"[...] First, having schizophrenia doesn't mean you’re indecisive, or you change your mind a lot, or you have multiple personalities- which apparently nearly two-thirds of Americans think is a thing. Maybe they’re thinking that because “schizophrenia” comes from Greek words for "split mind." [...]" I think most people, Americans or not, have this image of people with schizophrenia because that's how they are often presented in movies and TV series, which are mostly likely to be American made.
Never forget the "ahyuck" when you say something like "I saw it on da TV... ahyuck." Maybe the problem is where too many folks think fiction is a good place to start their educational or world-view development. ;o)
This is a re-upload of a previous episode. Thanks to one of our astute viewers for pointing out the last episode was problematic, and thanks to all our viewers that help us think about the world more complexly!
could have just left a warning. i think its important for people who are trying to understand what their loved ones are going through get a real eye opener. I would likely just fast forward passed it if you left me a timestamp.
I have a question SciShow, why not address the chunk of science that suggests it's quite environmental? You had the perfect opportunity to add it in? To clarify, identical twin studies show that about half share having a schizophrenia diagnosis, but not all identical twins share the same environment. A portion (roughly two thirds) share the same placenta (monochorionic twins) and the remainder don't (diamniotic twins). As you may have figured, those that share the same placenta (environment) have much higher rates of both having a schizophrenia diagnosis, whereas those who shared much less of their environment had much lower rates of both being diagnosed. Accordingly, the foundation on which schizophrenia can develop appears to be largely related to a baby's environment during pregnancy - at least to a much greater extent than the role played by genes. Genes certainly still do play a role, for the record, it's just a smaller role than we thought a few years ago. I believe the general hypothesis then is that a toxin/ disease/ illness that the mother unknowingly conceives is able to make its way to the placenta and, in turn, the baby's brain during a crucial part of their development causes damage to the baby's brain in a way that allows for the development of schizophrenia many years later. Don't get me wrong, science can be super slow or super fast and its pace is hard to predict. This information may have been outdated in the 2-3 years since I last read over the research. So if that's the case, I'd love to know what direction the literature is taking now? If not, I'd love to know why this was omitted, assuming you were aware of this and I haven't misunderstood something? Also - I love your work SciShow! Psych is definitely my favourite but everything you guys do is amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!
Sup i feel you. Any time I’m happy or tired or slightly off bc people aren’t the exact same all the time my friends and family assume I’m off my bipolar meds even if I’m just excited bc something good happened
What does she mean when she said at the end "most patients recover fully"? I thought it's a condition you manage, but it doesn't go away. Please educate me, I'm genuinely curious
@@geniej2378 it doesnt go away, if you stick to your medication, therapy and maintain a healthy social circle you will be "fairly normal" but if you abandon any of those factors the crisis will return in a blink of an eye
Genie J yeah like mentioned it’s an incurable mental illness since it’s based on how your brain is wired. I could see people fully recovering from “symptoms” that appear like schizophrenia if induced by drugs and people got their chemical balance back on track but as in real deal its a lot of work to try and manage. My mom has schizophrenia paranoia and it’s a lot, it never goes away and can strike even if you’re doing everything to manage it, and getting back to a semi sane state would take her several months or a few yrs sometimes, it’s really sad especially since the system isnt set up well for help. I remember when my mom went missing for over a week on an episode, I tried filing a police report and they said they’ll keep an eye out but even if they found her they couldn’t do nothing, they’d just tell her someone was looking for her bc she’s an adult which is dumb considering her mental state, plus they make you bring physiatrist forms like it’s easy only to say that they still can’t do anything about it. & whenever they’d hospitalize her, they always let her out in a few days bc she made a fuss about getting out not helping the situation at all. That’s why I got put in a foster home as a kid bc they let her out early and I got to school with bruises since she’s get very possessive of me when on an episode
As someone who grew up with a parent with paranoid schizophrenia, I completely understand that it isn't something that's in his control, but I no longer want that in my life. After 10+ years of supporting a person and having them flat-out refuse to take medications, accuse me of actively trying to poison them/kill them, etc... It's better for my own mental health to remove myself from that situation.
My uncle too but while his family supports him he pretty much lost everything like his wife and his kids. I heard schizophrenia doesn't show up until late in your life so it must've been difficult for him and for his kids.
Yes we are a lot of work, a real piece of work that I do not suffer my family to endure. My children do not know me. I would have it that they never do.
General population: educated enough to know that schizophrenia is Greek for split mind. General population: not educated enough to know what schizophrenia actually is.
I agree. The most educated people on the planet in terms of knowing what schizophrenia is to them, are those who deal with it. And when they describe it, its a foreign language to others who don't have it because they are foreigners to the diagnosis..
Look, you guys are onto something here. The truth about Multiple Personality Disorder is something the people who control Academia want to suppress. Yes, they taught us this nonsense of a 'common misconception' of "schizophrenia" being mistaken for "multiple personality disorder" when who the hell could possibly make that mistake when it has such an obvious name and "schizophrenia" doesn't? Good job catching onto that cognitive dissonance. Not sure if you realize how huge that lie is or how incredibly deep this topic goes, but you've taken the first steps towards the truth.
@wild one I feel that goes with the majority of illnesses too (not all of course) like it's kinda fucked up how were taught to stigmatize it. Like we're all human and we all struggle. Just some of us a little more and usually don't have any desire to hurt anybody else
I dated a girl who has schizophrenia as well as narcissistic and borderline personality disorder. Not all schizophrenics are nice. Some will do anything to ruin your life, even if all you do is try to help them.
My sister had schizophrenia. The medication was almost as bad as the disorder. We supported her in every way we could. For a while after her first stroke things were much better. Her second stroke was the killer.
@@chickedeedee292 she was a chain smoker for nearly 50 years, didn't exercise, lived on coca-cola and every carb in sight. Despite all that she was never terribly heavy. She was on her meds more than 10 years. Im sure they contributed but they we're only 1 factor
@wild one her meds were in constant flux. The doc changed them a few times because they made her depressed, fearful, and they said her flat affect was concerning. The meds didn't kill but they took away her personality. I agree she needed to be on them and they probably extended her life by stopping her dangerous and erratic behavior.
I'm a mostly recovered schizophrenic. I have a genetic predisposition as my grandmother and uncle have/had dementia. I got into drugs right out of HS and my supposed best friend poured large amounts of LSD into my mouth one night because he thought I slept with his ex girlfriend. That was about 20 years ago and I have been fighting for a better life ever since. I have always been improving but nothing major until the past 3 or so years when I went from group therapy at a university into a local care center. I got one on one with a doctor for my meds and have been seeing a therapist every month or two. While in group therapy I would meet people that were just not ok and they would give a laundry list of medications they had been on, almost like it was their obsession or a mark of endurance. I was afraid that I would be that person so I kept my mouth shut and stuck to one medication that was giving minimal improvement. Now I've switched meds and am in the middle of switching meds again, this time to something newer like abilify. The problem is that I'm doing so good now that I really don't want to risk relapse, for a long time I have said that I'm 99.9% there and somehow that's always redefined as symptoms get weaker and weaker. Currently I'd say my biggest symptom is flat affect as I find it hard to express emotions. And somewhat related to that I have zero motivation to do anything with my life, I work with my dad and it's great but all I do is work and play video games. I've got a messy house and always have dirty clothes, I never have that sense of well being where I can just go and brush my teeth. For some reason I think "bah I'm not going to do that" along with a pit of the stomach feeling that I shouldn't feel normal. At any rate I'm looking forward to what the future brings, because I'm always improving and since I consider myself normal or symptom free, I can't wait to see what my new normal is even a year from now. My theory is that medication is a tool not a fixall.
Kudos to you for dealing with so many challenges successfully! Someone close to me is a diagnosed schizophrenic, and it's a huge relief to know that the light at the end of the tunnel can be real, for this person as well as for all of us who love him.
I was actually misdiagnosed with schizophrenia 45 years ago. I learned nearly 3 years ago that what I actually have is Asperger's syndrome. The only time I've ever hallucinated, I had a high fever when I was a little girl. I can see where the mistake was made, though; my thoughts are in images (think "mind movies") and could be misconstrued by someone with his head stuck in a psych textbook as hallucinations. I also have synesthesia. This particular gift is also something that could be seen as hallucinating by someone who refuses to understand this and other benign neurological phenomena. I tend to view the world differently from many people and do not particularly enjoy socializing. Bingo. Schizophrenia. The worst part was not the zombie pills that I weaned myself off of; the worst part was losing the prime of my life to the fear that the "schizophrenia" would come back and turn me into a burden. I'm a bit old to try going after that 4-year college degree that I never got, but I just might do it anyway.
Reading your comment 3 years later… you should definitely try college if you haven’t already. I went as an older student and loved it. I also had some challenges because of mental issues but I’m still really glad I went. Also, you can get extra accommodations if you have a condition like Aspergers. Most schools are very supportive of neuro diversity. Good luck to you.
@Yevhenii Diomidov Yes, I'm sure. How about you stop taking little bites out of those and actually put the parts on those same exact pages where it says things about how the symptoms make it hard to diagnose and all of that. My brother in law has schizoaffective disorder. I'm 100% sure of this.
