Generally, the diagnosis for any mental illness is roughly the same. The first step is talking to your doctor, who will run necessary medical tests and physical exams to rule out any physical illnesses. The next step once physical illnesses are ruled out would be a referral to a mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment. When should family history become involved? In my opinion, it should be discussed with your primary doctor and then also with the mental health professional. I include the primary doctor for the reason that he/she may not know the family history.
The Institute for Mental Health has a fact sheet which I will have linked at the end of this article. The fact sheet has tips on how to talk to your health care provider about mental illnesses.
All mental health illnesses can be diagnosed the same way as any other illness. It is a process of elimination, and full disclosure of family history (if known) can be vitally important to diagnosis for you or your loved one. Children require an accurate diagnosis so treatment can be made easier.
Mood Episodes: Manic episodes may result in the following;
elated, “up”,”high” or irritable feeling jumpy or wired the need for sleep decreases lack of appetite talking fast on various topics racing thoughts feel the ability to multitask at once “Do risky things that show poor judgment, such as eat and drink excessively, spend or give away a lot of money, or have reckless sex” this is a direct quote from the National Institute of Mental Health website. feelings of high importance and powerful
Depressive episodes may result in the following;
feeling sad, hopeless, or empty feeling sluggish or restless sleeping too much, trouble falling and staying asleep experiencing an increased appetite forgetting things or talking very slowly trouble concentrating and poor decision making feeling inadequate “have little interest in almost all activities, a decreased or absent sex drive, or an inability to experience pleasure (“anhedonia”)” this is a direct quote from the National Institute of Mental Health website suicidal thoughts, thoughts of death, feeling worthless
People suffering from bipolar can experience both manic and depressive symptoms at the same time. Which is called an episode with mixed symptoms or “features”. The symptoms can range from mild to severe.
If anyone within your family is showing the signs listed above please contact your doctor and a health care professional so they can get the help they need! Do not blow it off thinking they will be fine. And above all create a support system for any loved ones with any mental health problems. Do your research, especially on other family members! If it’s your child showing signs get them to their doctor and if that fails to lead to the help your child needs take them to another doctor and so on until a doctor finally takes notice!
Formally called manic-depressive illness or manic depression, bipolar is a disorder that affects mood. There are three types of bipolar disorder. All three center on changes in mood. A person can go from being extremely happy and hypersensitive to sadness and lethargy. Sufferers may seem happy go lucky one moment and the next crying and not wanting to do daily tasks.
Here are the three types of bipolar: bipolar 1 Disorder, bipolar II disorder, and Cyclothymic Disorder. I will add quotes from what the National Institute of Mental Health describes each three in a moment.
I am going to go a little off-topic here but still within the scope of mental health. The more I become honest with family members and friends about my own mental illness, I have come to the conclusion that even though we live in an ever-changing world where things that used to be unspeakable are now coming to the forefront of discussion, but we are still behind when it comes to mental health. Instead of making those who suffer from one form or another of the broad spectrum of mental illness feel like we shouldn’t open up about what goes on within our own brains and bodies. Others need to have information at the ready for when they interact with someone who says “I have __” Maybe schools should start incorporating mental health within the curriculum somehow. Or if a family member becomes diagnosed, have a mental health professional sit down with the family and in layman’s terms describe what is going on and how life has to change for the one newly diagnosed. Now I am jumping down from my “soapbox” and getting back to the current mental illness in my Mental Health series.
The three types of bipolar with quoted descriptors from the National Institute of Mental Health:
Bipolar I Disorder–
is “defined by manic episodes that last at least 7 days, or by manic symptoms that are so severe that the person needs immediate hospital care. Usually, depressive episodes occur as well, typically lasting at least 2 weeks. Episodes of depression with mixed features (having depressive symptoms and manic symptoms at the same time) are also possible.”
Bipolar II Disorder–
is “defined by a pattern of depressive episodes and hypomanic episodes, but not the full-blown manic episodes that are typical of bipolar I disorder.”
Cyclothymic Disorder (also called Cyclothymia)–
is “defined by periods of hypomanic symptoms as well as periods of depressive symptoms lasting for at least 2 years (1 year in children and adolescents). However, the symptoms do not meet the diagnostic requirements for a hypomanic episode and a depressive episode.”
There will be times when someone experiences symptoms that are not listed. This does not mean it’s a different mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health categorizes unlisted symptoms as “other specified and unspecified” symptoms. We will do a deeper dive into all of the symptoms in the next article.
Source of information: National Institue of Mental Health
Medications are important for the treatment of schizophrenia. Antipsychotic medications are prescribed usually. An antipsychotic medication are used to affect the brain’s neurotransmitter, which is called dopamine.
