is horrible drugs with hideous side effects for the rest of your life, and even then knowing that you will never be the person you would want to be."

He is a brilliant man and SWIM loves him dearly, he has wonderful family and friends and a more enlightened than most psychiatrist. He is creative and loving and despite multiple drug (prescription and otherwise) and non-drug therapies still feels BROKEN. He's not interested any more.

Reputation Comments on this post:

very interesting passage regarding the thoughts of a schizophrenic. Gives me more insight into the condition. Thanks.

[Nature Boy]

Like jatelka there, I have a schizophrenic friend also and he says it's no fun. Luckily for him, he now gets medication and has it under control but he struggled with it for years because he was afraid to bring the problem to the attention of his family. He finally sought medical help when he began to hear voices in his head telling him horrible things and it sent him into a depression. Never has he compared his condition to tripping although I would imagine the paranoia and anxiety of a bad trip could be similar in ways.

[IHrtHalucingens]

I never meant that it was a good thing, and i meant no disrespect by saying it. I know that it can be a horrible thing, ionno i guess Hollywood movies put a different spin on the disease, its very interesting to me though, i have sympathy for neone who must deal with this one a daily basis, but i cant help but be curious what the experience is like, im not good at understanding things this complex by reading about them. again i apologize if i offended ne one, i was high and up late jsut htinking about it.

Are there any good times? i mean is it always a bad experience or can it be entertaining at times?

[Jatelka]

No offence taken mate... SWIM supposes you could intellectualise LSD experiences in terms of mental illness: Certainly SWIM gets "flight of ideas" (Bipolar Disorder) on acid. She has had feelings of depersonalisation, and on 1 occasion "thought broadcasting" (schizophrenia). She has never had delusional beliefs, but her partner has. The thing with LSD is that you always know "I've taken a drug, this will end". If you don't know it, then (hopefully) someone will remind you.

SWIM's friend has done lots of acid in the past and his experiences sound very different to hers. He has an almost complete lack of visuals, and instead found that his (pre-existing) audio hallucinations have become far more elaborate. He also finds on occasion that his thought processes (which he usually describes as "jumbled") become clearer: He's been able to be very proactive with his painting and photography during those times. Sometimes that's been a good thing... However the paranoia aspect becomes impossible for him to deal with (and frightening for those around him) so he hasn't done any non-prescription drugs for several years.

Peace X

[IHrtHalucingens]

Thats even more interesting, i guess the LSD kinda treats the schizophrenia sorta the way u take stimulants to treat ADD, too bad they stopped those studies decades ago, by now there could be a betetr treatment. Its too bad he cant enjoy such a great substance.

[thatsall]

Actually there i s an organization that is trying to make things like acid therapy and x therapy and such other things another option. The orginization is called MAPS. {Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies } Very ineresting. Check ou their site www.maps.org

[Pinkavvy]

swims friends little brother was diagnosed at age 9 as a severe schizophrenic. was actually the youngest and most severe case of severe schizophrenia in our states history. For the 12 months leading up to his diagnoses, he acted more and more distant. He kept getting upset because his brother and I and the rest of his brothres friends wouldn't shudup (even though we were nowhere near him and not talking.) He was a very big kid. At age 8 he was already 5'6 tall and over 180lbs. At one point in time, he threw a chair out a window at a neighbor, unprovoked. The neighbor called the police, and despite the warnings of his mother, the police did not expect this 8 year old to be a risk. When the police came in to talk to him, he grabbed the nightstick of the one closest to him and started beating him in the face with it. The other cop starting using peper spray to stop (an 8 year old boy) who then turned on him and broke his arm with one hard swoop with the nightstick. His mother was able to calm him down. Shortly (6 weeks after that) he was diagnosed. He is 16 years old now, and for the first time since his diagnoses has been released from the hospital. He must be homeschooled, and monitered 24/7. They must keep his room windows bared, and he must take 6 differant medications (a few of them must be taken 12 times a day.) It's very sad to see him in the state he is, as he was such a cool little kid. He's now 6'4 and over 400lbs. His medication keeps him sedated enough to not be violent. And he's old enough to understand that he's sick and that he should question with things are upseting him. He often asks us if we just said anything. His medication makes him drool, and makes his sleep more than 14 hours a day.