I just wish people would learn the difference between schizophrenia and schizoid PD. I'm sick to death of seeing that telltale raising of the eyebrows when they hear I have the one, and mistake it for the other.
Do you bring this sort of thing up early in a relationship? I have Asperger's, but generally don't tell people till they get to know me. I can see someone I just met raising an eyebrow if I told them even though there's nothing wrong with my condition. People who know me respond with really? I would have never guessed. I think that'd be typical for most conditions with a stigma. On the other hand it's just kindof awkward to disclose psych info to an almost stranger.
@@marcusrosales3344 No.. I don't disclose it day one... but it has come up in the past, and always ends up with a discussion about the differences, that I find tedious. And not everyone wants to understand. The real trouble is gossip, of course. Even when the proper word is used, they mistake it for the more familiar one, and start whispering in ears that didn't need to know in the first place. I've had to leave jobs because the rumor that I was hearing voices, and was sure to freak out and eat people any minute now have made it intolerable to stay on. I even had one ex GF's father aim a shotgun at me and tell me to get out of his house, because he didn't want 'crazy people' around his daughter. He had no interest in discussion at all. I don't tell anyone anymore, but that leads to gossip all the same. No wonder I don't like people.
@@NewMessage I don't know. I think you like people or at least feel great compassion for them. Having been diagnosed Asperger and bipolar i don't mind telling people. I've overcome most of my hurdles thanks mainly to support dog and have come to achieve some professional success which means i can help change people's misconceptions. Now i can tell people with confidence about my diagnoses just to mess with their heads. Evolution favors variation in a group. Some are just a little bit further off center but are still needed. I think SchiShow should make a video about the differences between schizophrenia and schizoid PD. Honestly, i don't know the difference, at least not with the English words. Maybe it's called different in Swedish.
Yeah the stigma sucks but dont differentiate yourself by saying "I'm not like the evil schizophrenics" maybe mention that even if you did hear voices you wouldn't freak out and hurt people
Two things you failed to mention: Hearing voices can be internal (hearing them in your head) or external (hearing them around you). High levels of serotonin is dangerous, too.
They can be internal as well? Can you tell me where you got that information I would like to learn more. If you can't remember that's fine, but thanks!
@@stuffstuff137 I learned it from someone a couple of years ago when I was taking a peer-to-peer class with NAMI (a support/education class taught by people with mental illness for people with mental illness). It wasn't specifically covered in the material, but we had two individuals with schizophrenia, one with external and the other with internal.
I have diagnosis of "high-functioning schizophrenia" I do get auditory hallucination and have difficulties with emotions. I do find it a bit frustrating though when they usually show schizophrenics being violent and dangerous... Or if a politician changes their mind a lot they sometimes get called "schizophrenic"... If changing my mind a lot was the problem lol
Do you mind if I ask how you were diagnosed? My father has struggled with it for 30 years or now. I believe I sometimes have slight signs, but I don't know if I may have a bias because I know I have a relatively high risk.
@@SleepFaster18 for me it was lots of interviews not only myself but with family regarding my symptoms and behaviors. Checking if others in the family have symptoms, in my case my father and grandmother had very similar symptoms. But ja lots of answering questions and filling out papers on symptoms.
@@SleepFaster18 I would suggest you see a psychiatrist. They would know best. Admittedly, sometimes psychiatrists can be wrong. I'm going to rant now. Feel free to tune out: I know my psychiatrists were were. I was originally told I had bipolar I and have even been diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), ADD, and, situational depression. It doesn't seem I have GAD because I was diagnosed with it when I was taking zyprexa and now that I am off zyprexa I no longer have the symptoms. I don't have problems with zoning out or absence seizures anymore either now that I'm off zyprexa. So it would seem most likely I don't have GAD or ADD. I was actually told by someone who had known me for at most, half an hour that I had problems with GAD because I couldn't read people's eyes which is just not true. Even my psychiatrist (who is actually pretty good even though she's the one who gave me zyprexa) doubted this and said I CAN connect with people. And I have been told I am OK at reading people. I can usually tell when people are bored, annoyed, sad, guilty, sometimes even planning something bad or lying, etc. Even though I have problems with brain damage from drug abuse, it does not seem my schizoaffective was caused by the things that normally cause schizoaffective (usually a combination of genes and a stressor).
My uncle said he sometimes seeing ghosts or hearing the dead talking to him. My whole family believed that he's spiritually gifted and monetized his ability. I told them long time ago that he might suffer from schizophrenia and we should take him to psychiatrist but they took my word as a joke. Yes my family are highly superstitious and I am stuck with them.
@@MaryamYouyoua person who is not capable of seeing reality for what it surely is is not funny. Now personalities are funny. But Schizophrenia doesn't define who you are.
@@sussyclown3456I applaud you for recognizing that. Some people have a hard time getting to that point because society wants to say that ghosts are real and cool. But the reality is that it's a superstition.
It's literally "just" schizophrenia combined with an affective disorder (usually depression or mania). It can be pretty scary in the case of mania but mania itself is pretty scary.
Thank you for once again pointing out that there is a big difference between Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities). I have known both very closely and there is a huge difference. Schizophrenia is due to an illness in the brain. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a coping mechanism of very young children in response to traumatic situations, usually severe abuse of some kind. Adults suffer from multiple personalities that began to form as very young children. Once a child progresses past a certain age, they can longer create a first additional personality, but develop other forms of dissociative disorders instead. This is due to the way a young child’s mind lays down memories and identity being different to how an older child’s brain adds to their personality. The sad thing is, I have heard poorly trained professionals get this incorrect. I know a woman who has a degree in social working and worked on mental health wards assessing patients. She believes, and has openly informed others, that the two diagnoses are in fact the same thing. She doesn’t have the training to make the distinction, but people believe her because of her work experience on psyche wards. Trying to correct her statements doesn’t work because she is the one with the degree, albeit an Associate degree and not a doctorate.
Having a degree does not make you automatically knowledgeable, smart or wise. Sometimes people with a more casual knowledge know better than professionals. It's weird but that's how it is.
Thank you for clearly explaining this very misunderstood term/diagnosis. As a Mental Health worker who worked w/ Schizophrenic/Schizoaffective patients for several years, it's good to see society slowly but surely better understand these diagnoses--and the people w/ them.
second generation antipsychotics do NOT increase serotonin production, in fact they block serotonin 2A receptors, which helps with symptoms and prevents side effects from the D2 blockade.
It may be due to people who don't know much about how these drugs work often think like "serotonin is a good neurotransmitter thus more serotonin would lead to better mental state" while the reality is way more complicated and serotonin can work both in good and bad ways.
My husband has schizophrenia. I love him to death and he is un-medicated. It's quite mild so the side effects weren't really worth the little help they were giving him. I know he has visual hallucinations; he'll wake up in the middle of the night and swear that people are standing around the bed staring at him or that someone's in the back seat of the car when he gets in. He knows they aren't real after a few moments but I still occasionally catch him talking to "me" when I've been in another room and come back. He's the sweetest person I know and is an amazing father to our daughter. I am a bit worried she will have it and am not certain how I could explain that what she sees or feels isn't real. It is comforting to know that the chances are much lower than I thought. Not that I'd love her any less but like any parent I want her to have as few difficulties as possible for her in her physical and mental health.
Hey I know this is an old comment but you could teach your daughter how to spot hallucinations by looking at the camara and taking a picture to show you and ask if it's real or not or if you have two mirrors, reflect the other one back. Hallincations don't tend to reflect back or show up on camara. I'm sorry if this comment doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm somewhere in the schizophrenia spectrum and it's hard to think
Greatly appreciate the time and thought which went into this video after growing up with a schizophrenic mother. It's always been the elephant in the room whenever new people are introduced to my family because no one actually understands what it is/what living with it is like. Thanks! :)
Could you please do a video on weed induced psychosis and if it is as common as people think? I especially want to know if it induces psychosis much more than alcohol and other drugs and if so by how much. Also what increases your chance of a drug-induced psychosis?
I think people with anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses are more likely to have 'bad trips' on 'street drugs' that are not meant to cause that.
Thank you for the video. I just wanted to add a random thought of mine that is basically a question. Have had been considered the disorder as a bigger development of the brain area related to the "inner voice" we all experience while reading or thinking and that should be related to how we develop abstract thinking? If all our "inner voices" start talking too loud, i suppose we would all feel like having this disorder. Following this thought, are there statistics about incidence of schizophrenia in deaf people that did not learn gesture language vs ones that did learn it ? That should shed a little light on this. Thank you
I get so tired of people perpetuating the myth the schizophrenia causes multiple personalities, even when it's done in humor. I took both high school and college classes on psychology, and can say for a fact that schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are separate disorders altogether. I'm sure it's theoretically possible for a schizophrenic to also have multiple personality disorder, but that doesn't change the fact that they are considered two separate diagnoses.
