“Ow this guy has schizophrenia. He is crazy. He is not normal. Don’t go out with him, he is a nut. “
This is the stigma that someone like me has to face if I were to go public with my condition. In the age of gay rights the only remaining taboo is mental health. So I am inspired by some conversations I had with former friends to explain a bit about my condition and in general what is schizophrenia. (I will use some technical information, but it might not be 100 percent accurate)
It all starts towards the end of puberty or early adulthood, the brain will shed some connections to become an adult brain. In this process some neurotransmitters will stop functioning the way they used to. Now this is very technical and one has to be a psychiatrist or neurologist to understand it, but basically the brain is controlled by two things:
- Electricity: These are the electric signals between neurons
- Chemistry: These are known as neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline etc… These chemicals also relay information in the brain and between the brain and body.
The problem for people with schizophrenia is mainly a chemical one. The brain produces too much dopamine. This chemical has a lot to do with the feelings of pleasure or to use a technical term: Reward motivated behavior. With too much dopamine in my brain, I become over excited about everything and become prone to delusional thinking.
Realizing this, doctors have created medication to regulate the dopamine in the brain. They work for some people like me. The medication is supposed to reduce the amount of dopamine that gets into some receptors. This means less messages about reward motivated behavior.
Too much of medication and a patient will not be able to function normally and will be tired and sleepy all the time. Too little or no medication and he will be in hyper mode and insane. Therefore with the right dose, one can be normal.
Today many doctors are encouraging society to look at schizophrenia the same way they look at diabetes. It is a chronic condition that has to be managed for a lifetime. But a highly manageable one.
Indeed, unless you had seen me during the brief periods where I was off meds and psychotic, you wouldn’t know that I suffered from anything. And now that you understand that it is a biological thing you should look at it as you do any other chronic illness.
This is the stigma that someone like me has to face if I were to go public with my condition. In the age of gay rights the only remaining taboo is mental health. So I am inspired by some conversations I had with former friends to explain a bit about my condition and in general what is schizophrenia. (I will use some technical information, but it might not be 100 percent accurate)
It all starts towards the end of puberty or early adulthood, the brain will shed some connections to become an adult brain. In this process some neurotransmitters will stop functioning the way they used to. Now this is very technical and one has to be a psychiatrist or neurologist to understand it, but basically the brain is controlled by two things:
- Electricity: These are the electric signals between neurons
- Chemistry: These are known as neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline etc… These chemicals also relay information in the brain and between the brain and body.
The problem for people with schizophrenia is mainly a chemical one. The brain produces too much dopamine. This chemical has a lot to do with the feelings of pleasure or to use a technical term: Reward motivated behavior. With too much dopamine in my brain, I become over excited about everything and become prone to delusional thinking.
Realizing this, doctors have created medication to regulate the dopamine in the brain. They work for some people like me. The medication is supposed to reduce the amount of dopamine that gets into some receptors. This means less messages about reward motivated behavior.
Too much of medication and a patient will not be able to function normally and will be tired and sleepy all the time. Too little or no medication and he will be in hyper mode and insane. Therefore with the right dose, one can be normal.
Today many doctors are encouraging society to look at schizophrenia the same way they look at diabetes. It is a chronic condition that has to be managed for a lifetime. But a highly manageable one.
Indeed, unless you had seen me during the brief periods where I was off meds and psychotic, you wouldn’t know that I suffered from anything. And now that you understand that it is a biological thing you should look at it as you do any other chronic illness.
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