Schizophrenia, a question of sensitivity?

In my research into this deaded condition I have come to the conclusion that Schizophrenia should be renamed as Acute Sensory Disorder.
It seems evident that persons suffering from the symptoms all display extreme sensitivity to various things.

What I wanted to achieve with this thread is ask the questions :

How do we de-amplify the persons sensitivity with out heavy medication.
What therapies would you suggest as a way of lowering sensitivities to a more managable level?

Can therapies designed for sufferers of allergies etc be used?

How can we re-train the person to have a return to a better control of this amplification ability we all have but is dis-ordered in that person, with out medication?
I tend to believe that this ability to amplify our sensitivities is a part of our propriorception and intrinsic to our ability to find balance not only in sensation but thought,mood and behaviour.

Possibly the best way to put this idea into context is to draw the analogy with the suffering of hayfever or pollen type allergy.

As most people can relate to the trauma a severe attack of hayfever can produce it isn't hard to relate this experience to that of a person who is suffering Schizophrnia type symptoms. [ the allergy is more intelllectually associated than physically.]

I am sure that if someone had to endure an intense hayfever problem all year round his mental stability would be severely effected due to exhaustion and fatigue.

So can an illness such as schizophrenia be akin to the sensitivity amplification seen with hayfever?


What do you think?

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

If any body diagnosed as Schizophrenic or similar condition would like to participate in a small study on sensitivity amplification please PM me.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Hello, Quantum.

Oh gee, guy - this is one HUGE topic!

No, hypersensitivity isn't a main common symptom although it can often be present. Currently, there are six subcategories which are: paranoid; disorganized; catatonic; residual; schizoaffective; and undifferentiated (doesn't clearly fit into one of the preciously listed categories).

Hypersensitivity, or Acute Sensory Disorder as you very accurately called it, generally only appears in the first two and the last and even then cannot be taken as a given.

I can readily see why you've drawn the conclusion that it somewhat resembles the result of a very prolonged allergy attack. But that's true only in the sense that ANY extended period of intense physical/mental trauma can lead to "madness." A fact heavily relied upon by basic barbaric forms of torture.

In a true case of schizophrenia however, the brain is actually physically damaged. The truly sad fact is that there is a progressive rapid LOSS of brain tissue.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Hypersensitive: Nerves worn thin by extended and systematic abuse. Paranoid: Thinks that the guy who punches him in the gut once a week is going to punch him in the gut sometimes in the near future. Disorganized: Never had to organize his own life. Always had someone to tear it out and replace it with painful fantasy. Catatonic: Has learned helplessness from mind control experts and sadists. Residual: It lasts. Schizoaffective: Afraid to express emotion because so many people have punched him for doing it. Undifferentiated: The analyst has no idea what to do with him.

 

Thanks for your response,

It is my theory that it is hypersensitivity [ sometimes subconscious ] that leads to the extremes that are seen to be present. That whilst it may not be very evident in interview it can be evident as a cause.

Also from the stats that I have seen brain tissue degradation seems more prevalent in elderly and persons who have had an extensive history of long term chronic psychosis. Tissue loss can be rapid also depending on just how severe the symptoms are.
It is to be expected that simply severe brain fatigue over long periods would cause degradations and tissue loss. The length of the period is relative to the intensity [ not unlike muscle wastage in chonic pain sufferers.] [ I have a brother who lost most of his upper body muscle mass (90%) [ shoulders and arms ] due to being in a constant and intense cramp for 3 weeks and took nearly 15 years of therapy to 95% restore]

The area that prompted this post that I am currently researching is the effect of Histamine type hormones on sensitivity. Although my research is far from scientific in detail and more anecdotal, I feel there may be a link between Histamine production [not only sinusitis] and hypersensitivity leading to thought and behavioural issues. The Histamine causing a hyper tension in blood vessel tension [The vessel it self ]
Meaning that a certain blood vessel rigidity is present [ inability to relax]

Anyway thats an area I am exploring.
But what I am most interested in any thoughts on how to apply therapies for hypersensitivity.
I am not so much interested in a medicinal therapy but more a balancing therapy that a person can do for themselves.

Exposure therapy as with allergies seems quite successful for example but applied in these circumstances may prove difficult.
The underpinning problem is the ability to amplify our sensitivity and it is this aspect I am searching for clues as to how to retrain the persons self control.

 

VERY powerful and human reponse MetaKron,
to a typical whitecoat tick-box ignorant understanding psycholgical phenomena....thoug of couse it is more bodymind phenomena right?

'FUNNY'....thing is. none ofthe knowitall drug em brigade actually KNOW what 'schizophrenia' actually IS! they make it up as they go along...

 

guys if this thread diminishes into a flame event I shall never post another question about possible solutions again......sheesh!! [ only kidding]

 

I think I understand your hay fever connection, but the schizophrenic condition does not seem to be caused by an outside factor. Schizophenia seems to be within the brain itself. I guess the better comparison would be with diabetics. Some are able to control their physical condition with diet, but this does not preclude the possiblity that the deterioration of the insulin producing elements of the body wont further degrade and force this person into the insulin dependent category of diabetes. So, if you do treat this symptom (sensitivity) would you miss other symptoms and cause further damage to the actual condition, simply because you have masked the symptoms?

I do think we sometimes react with too much vigor when we diagnois young persons with this condition (and other mental health conditions) and begin medication at that point.

As far as therapies for persons. I dont know. I have a friend with this conditon and when she is on her meds, we have very good debates on life, the world, and everything. She is very intelligent and loves to explore things from another point of view. However, when she doesnt take her meds, or if the brain develops tolerance for the current medication/dosage, we cannot have those conversations. And the things she has to go thru to achieve this medication balance again can be devastating for months.

 

Schizophrenia is an interesting condition, a friend of mine has it. It could very well be something like an allergy, but it seems more complicated than that. I have a kind of autism, and I'm much more sensitive to things like light and sound than my friend, who loved loud music at all hours, and blinding light all the time.

 

Message content deleted and moved to a new thread by Metakron.

Sorry about that. I do tend to go on.

 

Schizophrenia is most often a negative thing, and the one who has it cannot see how disturbed their own actions are. They pretend that everyone else has the problem, since they are only acting naturally. I agree that the medical profession doesn't know how to cure it, and the drugs have bad side effects, but it's all we have at the moment. It is not acceptable to simply let a crazy person go crazy, it's not good for them and it's not good for society.

 

It may or may not be so, but further discussion following my statements, I would rather have on a separate thread. Think of it as taking responsibility for what I do around here.

 

Hi I am new to this forum i also have schizophernia and anxiety .but sound sensitivity seems to be because of anxiety as i had it even before schizophernia

 

Oct, 2005, was the last post and now the thread re-appears! Oct, 2014 (9 years in the archives)

Hi James, welcome to sciforums!

The informal study you refer to in your quote is no longer happening.

 

Why?
I think old opinions are interesting,* and in this case most who made those old posts are still active. Furthermore, If you recall something** and want to cite it from the old post to put in a newly created version, you must search with not very good tools. - A waste of your time, not needed if the old thread is back in use.

As Santa Anna said: If you can't remember the past you are condemned to repeat it. Do you want sciforums to store the same message, POV, twice?

* especially if there were predictions made that can now be checked.

Again: Why? Do you have any counter argument to the above?

** For example I made post about a new species evolving in 10,000 years when tiny rocky island off coast of Brazil was cut off from the mainland by melting ice - sea level rise in one of the early evolution threads that if I could have found it, I would have cited again in the third edition of that thread. I knew about when that fact was posted and with date as guide I could have found it.