How affirming and clear the language is that is used in this episode is really, really cool. Schizophrenia is one of the many still heavily stigmatised mental illnesses that hasn't been adopted openly into he cultural zeitgeist like the more common and less 'ugly' depression and anxiety. And since the onset is often in adolescence, having something that is both informative and reassuring for young people maybe learning about their new diagnosis or during a crisis feels like it's really a good decision by the writers. We need to provide more hope, comfort and affirmation for all of those dealing with mental illnesses
I was diagnosed with this some time ago, and yea, most of this video tells the truth. hearing voices, seeing shadows, and that all. (the video forgot to mention most symptoms come late teen/early adult years) Thankfully my condition was mild so I was able to handle with it with medication and I lived my life quite normally. Now im planning to become a therapist to help those that have the condition worse than mine. I might be blunt about things, but I know what they are going through first-hand.
Sparrow00789 I think I might have it because I’ve been hallucinating SEEING bugs and FEELING them on me when they aren’t there, and I’m paranoid all the time that people are trying to hack my phone and they pretend to be my friends over text to spy on me , I don’t hear any voices TALK to me but sometimes I do hear two people having a full on conversation and I don’t understand what they’re saying but nobody would be home or talking, or if people I know are talking and I get mega paranoid thinking it’s about me and they’re talking bad about me and trying to expose me or something, but yeah I’m confused and kinda scared Bc it’s all been bad lately I’m also 16 and a female so idk my chances of having it this early but my mom said she thought my dad has it so like does it sound like I have this or what does it sound like I have?😕
@@theonlyonepoppingtheirpuss9784 I can't really diagnose that for you online. I HIGHLY recommend you to go see a therapist/doctor to determine what it is exactly. Early diagnose can save a life, literally.
You know. I've mentioned repeatedly over the years I believe I'm schizoeffetive( diagnosed BP2) but have never been asked why or anything. One doctor gave a diagnosis and no one has questioned it since.
Well done. The problem is the people who need this info likely will not watch these videos. Most ppl are quite happy gleaning 'facts' from fictional tv dramas and movies. Edit the reason most ppl do not spend their lives in hospital is almost noone could afford to stay in hospital for their entire life. Informative but not an honest representation of the mental health care industry. They don't care about curing they care about selling products.
I have a schizophrenic friend who is for all practical purposes fairly normal... after medication was lowered by a private (and thus costly) psychiatrist. When he was first diagnosed he was basically sentenced by the public health system to overmedication and behaved almost as a vegetable, almost unable to respond and all the time watching TV. For whatever reasons, I've stumbled on several schizophrenic people in my life: they have a hard time, sometimes they give you a hard time, but most of the pain is their own, with some instances of people who killed themselves because of either loss of hope or whatever other correlated reason. Be kind to them.
Thank you for this. I complained on the first video and stopped watching PsyShow Psych completely because of it until now. I decided to give this reupload a chance when UA-cam suggested it, and....I'm glad I did. Now I can enjoy these videos again. Always very informative.
I was "diagnosed" with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as a teenager. They gave me drugs that almost killed me, literally; I began to swallow my tongue, clenched my teeth so tight that I thought they would shatter and my throat started to close. Since then, I've gone on to have a productive life but there have been and continue to be issues but we deal them as they come about.
It hit me real hard about three years ago. Once it settled it's actually pretty alright. I haven't been lonely since. It always feels like a whole crowds around.
The most interesting theory I've heard for Schizophrenia is that people with it have difficulty separating their daydreams and inner thoughts from things that are actually happening in the real world. I think all of us have had moments where we've hallucinated or questioned whether something we experienced was real or just in our head. Imagine always experiencing that? That's scary.
But we all see movement on the periphery of our vision, right? I mean, like when light shifts or when you you move your eyes away from the area covered by your glasses... right? and tactile crawling stuff feeling when falling asleep during childhood (like bubbles moving up your back)... right? And a couple of catatonic episodes during teen years... ?
Yes. We all experience a degree of weird sensory processing. The difference with schizophrenia is that the person also has improper ideation: sees movement from the corner of their eye and immediately attributes it to someone/something that has the intent of harming them (in the case of paranoia), and develop an entire theory as to why and how and when the harm will come. So not only hallucinations but also a bizarre way of thinking characterize this illness.
I used to stay in an apartment were a neighbor lady had MAJOR schizophrenia. She was a complete disaster and became very violent, loud, and she believed the rest of the neighbors were out to kill her. So while many aren’t extremely bad and need to be put away, considering she wasn’t able to be on medication for very long at a time, I believe it would have been in her best interest to at least be given financial support to be able to go in more frequently to help manage everything.. I hope she is doing better
schizphrenia runs in my family so i was always terrified of getting it, especially since i had some of the symptoms like some phobias, some disordered/scrambled thoughts, and especially the flat affect and difficulty with empathy. I was actually thrilled to learn i wasnt showing symptoms of schitzophrenia showing up (I've heard it usually manifests in your teens and twenties) but that I just have Aspergers :D
I did a project on this for my Medical Terminology class. It's very interesting. One would actually think the Brain of a Schizophrenic was over active, but in reality the parts responsible for discriminating between reality and fantasy are underperforming. Very eye opening.
My father, a paranoid schizophrenic, attempted to murder me and my mother because he had a psychotic break. So don't for a second think that all schizophrenics are harmless people who just need understanding. Some are actually dangerous. Especially when they refuse treatment, and many do. And while I agree that we should be trying to break down the stigma associated with many mental illnesseses I do not think that people should ever be lead to believe that all mentally ill people are harmless, when in fact they are not. You're putting the general public in danger by trying to sugar coat this illness.
Wrong, the fact is that a person that doesn't have schizophrenia is far more likely to commit a violent crime, than a person that has schizophrenia. Just because there are super rare cases of violent schizophrenics doesn't mean anything and shouldn't be blamed on the illness. The general public definitely hasn't been put in danger by "sugar coating" this illness. Otherwise you could say the general public has been put in danger by "sugar coating" "healthy" people. A more correct statement than "I do not think that people should ever be lead to believe that all mentally ill people are harmless" would be: "I do not think that all people should ever be considered harmless" I'm sorry about your father.
My mother and one of my sisters are schizophrenic. The sister has benefited from modern treatments since her first schizophrenic break. My mother, on the other hand, struggled through “nervous breakdowns” (she was born in 1926) throughout her life. Sad but true.
In the modern age it is a condition that requires others oversee and monitor individuals because of the tendency in certain impulsive situations to act out but in the old days when life was simpler and we were more connected it was not as a great worry because a community would reach out rather than "trained" individuals naming, diagnosing, and keeping track of everything you fear and never thought enough about.
I had bouts of it under severe stress as a teenager and the medication now that I think of it felt worse. Thirst, sleep, thirst, sleep. It was horrid. But when you learn ways to cope, it can die down. A lot do turn to religion to help. Yeah they try to pray over you and stuff but its harmless and if it works for them, why not. Even my neighbours met in a ward and they're married now. And the best neighbours too!
My brother, my ex wife have it. My brother is a danger to himself and others because he gets confrontational. My ex has not been able to work or support herself. All of her children have been taken away from her. I think my mother had it too,not to mention her chronic alcoholism. She died when I was 16. I feel angry and hopeless whenever I think of them.
It's like a bad acid trip in some regards. Your head is an orange and you must peel it. There was this one gal who wanted to know how I lost my sight, I informed her it was due to Latuda, has a side effect of blindness. She wanted to know what that treated, and me being more than happy to explain the disabilities, admitted to being schizophrenic. She then went completely bonkers and started screaming about how I should be locked up and how dare they let someone like me to wander about the place and how "she has rights".
I’m really glad I watched this. I didn’t know much about schizophrenia before this. Also I have a lot of these risk factors and symptoms so I’m gonna talk to my psychiatrist about it.
My mother had schizophrenia, but she really only ever had one “episode” and never again. But the episode she did have was exactly these symptoms of visual hallucination and hearing voices and feeling that someone was going to attack her. Seemed to come out of nowhere. She was fine one day and next day she was not. I’ve never had any such problems. Wonder why my mum did and whether I ever will in the future.
I have psychosis, and it's been pretty controlled with meds, luckily. I don't have anything really bad, just preferable vision hallucinations & very strange audio hallucinations. I don't hear voices, I tend to hear emergency vehicle sirens when there are none, car & truck engine sounds (mostly semis for some reason), the only "voices" I hear is my name being whispered.
I have childhood onset schizophrenia. I also have multiple personalities and a high IQ (over 140). All are clinical diagnosed. My mother had schizophrenia too, but had a low normal IQ. My father's mother had high IQ. As a child going through abuse made my schizophrenia worse, much worse. My multiple personalities are from extreme child abuse and neglect from birth through teens. My schizophrenia showed signs by 3 years old. I also have an extremely good memory. But I also suffer from PTSD and my personalities often block memories because of pain full times. Other wise I can recall memories where they play like movie and I can not see anything else while they replay. My memories go back to about 2 months old. My multiple personalities were created from a few months old till late teens. I have around 30 in all. I am not on any medicine. In my early 40s I tired some, but they made things worse. Going through life, I am so use to handling bad days it is just a normal thing to me.
I honestly thought at one point i needed to be locked up, i was so terrified of my surroundings all the time I thought literal prison or an instituation was my only option. But I had some craxy stuff happen to me that im still battling internally, stuff that I honestly couldn't decipher between reality and imagination, and even dreams.
