Tumgik
#disorganized schizophrenia
Text
i wish more focus was given to ppl w other types of schizophrenia than paranoid bc like. its not the positive symptoms that fuck me up. its the negative and cognitive ones. nobody talks abt how fucking scary those are. nobody talks abt how terrifying disorganized schizophrenia is. i have a disorder that gives me the most debilitating mental, emotional, amd physical symptoms of depression, that cannot be treat by meds, and gets progressively worse with time. it can only be slowed or halted, not bettered, and that's only with treatment, which i personally cannot afford and is in general a privilege.
like...fuck me i guess
10 notes · View notes
Text
Psychotic episode are fucking terrifying so sorry if I don't like when you use the word "delulu" and sorry if I don't want to talk to you because you think I'm crazy or dangerous and sorry if you think I'm exaggerating BUT FUCK YOU BECAUSE I WAS TERRIFIED.
I WAS SCARED.
I WAS LIKE A KID SCARED OF THE DARK.
HOW DARE YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY.
I WAS AFRAID TO GET KILLED, I WAS TERRIFIED OF GOING OUTSIDE I WAS CONVINCED OF HORRIBLE THINGS I COULDN'T SPEAK I COULDN'T MOVE I WAS TRAPPED IN MY BRAIN SO FUCK YOU.
Fuck anyone who thinks psychotic episodes are funny. Fuck anyone who judges someone for being on the schizo spec. Fuck anyone who laughs at this.
1K notes · View notes
schizopositivity · 5 months
Note
could you share any more under-talked about symptoms of schizophrenia, like executive dysfunction?
I've actually been meaning to make a post like this but keep forgetting (lol that's a symptom). As a disclaimer, not everyone with schizophrenia has every one of these symptoms, and people can have a lot of these symptoms and not have schizophrenia (if they don't have the psychotic symptoms). Not all of these symptoms are seen as diagnostic criteria, some have just been observed to be very common in people with schizophrenia. (I'm excluding hallucinations and delusions because they are more well known)
• Paranoia: a pattern of behavior where a person feels distrustful and suspicious of other people and acts accordingly. This can go hand in hand with hallucinations and delusions.
• Disorganized thoughts: this can mean a lot of things. It can be not having a linear train of thought, having incoherent thoughts, thought blocking, general disorganized thoughts. (It can be hard to define because it is often hard to describe for the person experiencing it).
• Disorganized speech: this is often a result of the disorganized thoughts. This can include loose associations like rapidly shifting between topics with no connections between the topics. Perseveration, which is repeating the same things over and over again. Made up words that only have meaning to the speaker. Use of rhyming words without meaning. Word salad, which is when cognitive disorganization is severe, it can be nearly impossible to understand what the person is saying, but the person speaking doesn't know they aren't making sense.
• Trouble concentrating: lack of concentration, switching from topic to topic, not being able to focus on one thing. (This is pretty self explanatory).
• Movement disorders: catatonia can be repetitive non goal directed movements. It can also be complete or partial immobility, mutism, vacant staring, and rigidity. Although not a symptom, tardive dyskinesia can occur in schizophrenia as a result of antipsychotics medication.
• Anhedonia: a loss of pleasure in activities that the person once enjoyed. Or the inability to feel pleasure at all.
• Atypical or non-existent emotional expression: Flat or blunted affect is an inability to show emotions characterized by a lack of facial expression, a monotone voice, and no hand gestures. On the other hand people can also have inappropriate affect, where the emotional expression doesn't align with typical reactions or even the person's own feelings.
• Alogia: when someone speaks less, says fewer words or only speaks in response to others. This can be a result of disorganized thoughts.
• Social withdrawal: avoiding people and activities that someone once enjoyed. Not actively being present during social situations. Can progress to total isolation.
• Avolition: a severe lack of initiative to accomplish purposeful tasks. This is a big reason some people with schizophrenia can't work/go to school, can't do chores, and can't keep up with their basic hygiene. Even if the person wants to do these tasks, it may be extremely difficult or impossible for them to get themselves to start or complete the task due to the lack of motivation.
• Executive dysfunction: a behavioral symptom that disrupts a person's ability to manage their own thoughts, emotions and actions. This can include focussing too much on one thing, being easily distracted, spacing out, struggling to switch between tasks, problems with impulse control and trouble starting difficult or boring tasks. Several schizophrenia symptoms fit into the umbrella of executive dysfunction, so when researching you will either see the specific ones listed out, or just simply described as executive dysfunction.
