I agree with Coolio. Dopamine or serotonin elevation/decrease defines the therapeutic agents and research chemicals, but the disorders involved are much more complex. Another metabolic finding common in some but not all cases of schizophrenia is excess homocysteine, this is related to the the methylation deficiency theory of schizophrenia. There are hundreds of findings that support various theories of schizophrenia, which fit some schizophrenics but not all. The dopamine theory gained prevalence IMO because it isn't falsifiable and its inconvenient to treat schizophrenia as multiple disorders with distinctly different causes and treatments.Coolio said:The 'chemical imbalance' theory of depression, schizophrenia, and all the other disorders is bunk.
Coolio said:How do you know his condition is caused by a chemical imbalance?
Seeing as the success rate for curing schizophrenia approaches ZERO, I don't think medical professionals have any idea what they're doing when they prescribe drugs to treat the symptoms. Yes, antipsychotic medications make schizophrenic patients more manageable, but that's because antipsychotic medications shut your brain down and turn you into a zombie. They make everyone more manageable.
waterheart776 said:I'm of the opinion (however nuts this sounds) that schizophrenia is NOT a problem. Who's to say that the people who have it, aren't just tapped into a higher state of being/different state of consciousness, and it's the rest of the world that's nuts to them?
Enki said:Waterheart776,You might enjoy reading R. D. Laing a brief but weak, summary of his work would be that schizophrenia is a sane reaction to an insane world. Personally, I utilize models that contradict one another. I embrace people with entirely social models while being equally open to people with entirely biological models. Truth is to often paradoxical for one model to rule them all. It sounds like you are using a modality of consciousness model, like stuck chakras or enlightenment: good and bad.
The diabetics I know have had lab tests that objectively shown what their insulin and blood sugar levels are, in fact they test themselves daily. Do you know any schizophrenics that have had any objective measure taken of their dopamine levels? Even once? I currently know over 10 psychiatrists. They have all admitted when I asked the right questions that dopamine blockade is a means of treatment,but dopamine levels aren't a central cause.alexela said:If you don't know what you're talking about, you shouldn't say anything. You're living in another century. When you get your doctorate then come back and contribute something worthwhile to the OP, what you're putting out as fact is blatantly dangerous and irresponsible . I'm sure you also think diabetes has nothing to do with insulin either.
Taking versus not taking the right antipsychotic medications can make the difference between wandering around on the street eating out garbage cans and living in your own place and being able to live a half way normal life. I've had a few friends who have been through this.Coolio said:How do you know his condition is caused by a chemical imbalance?
Seeing as the success rate for curing schizophrenia approaches ZERO, I don't think medical professionals have any idea what they're doing when they prescribe drugs to treat the symptoms. Yes, antipsychotic medications make schizophrenic patients more manageable, but that's because antipsychotic medications shut your brain down and turn you into a zombie. They make everyone more manageable.
To my knowledge this has only held up from certain flu epidemics in the fifties. Also antipsychotics are crude and dangerous.alexela said:It has even been found that women who contract influenza in their second trimester have a higher risk of their children developing schizophrenia later in life.
But our treatment approaches at this point are one size fits all unless you find some very flexible and dedicated practitioners, not very likely.alexela said:Schizophrenia is a very complicated disease, and the causes are multi-factorial.
Wilycoder said:To the OP: you have schizophrenia. A stabilized mind does not think it is the antichrist.
It is not in their best interest to tell you you have a mental illness when you don't, this is malpractice. They will diagnose you based on clinical guidelines, and believe me, are more than happy to tell someone that they do not have a mental illness.
i stand by that any kind of mental disorder is completly normal
Paid the same per psychiatric hour, yes, usually. A successful practice takes having return customers. I don't think most psychiatrists are influenced by money that much, but I think an honest assessment will realize that sick people are medicines bread an butter. in my region a psychiatrist was diagnosing people, promising to get them on disability, and renting them all apartments from his personally owned real estate company. This situation was exposed by a local newspaper. His professional sanctions for this, as far as I've been able to discern, was a non-disciplinary letter of concern. He did also lose admitting privileges at a hospital for a while but I couldn't tell if that was from this incident or some other infraction. His ability to practice was not suspended.alexela said:Physicians are paid the same whether they tell you you have a mental illness or not. It is not in their best interest to tell you you have a mental illness when you don't, this is malpractice. They will diagnose you based on clinical guidelines, and believe me, are more than happy to tell someone that they do not have a mental illness.
I can tell you that CTs and MRIs are not standard where I am. Cursory physical exams and general health screen lab values are about the best one gets towards objective tests.Standard of care is that in a first-break psychosis other things should be ruled out. The person should have an MRI or CT scan to rule out tumors, blood tests for heavy metal poisoning, among other things. Schizophrenia is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning you test for everything else and if all the tests are negative then you are left with schizophrenia.
To which alexela said:Also antipsychotics are crude and dangerous.
Metabolic syndrome (diabetes, hyperlipidemia, weight gain,--these are serious ) are close to universal with several of the most popular antipsychotics today.Tardive dyskinesia still occurs, though at lower rates with 2nd generation agents. Most antipsychotics cause mental effects like sedation or inability to concentrate to the point where most people can't work. No antipsychotic works effectively in every patient. They require extensive monitoring, but many schizophrenics in my area see a Doctor once every three months. QT elongation related sudden death, neurolyptic malignant syndrome, and life threatening blood disorders are rarer problems, but common enough that I've been aware of more than one occurrence of each in a city with a population less than 500,000.This may have been true 50 years ago but not now.