I have a friend who suffers badly from Schizophrenia, and she semi-regularly goes off the rails, quitting her medicine and therapy regimens and turns up in a desolate state days or even weeks later, usually escorted by the police. It can be really very rough...
Im fully recovered from schizoaffective disorder. My breakthrough came when I was taking delta 8 gummies (legal synthetic weed). I somehow made the connection after having a hallucination that it was indeed a hallucination not someone harassing me from outside my house, which I thought for a very long time. After that I was able to tell myself " is this reasonable or realistic to think people are harassing me wherever I go"? And came to the conclusion that those thoughts aren't reasonable or realistic. What's a little weird is that I started having symptoms in my late 20's. And nobody in my family has had this disorder that they know of. Don't know why this is the case 🤷♂️
I have a question SciShow, why not address the chunk of science that suggests it's quite environmental? You had the perfect opportunity to add it in? To clarify, identical twin studies show that about half share having a schizophrenia diagnosis, but not all identical twins share the same environment. A portion (roughly two thirds) share the same placenta (monochorionic twins) and the remainder don't (diamniotic twins). As you may have figured, those that share the same placenta (environment) have much higher rates of both having a schizophrenia diagnosis, whereas those who shared much less of their environment had much lower rates of both being diagnosed. Accordingly, the foundation on which schizophrenia can develop appears to be largely related to a baby's environment during pregnancy - at least to a much greater extent than the role played by genes. Genes certainly still do play a role, for the record, it's just a smaller role than we thought a few years ago. I believe the general hypothesis then is that a toxin/ disease/ illness that the mother unknowingly conceives is able to make its way to the placenta and, in turn, the baby's brain during a crucial part of their development causes damage to the baby's brain in a way that allows for the development of schizophrenia many years later. Don't get me wrong, science can be super slow or super fast and its pace is hard to predict. This information may have been outdated in the 2-3 years since I last read over the research. So if that's the case, I'd love to know what direction the literature is taking now? If not, I'd love to know why this was omitted, assuming you were aware of this and I haven't misunderstood something? Also - I love your work SciShow! Psych is definitely my favourite but everything you guys do is amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!
I have Bipolar Disorder, and I consider all of us who have such complex brains (this includes schizophrenia) actually have super hero brains, and we ARE super heroes! Look at Dr. Temple Grandin, who has autism. Her mother was told she should be institutionalized (back then, autism was misunderstood and labeled, "infantile schizophrenia"). Instead, Mrs. Grandin took her then-4-year old, non-verbal daughter home, and proceeded to tach her to talk. Then she sent Temple to school, and encouraged her every step of the way. Temple went on to not only graduate with a Ph.D., she revolutionized the cattle slaughter industry, bringing more humane methods to the process. If you haven't, see the HBO movie "Temple Grandin" starring Claire Danes. It's an inspiring film about an amazing woman, and you will forget within a few minutes that it's Claire in the lead role. (It is out on DVD.)
Dear SciShow, its not so easy. I have "some" expirience with ppl with schizo in my fam. Long story short: I could write a book. I could make a thriller. And nobody will believe, that it is based on true story. Nobody. Amen.
You say 'doomed' to live in a mental health facility....I would have welcomed it. The only mental health facilities with long term care in my state are those for criminals...you have to commit a crime and then have your diagnosis recognized before hospitalization. I appreciate that you've highlighted the Dean and professor at USC (also, the movie A Beautiful Mind about Nash), but she is rare, possibly unique. I can barely function in this society that 'normal' people have constructed for themselves. They expect everyone to operate under their paradigm. Or perhaps better said that they take for granted that everyone should operate under their paradigm. For example, flat effect is a major hurdle for me. So imagine things like service jobs, or entrepreneurial pursuits, or any number of instances when one has to interact with the public. Feedback I would receive when I was younger was advice like 'be more happy', or 'show more excitement', anyway, you get the point. I've been seeing a therapist once a week for nearly ten years now. Ten years. The meds I'm on do what they're supposed to do. When she mentions 'recovery', I don't even know what that looks like.
I've been diagnosed as schizoaffective which is similar to schizophrenia and I have never felt that while sober. If you're concerned, I would suggest seeing a psychiatrist. I took a psychology class and they even said that some amount of hallucinating is normal, especially in times of stress. What you're experiencing may be normal. I don't know. I'm not a psychiatrist.
Yep, I agree, some of the crawling feeling can strictly be stress related. BUT definitely get professional help, and if you're not content/happy with the diagnosis, try other doctors. But for me, I had a lot of this sensation as a child which then often lead to panic attacks as a teen and young adult, but I was never diagnosed with schizophrenia, despite BOTH my mother and brother getting diagnosed. I grew out of that by the time I was around 26. Both of mother's & brother's diagnoses were for the paranoid variety, with my mother's as much more serious, with her going into states of catatonia on a regular basis (and thusly was hospitalized and institutionalized for the latter 50 years of her life). My brother on the other hand, has lived with his diagnosis for the last 28 years and he's living on his own (albeit living far away from the rest of the family-which he chose to do).
Thank you for putting a "happy face" on this disorder. However, as a caregiver who has been on the front lines, having seen the "darker" side, I have to disagree.
My mother in law was schizophrenic with the neediest personality I ever encountered. Thank God my X left me. I went home so I could bring my son up without that awful influence.
"[...] First, having schizophrenia doesn't mean you’re indecisive,
or you change your mind a lot, or you have multiple personalities-
which apparently nearly two-thirds of Americans think is a thing.
Maybe they’re thinking that because “schizophrenia”
comes from Greek words for "split mind." [...]"
I think most people, Americans or not, have this image of people with schizophrenia because that's how they are often presented in movies and TV series, which are mostly likely to be American made.
Never forget the "ahyuck" when you say something like "I saw it on da TV... ahyuck."
Maybe the problem is where too many folks think fiction is a good place to start their educational or world-view development. ;o)
I agree with you. Most people think that because of movies, not because of their extensive knowledge in classical greek.
@@arccv exactly! that's the first thing popped in my head when I heard that in the video.
Who watches TV anymore?
utube, netflizy, whatever streaming service .. they are not too different TV, very tailored ones
This is a re-upload of a previous episode. Thanks to one of our astute viewers for pointing out the last episode was problematic, and thanks to all our viewers that help us think about the world more complexly!
Thanks
Thank you!
Much APPRECIATED. I happened to not be able to watch a certain currently absent segment without feelings very VERY much like a freak
could have just left a warning. i think its important for people who are trying to understand what their loved ones are going through get a real eye opener. I would likely just fast forward passed it if you left me a timestamp.
I have a question SciShow, why not address the chunk of science that suggests it's quite environmental? You had the perfect opportunity to add it in?
To clarify, identical twin studies show that about half share having a schizophrenia diagnosis, but not all identical twins share the same environment. A portion (roughly two thirds) share the same placenta (monochorionic twins) and the remainder don't (diamniotic twins). As you may have figured, those that share the same placenta (environment) have much higher rates of both having a schizophrenia diagnosis, whereas those who shared much less of their environment had much lower rates of both being diagnosed. Accordingly, the foundation on which schizophrenia can develop appears to be largely related to a baby's environment during pregnancy - at least to a much greater extent than the role played by genes. Genes certainly still do play a role, for the record, it's just a smaller role than we thought a few years ago.
I believe the general hypothesis then is that a toxin/ disease/ illness that the mother unknowingly conceives is able to make its way to the placenta and, in turn, the baby's brain during a crucial part of their development causes damage to the baby's brain in a way that allows for the development of schizophrenia many years later.
Don't get me wrong, science can be super slow or super fast and its pace is hard to predict. This information may have been outdated in the 2-3 years since I last read over the research. So if that's the case, I'd love to know what direction the literature is taking now? If not, I'd love to know why this was omitted, assuming you were aware of this and I haven't misunderstood something?
Also - I love your work SciShow! Psych is definitely my favourite but everything you guys do is amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!
Thank you for this. I'm so sick of explaining why I'm not a bad person for having schizophrenia.
Sup i feel you. Any time I’m happy or tired or slightly off bc people aren’t the exact same all the time my friends and family assume I’m off my bipolar meds even if I’m just excited bc something good happened
What does she mean when she said at the end "most patients recover fully"? I thought it's a condition you manage, but it doesn't go away. Please educate me, I'm genuinely curious
@@geniej2378 it's kind of both. I've never met a fully recovered schizophrenic though so I dont really believe theres many out there
@@geniej2378 it doesnt go away, if you stick to your medication, therapy and maintain a healthy social circle you will be "fairly normal" but if you abandon any of those factors the crisis will return in a blink of an eye
Genie J yeah like mentioned it’s an incurable mental illness since it’s based on how your brain is wired. I could see people fully recovering from “symptoms” that appear like schizophrenia if induced by drugs and people got their chemical balance back on track but as in real deal its a lot of work to try and manage. My mom has schizophrenia paranoia and it’s a lot, it never goes away and can strike even if you’re doing everything to manage it, and getting back to a semi sane state would take her several months or a few yrs sometimes, it’s really sad especially since the system isnt set up well for help. I remember when my mom went missing for over a week on an episode, I tried filing a police report and they said they’ll keep an eye out but even if they found her they couldn’t do nothing, they’d just tell her someone was looking for her bc she’s an adult which is dumb considering her mental state, plus they make you bring physiatrist forms like it’s easy only to say that they still can’t do anything about it. & whenever they’d hospitalize her, they always let her out in a few days bc she made a fuss about getting out not helping the situation at all. That’s why I got put in a foster home as a kid bc they let her out early and I got to school with bruises since she’s get very possessive of me when on an episode
My great-uncle had paranoid schizophrenia, it was sad how the family largely avoided him. He did often stop taking medicine, but he wasn’t dangerous.
