/sci/ - Science & Math

--Racing thoughts
--Trouble with social cues- i.e. not being able to interpret body language, eye contact, voice tone, and gestures appropriately.
--Often not responding appropriately and thus coming off as cold, distant, or detached.
--Difficulty expressing thoughts verbally. Or not having much to say about anything.
--Speaking in an abstract or tangential way. Odd use of words or language structure
--Difficulty understanding simple things
--Thoughts, behavior, and actions are not integrated
--Obsessive compulsive tendencies- with thoughts or actions

--Overpowering, intense feeling that people are talking about you, looking at you
--Overpowering, intense feeling you are being watched, followed, and spied on (tracking devices, implants, hidden cameras)
--Thinking that someone is trying to poison your food
--Thinking people are working together to harass you
--Thinking that something is controlling you- i.e. an electronic implant
--Thinking that people can read your mind/ or control your thoughts
--Thinking that your thoughts are being broadcast over the radio or tv
--Delusions of reference- thinking that random events convey a special meaning to you. An example is that a newspaper headline or a license plate has a hidden meaning for you to figure out. That they are signs trying to tell you something.
--Religious delusions- that you are Jesus, God, a prophet, or the antichrist.
--Delusions of grandeur- the belief that you have an important mission, special purpose, or are an unrecognized genius, or famous person.
--Delusions that someone, often a famous person, is in love with you when in reality they aren't. Also called erotomania or de Clerembault syndrome.

-Hallucinations are as real as any other experience to the person with schizophrenia. As many as 70% hear voices, while a lesser number have visual hallucinations.
--Auditory hallucinations can be either inside the person's head or externally. When external, they sound as real as an actual voice. Sometimes they come from no apparent source, other times they come from real people who don't actually say anything, other times a person will hallucinate sounds.
--When people hear voices inside their heads, it is as if their inner thoughts are no longer alone. The new voices can talk to each other, talk to themselves, or comment on the person's actions. The majority of the time the voices are negative.
--Visual hallucinations operate on a spectrum. They start with the overacuteness of the senses, then in the middle are illusions, and on the far end are actual hallucinations.

lol i have about 80% of these

>tfw you have many of these

should i be worried?

>>5515564
the delusions and hallucinations too?

Just keep hope man, try to focus as much as you can on the real world. Watch people and listen to conversations etc.

>>5515604
paranoid and have big superiority complex and have experienced voice's
a few time's but i have read a few articles that hearing voices in your head is so common even to non schizo's so I didn't really think anything of it

>>5515628
>hearing voices in your head is so common even to non schizo
lol no it's not. What did you read this from, anti-psyciatry times?

>>5515637
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5346930.stm

>>5515651
Paranoia, voices, and delusions of granduer? Maybe you should see a doc if its effecting your life in any way

>>5515523
Hi OP, just curious, exactly which ones of these were interfering with your ability to live your life day to day, in such a way that ou felt you needed to get help? Was that your decision or did someone suggest to you that you shold seek help?

>>5515709
Losing friends. Problems concentrating. Can't focus. harder to think. harder to write/talk. Harder to remember things. Inability to remember the difference between memories of what someone said, and what voices said.

/r9k/ motivated me to go reading about the meth'd out schizo guy.

Schizophrenic? you lucky bastard, I'd give anything for high dopamine levels.

>>5515716
And how old are you (just curious, but sometimes it makes a difference).

Also, is it possible that this is actually schizoid or schizotypal personality disorder?

Finally, is the doctor recommending any cognitive behaviour therapy alongside your medication?

>>5515732
Why? it doesnt make you happy. quite the opposite.
>>5515735
Ive seen things too. Ive gotten severly delusional to the point I would have been sent to the ward if my friend didn't force me to go inside and make me take the seroquel he uses to kill a bad trip. how could it be schizoid if i am hallucinating and delusional?

why do people think schizophrenia doesn't include social deficits? people always say they doubt im schizo when i bring up the social problems.

>>5515735
also, im 24. problems started at 17. major psychotic break at 21.

>>5515759
Not necessarily doubting that you're schizo, it's that it's a pretty serious diagnosis and people thow it around very casually so it's good to probe a little deeper.

As for the social bit, people might be doubting you because they're used to seeing the positive symptoms and don't know about he negative ones (like social withdrawal).

As for autism, it used to be known as childhood schizophrenia because people really didn't know what either of them really were. Sorry to say but things are only marginally better now in terms of understanding.

The things that cause autism and schizophrenia will partially overlap, but how handfuls of genes collude to produce either condition is still not really well understood.

Are you getting any further therapy alongside your meds?

