How do you know if you have schizophrenia?

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Is it purely genetic, or can you develop it?

There is a genetic component to it, and the closer the person is to you on your family tree the more likely you are to have it, i.e. sibling, parents, uncles, etc, but even if you have a schizophrenic identical twin you are not guarenteed to get it yourself, so there must be both genetic and social/developmental factors involved

Thanks; that helped

I've read that it usually involves delusion or hallucinations, and that it can sometimes include paranoia. The delusions or hallucinations can be of any senses--sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, mental thoughts that don't make sense, or a combination of two or more of these.

Yes, genetics are a big part but even with no relatives you have about a 1% chance of getting schizophrenia. There are several symptoms but the person with schizophrenia is not always aware of his own symptoms because of a lack of insight. This is very common in schizophrenia and their family or doctors are usually the first to notice. Normally schizophrenia doesn't develop overnight although there are some people that it does come without warning. With me there are warning signs. For example my sleep gets disturbed and I have a lack of interest/ pleasure in previously enjoyed activities. That is known as anhedonia which is a symptom of depression or a negative symptom of schizophrenia. The main symptoms of active psychosis are: Delusions which can be classified as bizarre or non bizarre (bizarre delusions are simply impossible in real life and can never happen), hallucinations (mainly auditory), disorganized speech (things don't make sense when you speak to others and comes out incoherently or not connected to other thought processes), disorganized behavior such as catatonia, and what is known as negative symptoms. Negative symptoms are very similar to depression, lack of motivation, lack of pleasure, not talking as much, and a flat affect. To be diagnosed with schizophrenia you have to have 2 of the 5 main symptoms and have some of the symptoms for 6 months with active psychosis for 1 month and it has to affect your functioning in the ability of work, school, social situations, just basically all aspects of daily functioning. No, its not just purely genetic, it just makes it more likely if you have a relative with the disorder. My dad's side has some people with mental illness (not schizophrenia though mainly depression and bipolar) and I don't know my mom's side because she was adopted. I have schizoaffective disorder which is similar but with schizoaffective disorder there is also a mood component as well as psychosis. There is a difference between schizoaffective and bipolar/ depression with psychotic features in which in schizoaffective the psychotic symptoms have to happen outside a mood episode.

I am curious how are you able to work around the "lack of insight" part, or are you not able to?

I'm pretty sure you would know that something was wrong. Also, other people would probably be able to tell that you were more than just a little pequliar. Go to a psychiatrist if you think there's something like that wrong with you. They can probably put your fears to rest pretty easily.

Agree, another thing to do might be to read other people's stories online, to see if one can relate. There are also youtube videos of people having psychotic episodes and it is quite distinct.

I've had hallucinations and I think everybody is constantly talking about me. I'm scared of a lot of things, actually. I think I'm gonna get raped and abused in the future. I've hallucinated about that one. And I do the word salad thing, and it's not real anhedonia; just that I can't communicate and I lack insight. That's probably Asperger's Syndrome. My thoughts that make no sense are more depressive but it's really amusing how disconnected they are from each other; I see a connection, though.

I watched a video of a a schizophrenic girl....I'm not. Schizophrenic. I'm just bipolar with AS and many schizotypal symptoms.

Oh f*****g GOSH!! ! D: if I had these issues on top of the bazillion I have, I dunno what I'd do; just looking at that family makes me stressed and filled with anguish and wanna take a nap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTUMt05_nCI

Don't forget to watch videos of people talking about bipolar disorder, also.

This is very rare since she is so very young. Typically this wouldn't happen until the late teen years. It is pretty scary that someone that young could have that bad of a problem. I wonder why they chose the med chlorpromazine (Thorazine)--a 1st gen antipsychotic drug?
Yeah, that family looks pretty wiped out trying to deal with all of that. It is actually quite distressing to watch.

Why not just go to a psychiatrist and find out whats wrong? We can't really tell you anything for sure here.

Most of the time I have insight but when I am having major problems the insight goes away for the most part. I also see both a psychologist and psychiatrist and they tell me when I am psychotic. Same with my annoying brother but he ALWAYS tells me I am psychotic and crazy. I still love him though. I have more insight than the average schizophrenic because mine is very mild compared to others that have it. There are times where I can be calm and during the night time I am calmer than during the day. I am the worst when I first get up and it lasts until around 7 PM. That is everyday. I know the warning signs in me. Right now the docs say I am mildly psychotic because of the so called "delusions" and hallucinations. I don't believe that I have delusions though even though all my doctors say I do. Sometimes I keep my thoughts secret because I realize they are weird and don't want the docs to put me away and throw away the key. When I first started having these problems I couldn't hold anything back and told people (docs) when I first met them my thoughts. Even the weird ones. Now I am able to control it a little more by not telling them everything. When I first went to psychologists and psychiatrists, I wanted them to have the full picture of what is going on around me so they can diagnose and treat what I have. But now I don't want them knowing anything because it gets weirder each year and I have enough insight to realize it. I mean some of the things are so bizarre it looks like I am joking around when I tell people. Its my hallucinations that are incredibly mild, most days it is just a few a day. A few days ago, however, was severe with constant voices. I heard voices coming out of my computer. I heard voices right behind me in my room. I heard voices when I was at a place with my family and no one else was there and they made fun of me. Other times it is just a phrase. Sometimes its just whispering and other times yelling fighting and my name being called. believe it or not I hear hallucinated voices calling my name more than when my name is actually being called! What I mean is when my parents call me sometimes I don't hear them. But when they don't call me I hear them loud and clear! Weird. The reason behind that is not because I can't hear anything is because I listen to music all day long on my computer and can't hear over the music.

I used to be a hypochondriac. That extended to many mental disorders. My therapist told me that people who are seriously crazy have no idea they are. They are absolutely sure they are normal and right and everybody else is wrong. So, if you suspect you are crazy, you probably aren't. You are just normally concerned.