schizophrenia usually starts to show signs much later in life, usually in your mid to late 20's. It's very rare for schizophrenia to be so prevalent that is shows signs younger, especually that young. He tells us that he hears laughing and whispering all the time, nonstop. he has learned to ignore most of it, though occasionally asks us what. He has headphones he listens to music very loudly to, to help drown out these sounds. He is always afriad that everyone is playing a joke on him, though his time in the hosptial has taught him to ignore those feelings or confront them verbally. It's not uncommon for him to mumble that he feels we're trapping him, and we explain that we're not and are only here to love him. When he was first diagnosed we all had to learn how to restrain him, we had to take classes. Before his release from the hospital, we had to take refresher courses. Luckily the hospital he spent the last 5 years in has really helped him deal with his illness, since he was released almost a year ago, there had been only 6 cases were we had to restrain him from hurting himself or somebody else.

you want to know what it's like? imagine an overwhelming feeling that you are the victim of a over-dramatic well rehearsed prank, and you are just waiting for the punchline ... 24/7. always scared that everybody around you that you love is always planning to do somthing to you. you even hear them whispering about it, you even catch what they saying sometimes. you see people staring at you, and hear them laughing inside their heads. you have the "fight or flight" felling 24/7 and nobody seems to understand how they are effecting the world, but you. occasionally you hear somebody threaten you or curse at you behind you, and when you turn around you see somebody's eyes burning a hole through you (cause it's natural to look at somebody when they turn around quickly, even though you didn't say anything to him) you can only assume they're staring at you because they intend you harm. It's at this point that he has learned to state what he thinks is happening, and allow an explenation... where before he would just have grabbed the the closest object and attempted to put it through you. he often scream at night to shutup, as the quieter the house is, the more he hears things.

Sounds like fun, eh?

[thatsall]

WOw this is very sad. there was a man in his early twenties in one of my speech classes and he recently dropped out from personal p[roblems at the end of the semseter. evry bright young man but he seems normal to me but he did a speech on it and all the symptoms. he admitted having tried suicide 2 times and contimplated it many more. His GF was also in the calss and siad she was sad about it and would stick with it all the way to the end. She actually gave her special occaision speech on her BF's funeral. This is kinda of scary, i dont know whether she expects him to die or what but this made me feel for anyone with this disease. She claims he got it from doing mad drugs during his teens. Mostly LSD and MDMA and did everything else though.
He never seemed to act like your friends brother, maybe had less severe case or hads been helped better, but it sounds life threatinging.

[IHrtHalucingens]

when i originally posted this i wasnt thinking about the severe paranoia, that def would not be fun, i was more thinkign along the lines of the movie examples which was insensitive of me, however it is very interesting, your post pinkavvy was very detailed and really helped me undertsand better, and along with those new relations between pot and schizophrenia it just increases my interest in the subject. i wil ldefinately be doing alot more reading on it.

[Pinkavvy]

Originally Posted by thatsall

She claims he got it from doing mad drugs during his teens. Mostly LSD and MDMA and did everything else though.

That's a big claim to make. LSD and MDMA do not cause it at all. Infact, MDMA and LSD are tools to help control and understand it.

Also, it's not a 'issues' type of illness that you can just get from something happening or doing something. you are either going to have it or not. and in most cases, it is not a fatal illness... thought some of the medications and treatments can be.

[thatsall]

So ur saying it is something your born with and cannot develpo for extensive PSYCHOactive drugs?

[IHrtHalucingens]

what about the whole pot causing the same brain problems? i know it is a small study and really doesnt prove nehting and it may have been a preexisting problem that was being self medicated with pot but can u dismiss it completely?

[enquirewithin]

I don't suffer from what is broadly called 'shizophrenia' but from what I have read and heard it is not really like tripping at all, nor is it enjoyable.

That's the old idea of psychedelics-- that they are psychomimetic, ie, mimic madness or psychosis. Apparently, severe amphetamine psychosis, which is is a temporary condition, is somewhat like paranoid schizophrenia, but it's really not a desirable state to be in either.

[Pinkavvy]

Originally Posted by thatsall

So ur saying it is something your born with and cannot develpo for extensive PSYCHOactive drugs?

Nobody can answer exactly what causes it for sure, but it is definately inherited in many cases. Also, it was onced belived that substance abuse causes it, however it now more widely accepted that using substances is a side-effect/symptom of it ... as a way of self-treatment.

some info about it can be found
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/sch...ubstance_abuse

[thatsall]

I see...They are saying that people with schitzophrenia tend to abuse drugs more. Thats not what i was thinking but it sounds reasonable. anybody with mental illnesses tend to abuse drugs more. Its just the obvious but i think there is room to say that alot of mental disorders can be provoked by drugs. Im not saying cause but maybe the Match that lit the fire is Drugs.Do you know what i mean? I believe that some drugs especially psycedelics can have the ability to open parts of the mind that never shut after the expierence. I believ that these parts that are open can have good and bad eefects on the mind. If the bad thoughts are opened and dwell further and furtherer well only bad things can come from that. I am a believer in thoughts are alive, this is where my opinion is coming form. i hope you can understand where im coming from.