As someone who grew up with a parent with paranoid schizophrenia, I completely understand that it isn't something that's in his control, but I no longer want that in my life. After 10+ years of supporting a person and having them flat-out refuse to take medications, accuse me of actively trying to poison them/kill them, etc... It's better for my own mental health to remove myself from that situation.
With paranoia we tend to go off the meds time to time.
My uncle too but while his family supports him he pretty much lost everything like his wife and his kids. I heard schizophrenia doesn't show up until late in your life so it must've been difficult for him and for his kids.
@@Hyatice i agree. This is too stressful for even the fully trained to endure.
Yes we are a lot of work, a real piece of work that I do not suffer my family to endure. My children do not know me. I would have it that they never do.
Can you do a video on Depersonalization/Derealization or Disassociative disorders?
Yes please
sad potato i remember they did already?
@@Apostate_ofmind Me too, I remember watching something about Derealization on this channel.
They did, it came up as a 'next video'after this one..
They already did 2 months ago
General population: educated enough to know that schizophrenia is Greek for split mind.
General population: not educated enough to know what schizophrenia actually is.
I agree. The most educated people on the planet in terms of knowing what schizophrenia is to them, are those who deal with it. And when they describe it, its a foreign language to others who don't have it because they are foreigners to the diagnosis..
I'm of two minds about that.
Agreed, a ridiculous explanation for the misconception.
Look, you guys are onto something here. The truth about Multiple Personality Disorder is something the people who control Academia want to suppress. Yes, they taught us this nonsense of a 'common misconception' of "schizophrenia" being mistaken for "multiple personality disorder" when who the hell could possibly make that mistake when it has such an obvious name and "schizophrenia" doesn't? Good job catching onto that cognitive dissonance. Not sure if you realize how huge that lie is or how incredibly deep this topic goes, but you've taken the first steps towards the truth.
@wild one I feel that goes with the majority of illnesses too (not all of course) like it's kinda fucked up how were taught to stigmatize it. Like we're all human and we all struggle. Just some of us a little more and usually don't have any desire to hurt anybody else
Some of the nicest, most caring people I know have schizophrenia. It's really not the 'crazy' it's sometimes portrayed as
Its the scary ones that traumatize others, leaving a scar.
I dated a girl who has schizophrenia as well as narcissistic and borderline personality disorder. Not all schizophrenics are nice. Some will do anything to ruin your life, even if all you do is try to help them.
Dan Mueller that was probably more due to narcissism.
@@danmueller4021 what she did,but try to change with love,Even normal girls don't be nice..
Dan Can pick em!
My sister had schizophrenia. The medication was almost as bad as the disorder. We supported her in every way we could. For a while after her first stroke things were much better. Her second stroke was the killer.
They use the cheapest antipsychotic medication that causes strokes.
@@chickedeedee292 she was a chain smoker for nearly 50 years, didn't exercise, lived on coca-cola and every carb in sight. Despite all that she was never terribly heavy. She was on her meds more than 10 years. Im sure they contributed but they we're only 1 factor
@wild one her meds were in constant flux. The doc changed them a few times because they made her depressed, fearful, and they said her flat affect was concerning. The meds didn't kill but they took away her personality.
I agree she needed to be on them and they probably extended her life by stopping her dangerous and erratic behavior.
@wild one haha dude stop smoking. 60... That's insane man
And I'm so sorry it had to end that way, Kim. Devastating
I'm a mostly recovered schizophrenic. I have a genetic predisposition as my grandmother and uncle have/had dementia. I got into drugs right out of HS and my supposed best friend poured large amounts of LSD into my mouth one night because he thought I slept with his ex girlfriend. That was about 20 years ago and I have been fighting for a better life ever since. I have always been improving but nothing major until the past 3 or so years when I went from group therapy at a university into a local care center. I got one on one with a doctor for my meds and have been seeing a therapist every month or two. While in group therapy I would meet people that were just not ok and they would give a laundry list of medications they had been on, almost like it was their obsession or a mark of endurance. I was afraid that I would be that person so I kept my mouth shut and stuck to one medication that was giving minimal improvement. Now I've switched meds and am in the middle of switching meds again, this time to something newer like abilify. The problem is that I'm doing so good now that I really don't want to risk relapse, for a long time I have said that I'm 99.9% there and somehow that's always redefined as symptoms get weaker and weaker. Currently I'd say my biggest symptom is flat affect as I find it hard to express emotions. And somewhat related to that I have zero motivation to do anything with my life, I work with my dad and it's great but all I do is work and play video games. I've got a messy house and always have dirty clothes, I never have that sense of well being where I can just go and brush my teeth. For some reason I think "bah I'm not going to do that" along with a pit of the stomach feeling that I shouldn't feel normal. At any rate I'm looking forward to what the future brings, because I'm always improving and since I consider myself normal or symptom free, I can't wait to see what my new normal is even a year from now. My theory is that medication is a tool not a fixall.
He did that to you? WTF!
Kudos to you for dealing with so many challenges successfully! Someone close to me is a diagnosed schizophrenic, and it's a huge relief to know that the light at the end of the tunnel can be real, for this person as well as for all of us who love him.
Please do a video on misconceptions/myths about bipolar disorder!
OMG YES!
I was actually misdiagnosed with schizophrenia 45 years ago. I learned nearly 3 years ago that what I actually have is Asperger's syndrome. The only time I've ever hallucinated, I had a high fever when I was a little girl. I can see where the mistake was made, though; my thoughts are in images (think "mind movies") and could be misconstrued by someone with his head stuck in a psych textbook as hallucinations. I also have synesthesia. This particular gift is also something that could be seen as hallucinating by someone who refuses to understand this and other benign neurological phenomena. I tend to view the world differently from many people and do not particularly enjoy socializing. Bingo. Schizophrenia. The worst part was not the zombie pills that I weaned myself off of; the worst part was losing the prime of my life to the fear that the "schizophrenia" would come back and turn me into a burden. I'm a bit old to try going after that 4-year college degree that I never got, but I just might do it anyway.
I don't mean to pry, but are you working on that degree?
Reading your comment 3 years later… you should definitely try college if you haven’t already. I went as an older student and loved it. I also had some challenges because of mental issues but I’m still really glad I went. Also, you can get extra accommodations if you have a condition like Aspergers. Most schools are very supportive of neuro diversity. Good luck to you.
I hope your are living a good life now.
Poor soul😢
As someone with schizoaffective disorder, I am happy that you are doing a video on clearing up some of the misconceptions about it.
Schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia are two different things entirely..
@Yevhenii Diomidov exactly my schizophrenia is determined by my mood.
@Yevhenii Diomidov Yes, I'm sure. How about you stop taking little bites out of those and actually put the parts on those same exact pages where it says things about how the symptoms make it hard to diagnose and all of that. My brother in law has schizoaffective disorder. I'm 100% sure of this.
@Yevhenii Diomidov www.psycom.net/schizophrenia-vs-schizoaffective-disorder-difference
@Yevhenii Diomidov trialx.com/curetalk/2011/03/18/understanding-schizoaffective-disorder-vs-schizophrenia/
I just wish people would learn the difference between schizophrenia and schizoid PD. I'm sick to death of seeing that telltale raising of the eyebrows when they hear I have the one, and mistake it for the other.
Do you bring this sort of thing up early in a relationship? I have Asperger's, but generally don't tell people till they get to know me.
I can see someone I just met raising an eyebrow if I told them even though there's nothing wrong with my condition. People who know me respond with really? I would have never guessed. I think that'd be typical for most conditions with a stigma. On the other hand it's just kindof awkward to disclose psych info to an almost stranger.
@@marcusrosales3344 No.. I don't disclose it day one... but it has come up in the past, and always ends up with a discussion about the differences, that I find tedious. And not everyone wants to understand.
The real trouble is gossip, of course. Even when the proper word is used, they mistake it for the more familiar one, and start whispering in ears that didn't need to know in the first place.
I've had to leave jobs because the rumor that I was hearing voices, and was sure to freak out and eat people any minute now have made it intolerable to stay on. I even had one ex GF's father aim a shotgun at me and tell me to get out of his house, because he didn't want 'crazy people' around his daughter. He had no interest in discussion at all.
I don't tell anyone anymore, but that leads to gossip all the same.
No wonder I don't like people.
@@NewMessage I don't know. I think you like people or at least feel great compassion for them. Having been diagnosed Asperger and bipolar i don't mind telling people. I've overcome most of my hurdles thanks mainly to support dog and have come to achieve some professional success which means i can help change people's misconceptions. Now i can tell people with confidence about my diagnoses just to mess with their heads.