Dopamine communicates with the body’s nerve cells in the brain, the brain itself, and the rest of the body. It also is listed as a hormone. Dopamine has many functions and has roles in a person’s movement, memory, motivation, behavior and cognition, attention, sleep, mood, learning, and also lactation. It also plays a smaller part in the fight or flight response when in a dangerous situation. Dopamine also relaxes blood vessels, in low doses, or constricts, in higher doses. Dopamine increases sodium and removal of urine from the body as well as other functions that don’t concern schizophrenia so I am going to refrain from going into them here. Although I will end this part of this section by saying dopamine is also what makes a person happy. Which does coincide with schizophrenia on some level.
With schizophrenia, dopamine can be either too low or too high. When it is too much it causes delusions and hallucinations. When there isn’t enough dopamine it causes the lack of motivation people with schizophrenia are prone to.
A psychiatrist will prescribe different drugs at different doses to find the combination that will work for an individual with schizophrenia. It commonly takes several weeks to see any changes, unless the person has either a low tolerance or high tolerance to medications. The reasoning Mayo Clinics give for a reluctance to take medication for schizophrenia to the serious side effects these medications can cause. I would like to add to this, that it isn’t just the side effects it is also the state these medications can leave some in. The “zombie” like state. No one would like to be in that type of state day in and day out.
During the part of my series that listed the symptoms of schizophrenia I stated that there was one that I would come back to in longer length because of the experience, TL had with the prescribed medications and what he does now to regulate his symptoms. The Mayo clinic had stated the use of marijuana usually exacerbates the symptoms just like synthetic drugs like LSD. I would like to argue this point at this time.
TL was prescribed medications (more than one at more than one dose) when he was diagnosed, he would tell me they weren’t doing anything. Even after the time frame, it usually takes for improvements to be seen. He would then take more than what he was prescribed to the near overdose stage. The first time I saw him after doing these he wasn’t the son I knew and loved. His body appeared to be shutting down. He is fine now, because he and I have found that marijuana is helping to keep him calm to where he can actually focus on his thoughts and what he is doing. The kind he gets is medical marijuana. Even Mayo agrees that medical marijuana HELPS those with schizophrenia. I will admit there are times when we can’t get the medical and use other. YES, we’re bad I know it. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do to ensure someone who needs something gets it.
If you or a family member after several weeks have no signs of the symptoms getting better contact the doctor and switch medications or if you have exhausted all medications for the illness see about getting a medical marijuana card if your state allows.
Hopefully, after reading this people will come away and see that from a person suffering from this illness, we are people too. We’re just wired differently, which in some cases can be highly dangerous. Especially, when your schizophrenic loved one comes at you with a knife.
If you know anyone with schizophrenia try to ease their stress levels by NOT adding to it. We don’t handle stress the way other people can.
Welcome back to the schizophrenia part of my mental health series. I will be talking about diagnosing and treatment a little with this one because I feel the most important of this is the medication of this mental illness. I have personal views of that area due to my son’s experience with the medications he was prescribed and then I will go in depth on what is actually helping him with the hallucinations and delusions. Now on to the series!
Diagnosis and Treatment:
Doctors use more than one way to diagnose schizophrenia. They will use physical exams to rule out any physical diseases one. Another is also tests for other illnesses that have the same or similar symptoms, and screenings to determine alcohol and drug use. A doctor might request an MRI or CT scan as well. I’m sure people have seen the images of brain scans that show the difference between a normal brain and a brain of someone suffering from mental illness.
A person will also go through a psychiatric evaluation where a mental health professional observes the appearance and behavior while asking the thoughts of the individual. The mental health professional will also ask about moods and several more things. The mental health professional will also ask for the family history, this is where the person NEEDS to know the crazy uncle from the fifties. Anything that is not deemed normal needs to be discussed at that time with the mental health professional. The mental health professional might compare a person’s case with the criteria for schizophrenia as it is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5, which was published by the American Psychiatric Association.
Treatment for schizophrenia is lifelong, even when symptoms are what I call dormant. The Mayo Clinic calls it subsiding. Treatment is usually medications and psychosocial therapy. In the more serious of cases the person will be hospitalized, like my BF (Biological Father) when they are a danger to themselves or others.
In the case of my son, he has a treatment team which is usual. That team is a psychologist, social worker, psychiatric nurse, and case manager.
My life so far has taken a turn that I have been wanting for a while now. I work at a local fast food chain which will be kept anonymous, for the sake of myself and other people. But I will call it my main job, since right now it’s the job that is paying the bills and whatnot.
