Topic Tuesday // Myths and misconceptions of Schizophrenia // IN SESSION

[Former-Member]

What do we think of this one?

"schizophrenia is caused by bad parenting?"

How does this statement make you feel?

[Former-Member]

Hi @Barbara

These behaviours also sound quite 'normal' for an individual living with schizophrenia, people may become focused or 'obsessed' about certain things. Feeling like his body is shutting down or he is dying is a sign of delusional behaviour. Delusions are fixed false beliefs, so to him they are a reality.

Does you son have a GP or a clinician that he accesses? Have you thought about asking his GP about these behaviours? they might have some great suggestions of ways you can support him to manage some of these symptoms.

Outlanderali 

[Shaz51]

hello @Former-Member

schizophrenia is caused by bad parenting?" -- NO, i say no it is not

[leitor]

@Former-Member I agree, it is extremely complex and poorly understood at many levels. The DSM tries to classify and group under a name, but the name is not the thing, and we may be lumping several quite separate problems under a single name. Add to this the incidence of co-morbidity, and I know why I prefer engineering to medicine!

[Former-Member]

@Shaz51 Good call!!!

This is a really old misconceptions that existed, before we really knew anything about mental illness. It was easy to blame a parent for smoking when they were pregnant, or not having their vitamins, or having a drink of wine. We know now that it is a combination of different things that leads to someone developing a mental illness.

That being said trauma can impact peoples mental illness in a significant way. So if a child is in an abusive family, or if a mother abuses drugs while pregnant this can impact the child's ability to become more resilient, and can lead to a predisposition of developing mental illness.

We all experience trauma in different ways, some people are more resiliant than others, this explains why some people can go to war and not experience PTSD. So not all children in abusive families will develop MI.

It seems simple but its actually very complicated!!!

[Former-Member]

I agree @leitor we are trying to fit humans into a criteria written in a book. Trying to find a label for someone, rather than saying she is 'June' who experience a,b,c,d symptoms.

There is still a long way to go!!

[Jengay]

Whether it is schizophrenia, paedophilia, gambling, alcoholism etc etc it no doubt is all in the genes.  The sufferer can be the odd one out in an otherwise "normal" family.  I doubt an informed person would think that it was caused by parenting.

[Former-Member]

Who has heard this myth before?

'You can talk someone out of their delusions or hallucinations, you just have to tell them they are not real.'

[Barbara]

could you please explain the term 'manic'? i suppose it might be expressed differently in every individual suffering from Sz. my son goes completely 'nuts' like bobs his head up and down, screams, cries, his eyes become dilated and look crazy, he does not make sense and can not talk, only shouts abuse, or talks nonsense to himself. it is very scary but i dont know if this is 'mania' or what it is... ? the discriptions in the books dont seem to match what we experience with him....

[Former-Member]

Hi @Barbara,

Those symptoms don't sound like mania, Mania is a state of heightened energy and euphoria - an elevation of mood. It is in direct contrast to depression.

The behaviour you are talking about sounds like grossly disorganised behaviour and disorganised speech. But again - just check with your GP or clinician if you are worried.