• Alexithymia: significant challenges in recognizing, expressing, and describing one's own emotions.
• Poor memory: this can include working memory deficits like trouble planning, organizing, and carrying out daily chores such as running errands, because it requires mentally formulating a “to do” list organized by time and location. Many people with schizophrenia also report trouble with their episodic memory, which means they have trouble recollecting things in the context of their place and time. (A lot of sources say "trouble with memory" is a symptom but they don't specify).
• Trouble with decision making: people with schizophrenia have been shown to have trouble with decision making due to a decline in the understanding and reasoning aspects of it.
• Sensory processing deficits: this has been widely reported in schizophrenia, and include impairments in visual processing, auditory processing, olfactory and sensorimotor systems. This can lead to having strong positive or negative reactions to sensory information.
• Sleep troubles: though disturbed sleep isn't included in the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, it is still a significant problem that up to 80% of people with the condition experience. People with schizophrenia may have various sleep problems, including insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, and trouble with consistent sleep routines.
• Anosognosia: also called "lack of insight," is a symptom that impairs a person's ability to understand and perceive their illness. This is a big reason people with schizophrenia may refuse to get, or stay with treatment.
390 notes · View notes
neuroticboyfriend · 1 year
Text
I wish I knew the words to describe my relationship with verbal communication and speech. I do experience situational speech loss and episodic disorganized thinking. But there's something that permeates my everyday life. I just don't have a normative relationship with speaking.
You will always be able to communicate with me best in writing; it's the most accessible to me. It gives me the time I need to organize my thoughts, allows me to make sure I'm saying what I mean, and. It physically is easier too. There's just something about speaking that's functionally harder for me, and I dont know what it is. I wish I could communicate in writing for everything.
302 notes · View notes
delusionalculture-is · 3 months
Note
Disorganized speech/thoughts culture is not noticing the slow decline that usually indicates you're going to have an episode until you get other symptoms or are suddenly aware of how badly disorganized your entire being is
-CCC (we didn't see it on the claimed tags so we assume it's free)
.
18 notes · View notes
tulpafcker · 4 months
Text
your goal for 2024 is to talk in such a way that everyone around you wonders if you perhaps have schizophrenia
9 notes · View notes
elysiuminfra · 10 months
Text
despite my criticisms of disco elysium and falling out of favor with it still thinking about this. possibly the best media representation of experiencing mental illness in a Very Specific way (He’s Schizophrenic. He’s Schizophrenic Okay.)
25 notes · View notes
ididntorderthesoup · 7 months
Text
I can't tell if it's too early (about 20 days on it) for my antipsychotics to be effective of not. They put me on the highest dose of geodon (80mg) but I'm still having symptoms and yesterday had a mind melt at work and had to leave early.
When I get like that colors are too saturated and vivid. The boundaries of my body and other objects is blurred. I get paranoid and nonsensical thoughts. People don't look like people anymore the shadows of their face are too dark. Their eyes burn me when they glance at me. Stabbing me over and over with hot eyes. I don't feel real like I'm made of playdough and I'll crumble like sand. Or like my body is heavy and wooden and moving will splinter me into pieces. Depth perception is distorted and things seem very far away and the definition is blurred. It's so bright and loud even if it wasn't before. Everything's turned up to the max. I think people want to kill me, if they're even people anymore. I feel a sway like I'm underwater and the current is moving me. My thoughts get fuzzy and loose.
It takes me an hour or more to solidify if I go to a dark, quiet safe place. It just gets worse if I try to work through it. Idk what it's actually called but I say mind melt. I've gotten them since I was 12.
I hate changing meds. I just want to get better.
10 notes · View notes
rachymarie · 2 months
Text
Idk if anyone will read this but here goes: I feel this overwhelming need to make meaningful change but struggle to orchestrate my limitied energies enough into something to effect that change.
And this is why we have so few schizospec/schizophrenic voices out there and all of sane-kind talking over us in slurs and tired-old unkind & stigmatizing portrayals and overwhelming amounts of (often outdated, mind you) advice/support groups aimed at carers etc, yet little for the actual sufferers trying to maintain sanity.
It's so hard to speak up for yourself in such a world on top of all the long-term difficulties of the illness such as fatigue, thought disorganisation/disorganized speech (you may have noticed I suffer from chronic rambling) / poverty of speech, cognitive slowing, avolition, anhedonia, let alone if positive symptoms still persist long-term also.