[Pinkavvy]

You're right many mental illnesses can be caused or setup on by drug drug abuse, or any high stress situations... and as a psychonaut I know that pshychdelics can open your mind to new thought virus patterns and vortex's that can lead you down some very strange roads to all kinds of worlds that can lead to personality disorders and depression if not handled properly... but the thing is that schitzophrenia is not one of those mental illnesses. It's a chromosone thing, it's in your biology.

[Nagognog2]

I knew a crew of young psychiatrists from the 60's and 70's who would take LSD25 - illegaly - and expose themselves to as much negative and stressful stimuli as they could think up: Violent movies, S&M sex films, Hitler speeches - every/anything.

It was their intention to trigger a full-blown psychotic state so as to truly understand the psychodynamics involved in schizophrenia and the like. For better or worse - they partially suceeded.

Every few months one of them had to be checked into the hospital until they came down.

Currently I have an old friend who suffers bouts of chronic depression. Bad enough to make his holding down a job difficult. He managed to get on the state assistance roles due to this. But some quack doctor demanded he be pigeon-holed into a convienent diagnosis of being bi-polar, which he certainly is not. The result of this diagnosis is the forced administration of huge doses of a variety of anti-psychotic medications. The side effects have been dangerous at least. Such as sleep-walking and nearly falling down flights of stairs. When he stops, or threatens to stop, this chemical bombardment - his state-appointed "doctor" sends the police for him and has him restrained and hauled away to the nut house. This is legal in many places here in the USA.

I keep councilling him to move the hell out of that state - in the dark of night. As you might imagine, this "treatment" has done wonders for his chronic depression.

[thatsall]

Wow, i dont know if im getting this right...he was diagnosed with bi-polar thinking this isnt his problem. thenn the doctor and state force him to take these dangerous meds? Where is the freewill in that?

[Nagognog2]

Freewill, in Massachusetts where he lives, isn't free. You need money. If you need help due to something like chronic depression to make ends meet, then you are at the mercy of the State and their squad of doctors who are too inept to get the good jobs. Rather like having a Public Defender assigned to you in Court by the prosecution. I've had fun going head-to-head with some of these pinheads.

[antigenesis]

I believe I may have developed(uncovered?) what could possibly be a mild form of schizophrenia through drug use... I sometimes get paranoid about things that arent there, I'll see something moving along my perephiral vision (or very rarely split second visual hallucinations), and I sometimes have delusions about people.... Well like doing things behind my back and shit, ya know? I mean, its nothing all that serious, I can always shrugs the thoughts off, but just the fact that they're there makes me wonder... Oh, and if I start to get tired or miss sleep, i don't mean like 3 days, I just mean like staying up till morning, it is very common for me to have audio hallucination, of people calling my name or saying things to me, or just strange sounds or music playing when theres nothing there.

Do you think this could be the case or am I maybe just blowing pretty normal stuff out of proportion?

[Pinkavvy]

there's a differance between sleep deprivation phsychosis and schizophrenia. if you feel you may be revealing sign of schizophrenia, you really should see a doctor. it's not something to mess around with.
a doctor once said that if you try to diagnose yourself as schizophrenic, then you aren't.

[Nagognog2]

You sound about normal to me. A schizophrenic person would not notice such things as something unusual. Being paranoid of being paranoid is a good laugh. Have one - you are not nuts. You are just being introspective. And stay away from a doctor - most psychiatrists ARE nuts. And would be more than happy to welcome you into their camp and drain your bank account into oblivion.

[bonghed]

Originally Posted by Nagognog2

You sound about normal to me. A schizophrenic person would not notice such things as something unusual. Being paranoid of being paranoid is a good laugh. Have one - you are not nuts. You are just being introspective. And stay away from a doctor - most psychiatrists ARE nuts. And would be more than happy to welcome you into their camp and drain your bank account into oblivion.

sums up most of my opinion, i have had simular things but too a moreso degree, however it is not mild skitz (imo) it's just the way things turn out after various substances, and nothing to worry about unless you want to