Evolution favors variation in a group. Some are just a little bit further off center but are still needed.
I think SchiShow should make a video about the differences between schizophrenia and schizoid PD. Honestly, i don't know the difference, at least not with the English words. Maybe it's called different in Swedish.
Yeah the stigma sucks but dont differentiate yourself by saying "I'm not like the evil schizophrenics" maybe mention that even if you did hear voices you wouldn't freak out and hurt people
@@sup8437 That's neither what I say to them, nor what I'm saying here. Nice trolling, though.
My cousin has it and he is amazing. So friendly and a kind guy.
Dara Ann tuff times make great people
Two things you failed to mention:
Hearing voices can be internal (hearing them in your head) or external (hearing them around you).
High levels of serotonin is dangerous, too.
They can be internal as well? Can you tell me where you got that information I would like to learn more. If you can't remember that's fine, but thanks!
@@stuffstuff137 I learned it from someone a couple of years ago when I was taking a peer-to-peer class with NAMI (a support/education class taught by people with mental illness for people with mental illness). It wasn't specifically covered in the material, but we had two individuals with schizophrenia, one with external and the other with internal.
@@limalicious okay thank you!
High levels of serotonin are definitely dangerous. The first generation bath salts worked mainly by raising serotonin.
@@loirocks18 okay cool
I have diagnosis of "high-functioning schizophrenia" I do get auditory hallucination and have difficulties with emotions. I do find it a bit frustrating though when they usually show schizophrenics being violent and dangerous... Or if a politician changes their mind a lot they sometimes get called "schizophrenic"... If changing my mind a lot was the problem lol
Do you mind if I ask how you were diagnosed? My father has struggled with it for 30 years or now. I believe I sometimes have slight signs, but I don't know if I may have a bias because I know I have a relatively high risk.
@@SleepFaster18 for me it was lots of interviews not only myself but with family regarding my symptoms and behaviors. Checking if others in the family have symptoms, in my case my father and grandmother had very similar symptoms. But ja lots of answering questions and filling out papers on symptoms.
@@SleepFaster18 I would suggest you see a psychiatrist. They would know best. Admittedly, sometimes psychiatrists can be wrong.
I'm going to rant now. Feel free to tune out: I know my psychiatrists were were. I was originally told I had bipolar I and have even been diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), ADD, and, situational depression. It doesn't seem I have GAD because I was diagnosed with it when I was taking zyprexa and now that I am off zyprexa I no longer have the symptoms. I don't have problems with zoning out or absence seizures anymore either now that I'm off zyprexa. So it would seem most likely I don't have GAD or ADD. I was actually told by someone who had known me for at most, half an hour that I had problems with GAD because I couldn't read people's eyes which is just not true. Even my psychiatrist (who is actually pretty good even though she's the one who gave me zyprexa) doubted this and said I CAN connect with people. And I have been told I am OK at reading people. I can usually tell when people are bored, annoyed, sad, guilty, sometimes even planning something bad or lying, etc.
Even though I have problems with brain damage from drug abuse, it does not seem my schizoaffective was caused by the things that normally cause schizoaffective (usually a combination of genes and a stressor).
My uncle said he sometimes seeing ghosts or hearing the dead talking to him. My whole family believed that he's spiritually gifted and monetized his ability. I told them long time ago that he might suffer from schizophrenia and we should take him to psychiatrist but they took my word as a joke. Yes my family are highly superstitious and I am stuck with them.
I mean... If he's not paranoid/unhappy/endagered due to the condition, why spoil the fun?
I get that I used to think my halucinations were ghosts when they started
@@MaryamYouyoua person who is not capable of seeing reality for what it surely is is not funny. Now personalities are funny. But Schizophrenia doesn't define who you are.
@@sussyclown3456I applaud you for recognizing that. Some people have a hard time getting to that point because society wants to say that ghosts are real and cool. But the reality is that it's a superstition.
Thanks to videos like this, I now feel like I have a beautiful mind.
Hi dude how are you long time no see
Can you do an episode on schizoaffective disorder?
Yes please. There needs to be more information on this disorder for sure.
It's literally "just" schizophrenia combined with an affective disorder (usually depression or mania). It can be pretty scary in the case of mania but mania itself is pretty scary.
www.bridgestorecovery.com/blog/schizoaffective-disorder-vs-schizophrenia-correct-diagnosis-ensures-effective-treatment/
@@RBuckminsterFuller www.healthyplace.com/thought-disorders/schizoaffective-disorder-information/what-is-schizoaffective-disorder-dsm-5-criteria
@@RBuckminsterFuller www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/schizoaffective-disorder
My friend has schizophrenia and I want to be as supportive as possible. This was very helpful because I’m not that educated on it. Thank you :)
Thank you for once again pointing out that there is a big difference between Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities). I have known both very closely and there is a huge difference.
Schizophrenia is due to an illness in the brain. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a coping mechanism of very young children in response to traumatic situations, usually severe abuse of some kind.
Adults suffer from multiple personalities that began to form as very young children. Once a child progresses past a certain age, they can longer create a first additional personality, but develop other forms of dissociative disorders instead. This is due to the way a young child’s mind lays down memories and identity being different to how an older child’s brain adds to their personality.
The sad thing is, I have heard poorly trained professionals get this incorrect. I know a woman who has a degree in social working and worked on mental health wards assessing patients. She believes, and has openly informed others, that the two diagnoses are in fact the same thing. She doesn’t have the training to make the distinction, but people believe her because of her work experience on psyche wards. Trying to correct her statements doesn’t work because she is the one with the degree, albeit an Associate degree and not a doctorate.
Ah, the social worker is an example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. She has an Associates Degree, therefore she are smart.
Having a degree does not make you automatically knowledgeable, smart or wise. Sometimes people with a more casual knowledge know better than professionals. It's weird but that's how it is.
Thank you for clearly explaining this very misunderstood term/diagnosis. As a Mental Health worker who worked w/ Schizophrenic/Schizoaffective patients for several years, it's good to see society slowly but surely better understand these diagnoses--and the people w/ them.
second generation antipsychotics do NOT increase serotonin production, in fact they block serotonin 2A receptors, which helps with symptoms and prevents side effects from the D2 blockade.
That's what I thought? I thought schizophrenic minds make too much serotonin? So why give more?
I think she meant that the new antipsychotics are nowadays often combined with SSRIs or other things that increase serotonin
It may be due to people who don't know much about how these drugs work often think like "serotonin is a good neurotransmitter thus more serotonin would lead to better mental state" while the reality is way more complicated and serotonin can work both in good and bad ways.
Would you research Avoidant Personality Disorder to see if you'd be interested in doing an episode on it? Please.
There's very little known about that, because people with that personality disorder don't let anyone know about them.
My husband has schizophrenia. I love him to death and he is un-medicated. It's quite mild so the side effects weren't really worth the little help they were giving him. I know he has visual hallucinations; he'll wake up in the middle of the night and swear that people are standing around the bed staring at him or that someone's in the back seat of the car when he gets in. He knows they aren't real after a few moments but I still occasionally catch him talking to "me" when I've been in another room and come back.
He's the sweetest person I know and is an amazing father to our daughter. I am a bit worried she will have it and am not certain how I could explain that what she sees or feels isn't real. It is comforting to know that the chances are much lower than I thought. Not that I'd love her any less but like any parent I want her to have as few difficulties as possible for her in her physical and mental health.
Hey I know this is an old comment but you could teach your daughter how to spot hallucinations by looking at the camara and taking a picture to show you and ask if it's real or not or if you have two mirrors, reflect the other one back. Hallincations don't tend to reflect back or show up on camara. I'm sorry if this comment doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm somewhere in the schizophrenia spectrum and it's hard to think
Had a horrible episode this morning so watching vids to feel better. Its a horrible thing to go through and i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy
Try reading net-burst by grantly morris, maybe start with "blasphemy against the holy spirit Kelly's testimony of hope"
"The Center Cannot Hold" by Elyn Saks, is a great book. It's autobiographical and it is very eye-opening.
It’s so refreshing to see misunderstood topics like this covered in a respectful and destigmatizing way. Thank you :)
Greatly appreciate the time and thought which went into this video after growing up with a schizophrenic mother. It's always been the elephant in the room whenever new people are introduced to my family because no one actually understands what it is/what living with it is like. Thanks! :)
Can you do an episode on Borderline Personality Disorder? I have a friend who has it.
Michael Miller yes please!! We need to get the facts out there! We're not all evil 💙💙💙
Could you please do a video on weed induced psychosis and if it is as common as people think? I especially want to know if it induces psychosis much more than alcohol and other drugs and if so by how much. Also what increases your chance of a drug-induced psychosis?
I think people with anxiety disorders and other mental illnesses are more likely to have 'bad trips' on 'street drugs' that are not meant to cause that.
Thank you for the video. I just wanted to add a random thought of mine that is basically a question. Have had been considered the disorder as a bigger development of the brain area related to the "inner voice" we all experience while reading or thinking and that should be related to how we develop abstract thinking? If all our "inner voices" start talking too loud, i suppose we would all feel like having this disorder. Following this thought, are there statistics about incidence of schizophrenia in deaf people that did not learn gesture language vs ones that did learn it ? That should shed a little light on this. Thank you
can you do a video on bipolar? i have it and i love being able to understand things better with ur videos. it would be great to see
As a person with schizophrenia, I cannot thank you enough for this. It means so much.