And if we step out of the accepted norm/don't remain calm and collected (when we have the right to be furious) and well-spoken, as close to "normal" as we can manage to cosplay - we get dismissed/don't get listened to.
When we are speaking up we need to be heard because it takes so much energy and fighting of symptoms (e.g. the aforementioned avolition, disorganized speech) and side effects for us to do so. And not be dismissed and scoffed at - called names like ridiculous when we open up about our issues or dare to ask for basic human decency and rights not to be discriminated against.
We do, however, need more support and nondisabled (or disabled, if you can spare the time/energy) people standing up for us (but in a thoughtful and educated way that doesn't drown our voices out - but harmonizes) because we are relying on the rest of society to look after us when we get too unwell (we may be just a few missed doses too many away from a hospital trip to undo all our recovery) and that's scary to be placed in the hands of a society that can be so misunderstanding of us.
If we were listened to more and taken more seriously some of us wouldn't suffer as much as we needlessly do just trying to get our voice out there and needs met and voice out there
I hope this all makes sense because I don't quite have the capacity to read back over it right now, thank you for listening. Probably a "flop" post but idc i just had to get thoughts out and hope it can help at least someone who reads/resonates
Edit-disclaimer: ok I did actually go back through and do some edits/broke up the huge chunk of textwall into smaller paragraphs for an attempt at readability
5 notes · View notes
no-zzzom · 3 months
Text
Being hyper aware of my disorganized attachment style (because of mental health) is the real life equivalent of “trust no one not even myself”.
And yet I’ll trust people at face value all day because I’m an innocent naive fawn under all the trauma
Living embodiment of trust issues sponsored by Libras for balanced breakfast of fucked. ♎️
Brought to you by Scorpio mercury ♏️
2 notes · View notes
Text
TW: paranoia, homicidal thoughts, aggressive thoughts
Something I feel isn't talked about enough is the guilt.
I feel so guilty.
I'm sorry I don't trust you, I know you're my sister, I know you're my family, I know you're my soulmate, I know you're my best friend. I don't trust you. I can't. And I'm sorry for it.
I'm sorry I scared you, I'm sorry I can't listen to you, I'm sorry I annoy you, I'm sorry I took your time.
And it's more than that.
How do you deal with the guilt of homicidal/agressive thoughts ? How can you ever forgive me ? How will I ever forgive myself ?
I get so paranoid in the street I scream in my head "come close to me and I'll punch you, I'll make you pay, I'll make sure you can't walk again" and is the fact that I am terrified an excuse ? Is it a good enough excuse ? Is it forgivable ?
How can I ever look people in the eye when I daydreamt I unalived them ? What if they knew ? What would they do ? Would they make me pay ?
I am a mess and I am guilty and I am scared which makes me enraged which makes me even more guilty which makes me even more scared and it's never ending but how could it ever end ?
No one who hasn't had thoughts like this will ever understand. I know how they'd look at me if they knew. I look at myself the same way.
Sorry for the vent.
70 notes · View notes
gray-gray-gray-gray · 7 months
Text
Chapter 2 of Schizophrenia, Third Edition: The schizophrenia construct - symptomatic presentation
Most people with schizophrenia experience delusions and hallucinations, and many (but not all) experience disorganized thinking. There are also negative and cognitive symptoms.
For reality distortion, the delusions and hallucinations: A delusion is an unshakable, false idea or belief that cannot be attributed to the patient's educational, social, or cultural background, which is held with extraordinary conviction and subjective certainty, and is not amenable to logic. Delusions are divided into primary and secondary delusions: Primary delusions (more characteristic of schizophrenia) do not occur in response to something else such as a mood disorder or hallucination. Secondary delusions can be understood in relation to a person's background culture or emotional state.
Primary delusions include delusional perceptions and delusional intuitions. Delusional pereptions are normal perceptions that are interpreted with a delusonal meaning. Delusions are extremely variable in content. The most common delusions may be delusions of persecution, delusions of influence or control, thought withdrawal, thought insertion, thought broadcasting, morbid jealousy, erotomania, delusional misidentification, grandiose delusions, and religious delusions. In schizophrenia, the most common is delusions of persecution. The content of the delusion is often determined by the maturational, social, educational, and cultural background of the patient.