For a couple months now I have been trying to get when I’m usually scheduled moved from closing to days. And the reason behind this is for TL. She needs me even more then she did before. With her showing the same symptoms as NSL did when her age, she needs to have the one parent that knows what she is going through mentally home after she gets out of school.
Last week I was finally informed by a work friend my hours were finally changing. I went from being one of the closers to one of the openers. I only had one day off for my body to TRY to process this change. So naturally most of the weekend my forty-eight year old body has been in a state of shock. I’m sure the rest of the week will be much of the same.
You see, I’ve always been a night owl type. Even in high school I never went to bed “on time”. There is a reason for this and this is something that I have been working on being honest about since TL’s emerging symptoms, I have all the symptoms of schizophrenia but I have never ever told anyone about them. I didn’t even tell the psychologist my adopted parents took me to one time. I flat out never said anything that would have gotten me diagnosed. Part of this is because back then the voices told me not to. But now with NSL being diagnosed and TL having emerging symptoms, I have to erase years of hiding it to being open about what does go on in my own head.
This is why with this month being Mental Health Awareness Month I have been working on a series for the month of May. The first in the series is schizophrenia. But I know the hiccup in posting the signs of the illness in teens may have been noticed by some, I wanted to give a Life Update letting everyone know this series has not been put on the back burner. It’s at the forefront of my mind, and will be posted. I am only revising my previous set schedule of working on the blog to nights instead of days. Also, the first couple of days working the opening schedule, I ended up sleeping not long after I would get home until my horrible alarms went off the next morning.
After I post this Life Update the next post will be, in fact, the Teens part of the Symptoms of Schizophrenia which I will get edited and posted right now.
Schizophrenia affects a persons cognition (thinking), behavior and emotions. Symptoms of Schizophrenia usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, which can usually impair someone’s ability to function. I will list the symptoms found on the Mayo Clinic page. I will add how this effects people with schizophrenia daily.
The Mayo Clinic has listed:
Delusions The delusions can vary depending on the person with Schizophrenia. But they may include; thinking someone is trying to harm you in any way certain comments or gestures of others are aimed directly to you; a major catastrophe is about to happen; or delusions of grandeur.
The delusions can effect daily life because any of the things listed under delusions can cause a person with schizophrenia being very paranoid when leaving the house even for a simple trip to the store. Somebody can just look at someone wrong and the schizophrenic can loose their “shit”.
Hallucinations. Here’s the fun symptom and yes I mean that sarcastically. Seeing or hearing things that aren’t there. As the Mayo Clinic states on their symptom list hearing voices is the most common hallucination BUT, people with schizophrenia can also see things that aren’t there. Many late nights driving home from work is a trip in itself for me. I will see animals and people in the road that aren’t really there. My two younger kids and I also do hear voices and what Mayo doesn’t tell you is a lot of the time these voices WANT the person to hurt another person or themselves. The more the voices are ignored the louder they get until they are screaming.
Disorganzied thinking (speech) Mayo describes this as answers to questions might be partial or completely unrelated to questions. Words put together in meaningless speech I would like to add another aspect of this. Sometimes what we hear is also meaningless and jumbled. Even if being spoken to in the language we have grown up with to us it comes to our brain all jumbled. Any other schizophrenics can either vouch or let me know they don’t have this “word salad” hearing.
Disorganized motor behavior (or abnormal) Mayo has some word salad of it’s own listed here for this symptom and I am going to quote here “This may show in a number of ways, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. Behavior isn’t focused on a goal, so it’s hard to do tasks. Behavior can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.” End quote.
Let’s unpack this symptom shall we?
Childlike silliness is a term that needs more information I believe. Can schizophrenics be silly? Yes, but so can people with no mental illness. Unpredictable agitation is another that when you think about it’s pretty predictable. Schizophrenics react to stress. The more stress we are under the more agitated we become. It is hard to do tasks but I have self learned techniques that I have shown my younger children how to stay focused. Part of the reason it’s hard to stay on task is the voices. If a schizophrenic can find something that quiets the voices then tasks are easier. The rest of the description for disorganized motor behavior is fairly accurate. Our lack of response isn’t because we don’t care about anything or anyone. We do. It’s our way of shutting down. Especially when the other symptoms get to be “too much”.
Negative symptoms. The Mayo clinic describes this as a lack of functioning normally. Including personal hygiene and lack of emotions. Not making eye contact while speaking to or with someone, not changing facial expressions or speaking in a monotone. Losing interest in everyday activity. This is a big one for those with schizophrenia. Everyone disconnects from time to time. Schizophrenics do it more than “normal” people. When this happens we are definitely shutting down, disconnecting from life. In a lot of cases that can be bad. In mine I just find disconnecting is a way to stop all the added stress in my life. I stay in my space with only certain things to comfort me. I’m not saying all who have schizophrenia should do what I do but I have found it helps me and it helps my younger children a lot.