I get so tired of people perpetuating the myth the schizophrenia causes multiple personalities, even when it's done in humor. I took both high school and college classes on psychology, and can say for a fact that schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are separate disorders altogether. I'm sure it's theoretically possible for a schizophrenic to also have multiple personality disorder, but that doesn't change the fact that they are considered two separate diagnoses.
Unfortunately it used to be all too common to, when in doubt, blame Mom.
(Yes, I know I split an infinitive. Hush!)
Kiss
And that's not just true for schizophrenia, but also for many other conditions like ADHD.
How affirming and clear the language is that is used in this episode is really, really cool. Schizophrenia is one of the many still heavily stigmatised mental illnesses that hasn't been adopted openly into he cultural zeitgeist like the more common and less 'ugly' depression and anxiety. And since the onset is often in adolescence, having something that is both informative and reassuring for young people maybe learning about their new diagnosis or during a crisis feels like it's really a good decision by the writers.
We need to provide more hope, comfort and affirmation for all of those dealing with mental illnesses
I was diagnosed with this some time ago, and yea, most of this video tells the truth. hearing voices, seeing shadows, and that all. (the video forgot to mention most symptoms come late teen/early adult years) Thankfully my condition was mild so I was able to handle with it with medication and I lived my life quite normally. Now im planning to become a therapist to help those that have the condition worse than mine. I might be blunt about things, but I know what they are going through first-hand.
Sparrow00789 I think I might have it because I’ve been hallucinating SEEING bugs and FEELING them on me when they aren’t there, and I’m paranoid all the time that people are trying to hack my phone and they pretend to be my friends over text to spy on me , I don’t hear any voices TALK to me but sometimes I do hear two people having a full on conversation and I don’t understand what they’re saying but nobody would be home or talking, or if people I know are talking and I get mega paranoid thinking it’s about me and they’re talking bad about me and trying to expose me or something, but yeah I’m confused and kinda scared Bc it’s all been bad lately I’m also 16 and a female so idk my chances of having it this early but my mom said she thought my dad has it so like does it sound like I have this or what does it sound like I have?😕
@@theonlyonepoppingtheirpuss9784 I can't really diagnose that for you online. I HIGHLY recommend you to go see a therapist/doctor to determine what it is exactly. Early diagnose can save a life, literally.
Sparrow00789 thank you :)
You know. I've mentioned repeatedly over the years I believe I'm schizoeffetive( diagnosed BP2) but have never been asked why or anything. One doctor gave a diagnosis and no one has questioned it since.
Well done. The problem is the people who need this info likely will not watch these videos. Most ppl are quite happy gleaning 'facts' from fictional tv dramas and movies. Edit the reason most ppl do not spend their lives in hospital is almost noone could afford to stay in hospital for their entire life. Informative but not an honest representation of the mental health care industry. They don't care about curing they care about selling products.
I have a schizophrenic friend who is for all practical purposes fairly normal... after medication was lowered by a private (and thus costly) psychiatrist. When he was first diagnosed he was basically sentenced by the public health system to overmedication and behaved almost as a vegetable, almost unable to respond and all the time watching TV.
For whatever reasons, I've stumbled on several schizophrenic people in my life: they have a hard time, sometimes they give you a hard time, but most of the pain is their own, with some instances of people who killed themselves because of either loss of hope or whatever other correlated reason. Be kind to them.
Thank you for this. I complained on the first video and stopped watching PsyShow Psych completely because of it until now. I decided to give this reupload a chance when UA-cam suggested it, and....I'm glad I did. Now I can enjoy these videos again. Always very informative.
That's because serotonin blocks dopamine receptors. 4:24
I was "diagnosed" with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as a teenager. They gave me drugs that almost killed me, literally; I began to swallow my tongue, clenched my teeth so tight that I thought they would shatter and my throat started to close. Since then, I've gone on to have a productive life but there have been and continue to be issues but we deal them as they come about.
About time someone gave a decent, widespread explanation, instead of the misinformation that makes me cringe.
It hit me real hard about three years ago. Once it settled it's actually pretty alright. I haven't been lonely since. It always feels like a whole crowds around.
My close friend has schizophrenia and this really helps because it’s had for me to understand his situation
The most interesting theory I've heard for Schizophrenia is that people with it have difficulty separating their daydreams and inner thoughts from things that are actually happening in the real world. I think all of us have had moments where we've hallucinated or questioned whether something we experienced was real or just in our head. Imagine always experiencing that? That's scary.
It’s literally like you’re quoting my abnormal psych book
But we all see movement on the periphery of our vision, right? I mean, like when light shifts or when you you move your eyes away from the area covered by your glasses... right? and tactile crawling stuff feeling when falling asleep during childhood (like bubbles moving up your back)... right? And a couple of catatonic episodes during teen years... ?
Yes. We all experience a degree of weird sensory processing. The difference with schizophrenia is that the person also has improper ideation: sees movement from the corner of their eye and immediately attributes it to someone/something that has the intent of harming them (in the case of paranoia), and develop an entire theory as to why and how and when the harm will come.
So not only hallucinations but also a bizarre way of thinking characterize this illness.
That could also be autism. A lot of children also experience hallucinations when they're young but grow out of it.
No, I don't think what you're describing is normally experienced by neurotypical people. You might want to get that checked out.
I used to stay in an apartment were a neighbor lady had MAJOR schizophrenia. She was a complete disaster and became very violent, loud, and she believed the rest of the neighbors were out to kill her. So while many aren’t extremely bad and need to be put away, considering she wasn’t able to be on medication for very long at a time, I believe it would have been in her best interest to at least be given financial support to be able to go in more frequently to help manage everything.. I hope she is doing better
schizphrenia runs in my family so i was always terrified of getting it, especially since i had some of the symptoms like some phobias, some disordered/scrambled thoughts, and especially the flat affect and difficulty with empathy. I was actually thrilled to learn i wasnt showing symptoms of schitzophrenia showing up (I've heard it usually manifests in your teens and twenties) but that I just have Aspergers :D
I did a project on this for my Medical Terminology class. It's very interesting. One would actually think the Brain of a Schizophrenic was over active, but in reality the parts responsible for discriminating between reality and fantasy are underperforming. Very eye opening.
This is great thanks! I am able to match my symptoms, under the influence of CBD, with the description of visual hallucinations. All my best!
My father, a paranoid schizophrenic, attempted to murder me and my mother because he had a psychotic break. So don't for a second think that all schizophrenics are harmless people who just need understanding. Some are actually dangerous. Especially when they refuse treatment, and many do. And while I agree that we should be trying to break down the stigma associated with many mental illnesseses I do not think that people should ever be lead to believe that all mentally ill people are harmless, when in fact they are not. You're putting the general public in danger by trying to sugar coat this illness.
Wrong, the fact is that a person that doesn't have schizophrenia is far more likely to commit a violent crime, than a person that has schizophrenia. Just because there are super rare cases of violent schizophrenics doesn't mean anything and shouldn't be blamed on the illness. The general public definitely hasn't been put in danger by "sugar coating" this illness. Otherwise you could say the general public has been put in danger by "sugar coating" "healthy" people. A more correct statement than "I do not think that people should ever be lead to believe that all mentally ill people are harmless" would be: "I do not think that all people should ever be considered harmless"
I'm sorry about your father.
Six Schizophrenic Brothers (documentary) made me so sad
My mother and one of my sisters are schizophrenic. The sister has benefited from modern treatments since her first schizophrenic break. My mother, on the other hand, struggled through “nervous breakdowns” (she was born in 1926) throughout her life. Sad but true.
I have a science question, why do I feel the need to wiggle my leg the whole time?
I have schizophrenia and this is so helpful!! I will definitely start showing this to people!!
In the modern age it is a condition that requires others oversee and monitor individuals because of the tendency in certain impulsive situations to act out but in the old days when life was simpler and we were more connected it was not as a great worry because a community would reach out rather than "trained" individuals naming, diagnosing, and keeping track of everything you fear and never thought enough about.
Do an episode of whetever or nor literature is good for us, and if it is, then why and in what ways?
Could you do a fact v myths on dissasociative Identity disorder?
AuroraGrace
Yes!!!! That would be a really good video for them to make
AuroraGrace They already did a video about a year ago.
1:05 hallucinations can be auditory as well.
Brit, you are very good at this!
I had bouts of it under severe stress as a teenager and the medication now that I think of it felt worse. Thirst, sleep, thirst, sleep. It was horrid. But when you learn ways to cope, it can die down. A lot do turn to religion to help. Yeah they try to pray over you and stuff but its harmless and if it works for them, why not. Even my neighbours met in a ward and they're married now. And the best neighbours too!
3:19 isn't the arrow pointing at the white matter instead?
yup... sloppy editing
I thought the exact same thing while watching.
My brother, my ex wife have it. My brother is a danger to himself and others because he gets confrontational. My ex has not been able to work or support herself. All of her children have been taken away from her. I think my mother had it too,not to mention her chronic alcoholism. She died when I was 16. I feel angry and hopeless whenever I think of them.