People with schizophrenia experience abnormal perceptions mainly in the form of sensory distortions - real objects are distorted - and false perceptions - where a new perception occurs. In false perceptions, there are illusions and hallucinations. Illusions are transformations of perceptions. Hallucinations are perceptions without object. Hallucinations can occur in any sense (auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory and tactile, somatic or kinesthetic.) Around 50% of people with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations, 15% visual, and 5% tactile. The most common hallucinatory experience are hearing voices (also known as auditory verbal hallucinations.)
Now for disorganization: most people with schizophrenia have different degrees of impairment in their thought processes. These are called formal thought disorders. The ones most prominent in schizophrenia are called retardation (taking a long time to answer questions, in its extreme form, mutism occurs), circumstantiality (giving unnecesary details but eventually getting to the point), tangentiality (never getting to the point in the first place), derailment (breakdown in association with no logical connection between thoughts), thought blocking (sudden break in train of thought), and perseveration (repeating of an idea until it is inappropriate). There is also illogicality, offering bizarre explanations for things, neologisms, the creation of new words, and paraphasia, using a word with a new meaning.
In general negative symptoms are conceptualized as things that people do not do. The distinction between positive and negative symptoms was first introduced by Reynolds (1828-1896) and Jackson (1834-1911). Kraepelin (1919) also described a framework for distinguishing between positive and negative symptoms. In many cases negative symptoms are present before the onset of psychotic symptoms, present through the psychotic phase, and persist to varying degrees once the positive symptoms remit. Negative symptoms most often include alogia (poverty of speech), blunted affect (reduction in emotional expressiveness), anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure), asociality, avolition (lack of motivation), and apathy. Negative symptoms are more important for prognosis than positive symptoms.
Deficits in cognition have been considered core features of schizophrenia all the way back to Kraepelin and Bleuler. It's been consistently shown that people with schizophrenia have cognitive deficits right at the onset of psychotic symptoms, and even in the prodromal period or well before showing any kind of symptoms. There has been a lack of standard assessment scales for cognitive symptoms. Cognitive impairment is associated with poorer prognosis and functional outcome, negative symptoms, and disorganized symptoms, but not with positive symptoms.
Now on movement disorders: the two most common abnormal movements in schizophrenia are mannerisms (odd and stilted movements that seem to have a purpose) and stereotypy (constant repitition of meaningless movements.) People with schizophrenia may be stuporous, with an absence of movements and speech while being fully conscious. On the contrary, one might become hyperactive in an excited variety of catatonia. Sometimes there is abnormality in the execution of movements like in the form of negativism, automatic obedience, or ambitendency.
While those are the symptoms of schizophrenia, there are other aspects that are critical to evaluation and treatment. First of is the developmental history and prognostic indicators. Accurately diagnosing psychotic disorders is incredibly important at early stages of the disease because the importance of early treatment has been shown in different meaures. This variable is usually the level of social functioning prior to the onset of the illness, and it's been shown that it could be an important factor in diagnosis, diseae progression, and outcome.
All of feeling, mood, affect, and motivation can be abnormal in schizophrenia. The rate of depression in schizophrenia varies in studies, found more prevalent in women and patients with first-episode schizophrenia. People with comorbid schizophrenia and depression have poorer long term functional outcomes in terms of poorer quality of life. There is also "post schizophrenic depresson", which is depression following or in conjunction with psychotic symptoms (it's also a subtype in the ICD 10.) Depressive symptoms could also be confounded with antipsychotic side effects and negative symptoms. Suicide is unfortunately a leading cause of death in people with schizophrenia, with up to 40% of people with schizophrenia attempting suicide at least once. Between 5% and 13% die from their attempts. Risk factors for suicide in schizophrenia are comorbid depression and substance abuse, feelings of hopelessness and loss, fear of mental disintegration, a first episode (especially in previously high functioning patients), and periods of exacerbation of psychotic symptoms.
Substance abuse is common in schizophrenia. Half of patients are also substance abusers at some time during their illness. Substance use has been associated with poor social adjustment, more hospitalizations and relapses, medication and non-compliance, and poor treatment responses. Since acute intoxication and withdrawal of substances can mimick schizophrenic disorders, the overlap in symptoms can make diagnosis hard.