This list of symptoms is just what adults go through. The next article in my series will be what the symptoms are for children.
But for now I will leave you with this. Schizophrenia usually presents itself in men around the early to mid 20’s. In women, it usually presents itself in the late 20’s.
I hope anyone that has a loved one with beginning signs of Schizophrenia, or yourself, research the illness and BE there for your loved one. Don’t belittle them or deny what is going on. Take it seriously as you would a physical illness.
I have been MIA for a few years on my blog. I apologize about that. My life and my childrens’ lives fell apart more than once. But I am back to writing and I have a lot to unpack and talk about! Sit back and enjoy my life trials and tribulations of the past few years all up to now. Everyday I will post, even if it’s a notice of time away, which won’t happen again. My hands have been itchy to say the least and now that I am back to writing for experience I don’t plan to stop until I am dead.
I do apologize about the disruption of my Mental Health series. The WIFI where I live was out and uploading anything was impossible to do. Plus whenever I would come home from my regular job, TL would be on the laptop looking for horses. Due to the disruptions I will be continuing the Mental Health series throughout the month of June. I know May is technically the awareness month for Mental Health. And to be quite honest the awareness should continue throughout the year.
Daily life has been rough but I am still powering through it. I have 6/5/22 and 6/6/22 off so I will be working on posts to be scheduled for posting.
Many of the same symptoms in adults can be found in children or teenagers but there are some that children have that aren’t on the list for adults. I have seen a lot of these in my younger two kids. One thing I found that I will address later on in the series is the fact that some mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, are hereditary. In my case, my biological father was diagnosed and eventually hospitalized for schizophrenia.
On to the added symptoms, children or teenagers may exhibit. These symptoms in teens are harder to see because of the whole “teen angst” that almost EVERY teenager goes through this.
Withdrawal From Friends and Family
This one could be seen as normal teenage behavior. I know I did it, but come to find out it wasn’t just me being a typical teen. Staying to themselves in their room away from everyone else COULD indicate suicidal tendencies as well. Most of this list can be found in child depression.
A Drop in Performance in School
This means a straight-A student can go from A’s to F’s very quickly. And again this could also indicate suicidal tendencies and depression not just a sign of schizophrenia.
Trouble Sleeping
Is your child or teen going from being able to go to sleep at night and staying asleep to the complete opposite? If so this also needs to be addressed by a mental health professional. I, myself, went from being able to go right to sleep to be a complete night owl. My younger kids are the same way.
Irritability or Depressed Mood
Oh woe the teenage angst. Or is it teenage angst?
Lack of Motivation
I’m not even going to address this one because it also fits the criteria for A LOT of things. All I will say is, yes sometimes we can lack motivation when we are younger.
Drug Use
This one I will come back to because the Mayo Clinic lists meth and marijuana. But I want to do a deeper dive into this one because of my NSL’s experience with actually prescribed medication for his schizophrenia.
My deep dive and opinion on the symptoms:
People with schizophrenia sound horrible. But we aren’t, we do love. Sometimes we love others too much or should I say we often love more then one person at a time. This doesn’t make us bad people. We tend to gravitate to people who can deal with the “crazy”. We gravitate toward those we can be utterly honest with about what does go on in our heads. Some listen to music like it’s a religion. And we do this because sometimes those pills that are prescribed aren’t working and we need something to drown out the voices. We also have quick senses of humor, and dry wit. We can be highly protective of those we do let in our circle. Yes, we can and do have friendships. As previously stated we tend to gravitate toward people who can deal with us. We love animals a lot. Animals can sense what is wrong with humans and I truly believe they understand we need them. Anyone with schizophrenia should have at least one pet, registered as an Emotional Support Animal. On our bad days, dogs seem to pick up on and love us even when it’s hard for us to love ourselves.
If your child or teen is showing any of these symptoms I would encourage you to do two things. Talk to your family members, not just your parents but aunts uncles, and grandparents if still living. Ask them if anyone within the family makeup had ever been diagnosed or hospitalized in a mental health facility. I firmly believe anyone should know this before their child or teen is taken to mental health clinics. They may not ask you and if they do, you need to know this information.
Next in the Schizophrenia will be dealing with Diagnosis and Treatment of the illness. Once I get to the section of medication I will describe to you what NSL went through during this process. Until then, don’t annoy the “crazy” person.
Ramblings of a Mom 