>>5515782
No therapy. Does it even help? I just take welbutrin for depression, and abilify for psychosis. xanax for anxiety

>>5515788

Look up "cognitive behavior therapy for schizophrenia". This is not a psychoanalysis or talking cure. This may help with depression, and you are able to be realistic about your condition, so that's good. There's been a lot of interest in this over the past 10 years, and some balanced critical review too, so maybe look into it.

>>5515788
>I just take welbutrin for depression, and abilify for psychosis. xanax for anxiety
The "negative symptoms" are generally made worse by antipsychotics, whereas "positive symptoms" are improved.

The reason for the quotations is that it's medical terminology that's rather confusing at first.
Negative symptoms are: apathy, social withdrawal, depression, passivity.
Positive symptoms are: psychosis, delusions and so on.

Essentially, negative symptoms are what you lack as compared to a normal person.
Whereas positive are traits that normal people don't have.

If your delusions and psychoses weren't particularly severe you might want to adjust that med.

I think i might have schizophrenia. I thought it was just Generalized Anxiety Disorder, but now i don't know. I've been this way after smoking weed everyday for a while, to the point where it didnt have the same effect it did when i started. I kept going into these guilty highs that made me super anxious and suspicious about everything.

>>5515905
Stop smoking weed, see what happens. That anxiety thing happens with some regular users over time. It will go away if you stop using.

>>5515905
>I've been this way after smoking weed everyday for a while


Stop smoking then. A lot of people go through a similar course. Smoke for a few months, all is well and awsome. Then smoke more and only get flipped out paranoid awfullness.

>>5515922
Its because when i started i did it in school and learned all of these concepts in math so beautifully and i actually felt i could do anything in life. But then.....

>>5515917
I hope so bro, because i'm actually scared

>>5515948
Its basically me smoking it because i've seen people's real side hile high and i think i think im being lied to or blinded when i am sober.

Save for the delusions and hallucinations, all of that would also apply to a person with social anxiety disorder.

>>5515952

Weed will totally do that to you. Stop smoking & give your head a chance to clear itself out. It will take some time to readjust, like weeks, or even seasons.

>>5515984
Now that i think about it, you're totally right. Shit, I feel good already.

The first half of these conditions (everything before "intense feeling that people are talking about you") feel very broad and horrorscope-like, as if they could apply to anyone. I think pretty much anyone on earth would identify with a majority of those.

>>5516035

This is true, it's just when they start interfering in your day-to-day life so much that you can't hold a job or take care of yourself anymore that it becomes clinical.

I've read in a couple of psychology sites that intolerance to gluten and antibodies produced might have a link.

>>5516043

This may be true for a fraction of the total number of patients. If something is found to be the basis for as many as 1% of schizophrenia patients, this would be a HUGE proportion. the gluten/antibodies thing may account for far less than that.
If nothing else, eliminating gluten or other things that can irritate the upper digestive tract of some people would help with better nutrition, but it is very very unlikely to touch the schizophrenia.

>>5515523
OP go shoot up your school, they were all lieing to you

Sincerely
Someone who hates people

Hmm, I have all of the ones before "Overpowering, intense feeling that people are talking about you, looking at you" except for "Movement is speeded up- i.e. constant pacing"

>>5516035
Not really. Aspergers and schizo only pretty much. Bipolar maybe too.

>>5516035
>--Ruminating thoughts- these are the same thoughts that go around and round your head but get you nowhere. Often about past disappointments, missed opportunities, failed relationships.

I know, right? I feel like the absence of "Ruminating thoughts- these are the same thoughts that go around and round your head but get you nowhere. Often about past disappointments, missed opportunities, failed relationships." is a sign that something is seriously wrong

>>5516072
Are you kidding? you think that obsessing on past failures all day is normal?

>>5515523
Funny your symptoms sound like every successful scientists ever, as for the most part they're closer to their pears then their parenters

>>5516076
Of course... have you not had real disappointments in your life?

>>5516076
I did it all the time when I was little, gave me the drive to be where I am today

Stable Life & Good Social
It's just something you grow out of

I never looked very deeply into schizophrenia, and I always assumed that I dealt with "just a very severe and persistent depression" and have been going about my life under those pretenses, attributed other paranoias and delusions to the brain being a generally strange thing to live with, and have made every possible excuse for my social ineptitude.
I experience all of these listed symptoms rather specifically. It was very unsettling, actually, to have read through this list of symptoms before having actually read the top of your post. I'm going to have to schedule an appointment with a doctor, thank you for bringing this to my attention, Anonymous.

>>5516085
You may want to see a doctor. Some of those are normal, if only a few are present. But you're in denial if you think all those are normal. especially that one.