It's like a bad acid trip in some regards. Your head is an orange and you must peel it.
There was this one gal who wanted to know how I lost my sight, I informed her it was due to Latuda, has a side effect of blindness. She wanted to know what that treated, and me being more than happy to explain the disabilities, admitted to being schizophrenic. She then went completely bonkers and started screaming about how I should be locked up and how dare they let someone like me to wander about the place and how "she has rights".
I’m really glad I watched this. I didn’t know much about schizophrenia before this. Also I have a lot of these risk factors and symptoms so I’m gonna talk to my psychiatrist about it.
My mother had schizophrenia, but she really only ever had one “episode” and never again. But the episode she did have was exactly these symptoms of visual hallucination and hearing voices and feeling that someone was going to attack her. Seemed to come out of nowhere. She was fine one day and next day she was not. I’ve never had any such problems. Wonder why my mum did and whether I ever will in the future.
I have psychosis, and it's been pretty controlled with meds, luckily. I don't have anything really bad, just preferable vision hallucinations & very strange audio hallucinations. I don't hear voices, I tend to hear emergency vehicle sirens when there are none, car & truck engine sounds (mostly semis for some reason), the only "voices" I hear is my name being whispered.
I have childhood onset schizophrenia. I also have multiple personalities and a high IQ (over 140). All are clinical diagnosed. My mother had schizophrenia too, but had a low normal IQ. My father's mother had high IQ.
As a child going through abuse made my schizophrenia worse, much worse.
My multiple personalities are from extreme child abuse and neglect from birth through teens.
My schizophrenia showed signs by 3 years old.
I also have an extremely good memory. But I also suffer from PTSD and my personalities often block memories because of pain full times.
Other wise I can recall memories where they play like movie and I can not see anything else while they replay. My memories go back to about 2 months old.
My multiple personalities were created from a few months old till late teens. I have around 30 in all.
I am not on any medicine. In my early 40s I tired some, but they made things worse. Going through life, I am so use to handling bad days it is just a normal thing to me.
I honestly thought at one point i needed to be locked up, i was so terrified of my surroundings all the time I thought literal prison or an instituation was my only option. But I had some craxy stuff happen to me that im still battling internally, stuff that I honestly couldn't decipher between reality and imagination, and even dreams.
Me too. The trauma from psychosis is next level.
I have a friend who suffers badly from Schizophrenia, and she semi-regularly goes off the rails, quitting her medicine and therapy regimens and turns up in a desolate state days or even weeks later, usually escorted by the police. It can be really very rough...
This is a really important video. Thank you.
Please do a similar video on bipolar disorder. I think there are some who would be helped by it.
Is it possible to let the audio breathe some when editing? The cuts are so tight it sounds like one long run on sentence at times. Thanks.
Thanks, I thought I was the only one tginking she needs to slow down. She imparting great information but way too fast to take it all in.
So, what do you make of the film Beautiful Mind?
Im fully recovered from schizoaffective disorder. My breakthrough came when I was taking delta 8 gummies (legal synthetic weed). I somehow made the connection after having a hallucination that it was indeed a hallucination not someone harassing me from outside my house, which I thought for a very long time. After that I was able to tell myself " is this reasonable or realistic to think people are harassing me wherever I go"? And came to the conclusion that those thoughts aren't reasonable or realistic.
What's a little weird is that I started having symptoms in my late 20's. And nobody in my family has had this disorder that they know of. Don't know why this is the case 🤷♂️
I have a question SciShow, why not address the chunk of science that suggests it's quite environmental? You had the perfect opportunity to add it in?
To clarify, identical twin studies show that about half share having a schizophrenia diagnosis, but not all identical twins share the same environment. A portion (roughly two thirds) share the same placenta (monochorionic twins) and the remainder don't (diamniotic twins). As you may have figured, those that share the same placenta (environment) have much higher rates of both having a schizophrenia diagnosis, whereas those who shared much less of their environment had much lower rates of both being diagnosed. Accordingly, the foundation on which schizophrenia can develop appears to be largely related to a baby's environment during pregnancy - at least to a much greater extent than the role played by genes. Genes certainly still do play a role, for the record, it's just a smaller role than we thought a few years ago.
I believe the general hypothesis then is that a toxin/ disease/ illness that the mother unknowingly conceives is able to make its way to the placenta and, in turn, the baby's brain during a crucial part of their development causes damage to the baby's brain in a way that allows for the development of schizophrenia many years later.
Don't get me wrong, science can be super slow or super fast and its pace is hard to predict. This information may have been outdated in the 2-3 years since I last read over the research. So if that's the case, I'd love to know what direction the literature is taking now? If not, I'd love to know why this was omitted, assuming you were aware of this and I haven't misunderstood something?
Also - I love your work SciShow! Psych is definitely my favourite but everything you guys do is amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!
I would love to see one on the theories, science & history of Viral psychosis esp. with COVID-19
Schizophrenics are not any more likely to be more violent than regular people, thank you for pointing that out. Good stuff
You just terrified me before bed. Thanks for that
I've had 3 friends with schizophrenia, 2 of them were amazing, one was...interesting.
2:25 Risk! It is probability of negative outcome. Chance bares positive valence.
Could you please do a video on Psychosis? Not much is talked about that.
Hearing voices from fuckin noisy neighbors... huge apartment feels small because of their huge voices.
Could you do an episode on the different types of bipolar disorder? People only talk about type 1 when there are at least five different types.
Sak's book was awesome. Everyone should read The Center Cannot Hold.
I wish i never smoked weed for me weed triggered my schizophrenia
I have Bipolar Disorder, and I consider all of us who have such complex brains (this includes schizophrenia) actually have super hero brains, and we ARE super heroes! Look at Dr. Temple Grandin, who has autism. Her mother was told she should be institutionalized (back then, autism was misunderstood and labeled, "infantile schizophrenia"). Instead, Mrs. Grandin took her then-4-year old, non-verbal daughter home, and proceeded to tach her to talk. Then she sent Temple to school, and encouraged her every step of the way. Temple went on to not only graduate with a Ph.D., she revolutionized the cattle slaughter industry, bringing more humane methods to the process. If you haven't, see the HBO movie "Temple Grandin" starring Claire Danes. It's an inspiring film about an amazing woman, and you will forget within a few minutes that it's Claire in the lead role. (It is out on DVD.)
Dear SciShow, its not so easy.
I have "some" expirience with ppl with schizo in my fam.
Long story short:
I could write a book.
I could make a thriller.
And nobody will believe, that it is based on true story.
Nobody.
Amen.
What about schizophrenia in parapsychology?
You say 'doomed' to live in a mental health facility....I would have welcomed it. The only mental health facilities with long term care in my state are those for criminals...you have to commit a crime and then have your diagnosis recognized before hospitalization. I appreciate that you've highlighted the Dean and professor at USC (also, the movie A Beautiful Mind about Nash), but she is rare, possibly unique. I can barely function in this society that 'normal' people have constructed for themselves. They expect everyone to operate under their paradigm. Or perhaps better said that they take for granted that everyone should operate under their paradigm.
For example, flat effect is a major hurdle for me. So imagine things like service jobs, or entrepreneurial pursuits, or any number of instances when one has to interact with the public. Feedback I would receive when I was younger was advice like 'be more happy', or 'show more excitement', anyway, you get the point.
I've been seeing a therapist once a week for nearly ten years now. Ten years. The meds I'm on do what they're supposed to do. When she mentions 'recovery', I don't even know what that looks like.
Do this with bipolar. Me and my brother are both bipolar type one but our parents don’t have it. Pls explain how
Ligit now I'm concerned cuz I randomly feel a faint crawling at times. Anyone see feel that who sent diagnosed aswell?
I've been diagnosed as schizoaffective which is similar to schizophrenia and I have never felt that while sober.
If you're concerned, I would suggest seeing a psychiatrist. I took a psychology class and they even said that some amount of hallucinating is normal, especially in times of stress. What you're experiencing may be normal. I don't know. I'm not a psychiatrist.
Yep, I agree, some of the crawling feeling can strictly be stress related. BUT definitely get professional help, and if you're not content/happy with the diagnosis, try other doctors. But for me, I had a lot of this sensation as a child which then often lead to panic attacks as a teen and young adult, but I was never diagnosed with schizophrenia, despite BOTH my mother and brother getting diagnosed. I grew out of that by the time I was around 26. Both of mother's & brother's diagnoses were for the paranoid variety, with my mother's as much more serious, with her going into states of catatonia on a regular basis (and thusly was hospitalized and institutionalized for the latter 50 years of her life). My brother on the other hand, has lived with his diagnosis for the last 28 years and he's living on his own (albeit living far away from the rest of the family-which he chose to do).
Thank you for putting a "happy face" on this disorder. However, as a caregiver who has been on the front lines, having seen the "darker" side, I have to disagree.
I used to be schizophrenic but now I'm not sure.
Have you considered doing a video on the similarities and differences between Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia?
My mother in law was schizophrenic with the neediest personality I ever encountered. Thank God my X left me. I went home so I could bring my son up without that awful influence.