Now for physical health; the heightened health risks in schizophrenia (cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, carbohydrate and lipid metabolid disorders, etc) are associated with the medications used in its treatment. Since people with schizophrenia show a higher rate of tobacco smoking than the general population, people with schizophrenia have more respiratory symptoms and poorer lung function compared to the general population. The presence of diabetes is between 9% and 14%, dyslipidemia 43%, and hypertension 30%. People with schizophrenia on antipsychotics are more prone to obesity, which has a big impact on both physical health and self-image and adherence to prescribed medication. Despite this vulnerability to different physical illnesses people with schizophrenia are at risk for failing to receive medical services. They should have routine physical examinations, and their physical symptoms should be explored no differently.
Extra tidbits: Sexual dysfunction, sleep problems, and eating disorders are also not uncommon in people with schizophrenia. Social functioning deficits are a hallmark of schizophrenia, and impairments in adaptive life skills are a major source of disability in people with schizophrenia. Quality of life is usually lower.
3 notes · View notes
neuroticboyfriend · 7 months
Text
i want to share an example of my brain on schizophrenia dissociation. this different type of dissociation compare to regular trauma response... and feel like people, even other neurodivergent, no want understand schizos and see us as people. so want experience to be seen. also. i wrote this in moment where things not real to me, so TW for unreality. big big unreality.
I'm floating in the timeline. I've passed the point of no return so many times. I'm just drifting through the universe, tossing my emotions, my struggles, my pains aside. I feel, but it's blunted by the constant disconnect inside me. I feel at peace. There is no tomorrow, but there is. There is, but I don't have to believe it right now - on an emotional level... There is only the choices I make. The way I move my body, every letter I type, every thought I think, pulls me down a different path. Time distorts and follows me, and I follow it. It's like that dance of two galaxies colliding. I will fall asleep eventually, and when I wake up, I will understand that reality really exists. I know that. Logic has not left me, at least, not to the degree that I don't understand I'm strange at the moment... I know, I know, still, sanity prevails over me... Stop feeling, you can't... It's like when people are afraid of dogs. Most dogs won't hurt you, and they can know that, but still feel ineffable fear when faced with a dog. And maybe, even if unlikely, the dog hurts them. It feels like that. Things don't feel real, so they aren't real, for as long as I feel it.
for context, this one *much* more comprehensible out of my schizo rambles. have insight that psychotic. other entries, many pages of same word over and over, of things dont make sense at all, of words that dont exist. but. i hope the sane can see the feeling in this one. i hope you can connect and learn maybe. i think the variety in our experiences, even when we're in pain, is something to revere. (this post is ok to rb)
**please no call me schizo unless also schizo, is slur i reclaim**
44 notes · View notes
peri · 2 years
Text
is talking verbally so very hard for anyone else? i spend a lot of time constructing a sentence before i say anything and hope it comes out of my mouth in the correct order or at all.
21 notes · View notes
221bluescarf · 1 year
Text
This is random, but there's something weird I didn't even think about until a few weeks ago— I don't know if it's considered disorganized thinking or what.
Sometimes it's like my brain turns off and I don't know that I need to eat, I don't know that I need to shower, I don't know that I need to change my clothes... I don't realize much of anything really. It takes an outside prompt in order to realize I literally do not remember the last time I did any of that. Usually a therapy appointment snaps me out of it when she asks me about things. There have been times I haven't eaten in 2 days and don't know if I've changed my clothes at all. Oh yeah... Washing hair is a thing. Have I washed my hair? I don't know. What is eating? What is a shower?
It's hard to explain. Like I'm a computer that was busy rebooting while life is going by in the meantime.
Sometimes people tell me I say or do things during the "reboot" time that I don't recall. Like walking in circles or mumbling. I think it happens when psychotic symptoms are also higher. It doesn't seem to coincide with any particular mood.
It's not like when I'm depressed where I know I'm not taking care of myself but I'm too sad and worthless and careless to do anything about it. And it's not really like the daily adhd absent-mindedness. It's like I was literally asleep and just randomly woke up to find myself discombobulated.
It had been a rare occurrence, but it seems to be happening more often in recent years. I had a brief one a few weeks ago, and another one a couple months ago. I'm afraid of it getting worse.
I'm just sitting here wondering if anyone else experience anything like this. Wondering if it's a specific schizospec thing or something associated with mental illness in general ...or just a "me thing"
Hopefully I can find an answer somewhere
8 notes · View notes
emo-g · 3 days
Text
Tumblr media
0 notes