I used to be in denial too. I refused to believe I was schizo or bipolar or anything. I got mad when people suggested it. took like 4 years to accept it.

not saying you have it. just those isnt schizo. but if you have delusions and the like too....may want to see a doc

>>5516101
Keeping on topic

This is now a Religion thread

What's your prefered? Why?

>>5516112
i dont have a religion.

>>5516118
Why! it's the best way out of those psych traps!

So if I strongly have all the symptoms not pertaining to delusions, am I schizophrenic or just another neckbeard?

>>5516147
You have issues that just aren't schizophrenia. Most people do, but no one likes to admit that their brain is fucked up, so most of us just go on denying the things we experience. Don't be another one, take responsibility for your mental and physical health and see a doctor with whom you're comfortable being entirely honest!

>>5516171
High you're experiencing all my sense can you acknowledge that or is your brain severely fucked up?

After smoking weed for about 2 years I started experiencing many of the paranoia symptoms that are listed here. Not sure if it's caused by a predisposition for schizophrenia or what, but it's caused me to stop smoking weed altogether. I feel like its a chore to keep in touch with friends, etc. many of the symptoms here, I can point to a specific time in the recent past and say, "oh yeah, I've experienced this".

>>5516147
Depends on the symptom. Some can be social ineptitude schizos tend to display, but others are infact red flags.

>>5516339
You do know schizophrenia encompasses social deficits as well right?

>>5516345
What are the "red flags"? All of those seem pretty banal tbh

>Overpowering, intense feeling that people are talking about you, looking at you
>Overpowering, intense feeling you are being watched, followed, and spied on (tracking devices, implants, hidden cameras)
>Thinking that someone is trying to poison your food
>Thinking people are working together to harass you
>Thinking that something is controlling you- i.e. an electronic implant
>Thinking that people can read your mind/ or control your thoughts


But this is really happening.. i'm sorry, i've been in MI for years and I know what the govt is up to this isn't delusion.. this is jut being attuned to your surroundings and seeing what others gloss over, it's like being in a fishbowl and you are the only one who cares to look through the glass, also just became I've been diagnosed as schizophrenic doesn't mean these things are not actually happening.. i'm sorry to all you who can't see or understand what is actually happening

>>5516373
Ruminating thoughts.
Social withdrawal isolation
Lack of ability to pick up on social cues
Difficulting understanding simple things
Difficulty expressing thoughts verbally or not having much to say
Pacing
Tangential speaking/tinking

>>5516410
I always thought it was our brains way of protecting us in a way, but we get called crazy for it...

So is there anything you can do for the negative symptoms and social skill problems? or is it like autism with no treatment.

i read our life expectancy is 55-60 too due to the AP meds causing heart problems. Id live just as long if i fucking smoked meth everyday instead of taking my meds. Why shouldnt i just do hard drugs?

>>5516093
Not for everyone. Fuck off cunt.

>>5517657
Mad because can't self dictate

ohohohohoo he mad

>>5515628
bipolar is a possibility

>>5517205

But are you really okay with giving up the improvements that you say the meds give you?
If you are then by all means go for it.

I have plenty of these and I don't trust anyone but my friends, I think I'm just introverted but do I've been unable to really talk with someone unless it was about a subject I knew extensively about, also about speaking in abstract or tangential way, is it possible that I may have a low grade of schizophrenia or have anything at all? I mean the first part of your list doesn't seem so different than introversion.

>>5517691
Feels bad man. So my brain is rotting? Do you die from that or what? How does schizo usually progress ?

Most non drug treatments involving schizophrenia revolve around conditioning someone to stop being so isolated (and paranoid, if your p schiz).

For instance, they may just force you to enter social clubs or go to social environments and interact with other people. What this does is give you more realistic instincts regarding human behavior. If you are P schiz or SAD, this would make you see things from the other side of the coin regarding people gossiping about others in addition to relieving stress when it works out (The main thing perpetuating the situation is lack of interaction between you and others in these cases). If you are plain schiz (I am not as knowledgeable about this) the idea is just to get you to have people who you can joke with and relieve stress so your mind does not have to resort to waking dreams to combat extreme stress.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy also works somewhat, and involves conditioning yourself simply by focusing on positive memories and scenarios consciously. For instance, instead of focusing on what someone said about you (or might have said) focus on a pleasant memory involving making a new friend or flirting with someone. Then imagine variations of the scenario and realize that there is nothing preventing it from happening again.

Basically because we can't accurately model all future events at once thinking about negative behavior and things that prevent future positive experiences conditions you to think they will not happen, whereas thinking about how positive experiences could happen conditions you to think that they probably will.

I had a similar experience involving a 5 day episode with auditory hallucinations that was brought on by an inability to persuade and influence people using the Socratic method due to huge gaps in knowledge between me and other people. I defeated the symptoms by mental modeling alternate tactics.