- Hi everyone, my name is Lauren
and I have schizoaffective disorder.
And today I'm going to be answering
some of the most googled questions about schizophrenia.
But first, if you wanna see more videos like this one,
make sure to subscribe to our channel.
And if you want to help support
the creation of future videos like this,
make sure to check out the link to our Patreon page
in the description below.
I'm gonna be taking you through
the top 12 most googled questions about schizophrenia.
So the first question is,
what famous person has schizophrenia?
There aren't a lot of well known famous people today
who have schizophrenia,
or that we know of, who have schizophrenia,
and I think this might have to do with stigma
of just people not willing
to disclose that they have this illness.
Cause I would imagine that at least a few people have it
who are currently famous.
For example, lady Gaga just came out
and talked about her most recent psychotic episode on Oprah.
Now, she hasn't publicly said
that she's diagnosed with schizophrenia
and I don't think she has been, but for example,
there are celebrities who experienced psychotic symptoms.
So there probably are more than we actually know about,
but for now, I'm just going to give a brief list
of the people who we've known have schizophrenia.
So there is John Nash,
who the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" was centered around.
He's a famous mathematician.
There's also Edward Einstein, who is one of Einstein's sons.
There is Zelda Fitzgerald, who is F Scott Fitzgerald's wife,
the famous American author who wrote "The Great Gatsby."
Jack Kerouac is another American author
who has schizophrenia, he wrote "On The Road."
And then there was also Vincent van Gogh,
who a lot of psychiatrists today
believe he had schizophrenia.
There are also a couple of well known musicians
who have schizophrenia, there's Peter Green,
who is a guitarist and a founder of Fleetwood Mac.
And then there is also Brian Wilson,
who is a member of the Beach Boys.
They both have schizophrenia as well.
And this is kind of a generalist
of the most well known people that we know of
who has schizophrenia, but like I said earlier,
there are probably more well known people who have it
and just haven't come forward with it
due to the issues like stigma.
Do people with schizophrenia know that they have it?
So for the most part,
I think that people who are living with schizophrenia
do know and understand
that they have been given that diagnosis
and they can understand that and know that they have it
because they've hopefully talked about it with their doctor,
but some instances where this might not be the case
where they might not actually be able to understand
or know that they have it is when there is a lack of insight
or when anosognosia is at play.
Now, I did a video on what anosognosia is,
so if you want, you can check that out,
but basically anosognosia is when an individual
can't really understand or grasp their mental illness
or the fact that they have their mental illness.
And it's actually the reason why
a lot of people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia
don't take their medications.
So I myself have gone through periods of lesser insight
or anosognosia, where I didn't really believe
that I have Schizoaffective disorder.
And I couldn't really understand what that meant
in the context of how my symptoms were affecting my life
or that kind of thing,
and it was really hard to really understand
the effect that my mental illness was having on my life.
And so that's kind of just an example
of when an individual can be experiencing a anosognosia.
Does schizophrenia worsen with age.
So I think it's important to note that
with each psychotic episode and individual has
the worst the symptoms really tend to kind of flare up
going forward.
So in that regard, if it's left untreated,
it could potentially be worse
the more frequently somebody has psychotic episodes
and I guess the older they get,
but there's an excerpt that I want to read to you
from the book, "Surviving Schizophrenia, A Family Manual."
It's a really great book
if you wanna check it out for anything else too,
but I'm just gonna read you one excerpt
on "Getting Older With Schizophrenia."
They say, "It has been clearly established in recent years
that the 30-year course of schizophrenia
is more favorable for the average patient
than the 10-year course.
This directly contradicts
the widespread stereotype about the disease
that dates to crepe Lynn's pessimistic belief
that most patients slowly deteriorate.
A major reason for this better longterm prognosis
is that aging ameliorates the symptoms of schizophrenia
in most people.
Symptoms of this disease tend to be most severe
when the person is in his or her twenties and thirties
then becomes somewhat less severe in the forties
and significantly less severe in the fifties and sixties.
We do not understand why this is so
and there are, of course, many exceptions,
but schizophrenia represents
one of the few conditions in life
for which aging is an advantage."
I kind of actually believed the commonly held misconception
that schizophrenia prognosis gets worse with age,
but this is saying that that's actually not the case.
And that studies have shown that it's actually the opposite
where aging really helps with the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Can schizophrenia go away?
So with proper medication and proper treatment,
the symptoms of schizophrenia can be greatly lessened
or maybe even in some cases go away seemingly,
but it's important to note
that there is no cure for schizophrenia,
and so no, schizophrenia can't really go away.
However, like I said,
the symptoms can be managed effectively.
Can schizophrenics love?
Yes. Yes, of course.
People who are living with schizophrenia
are capable of love.
They're capable of the full range of human emotion,
just like anyone else.
It is true that some people
who are living with schizophrenia
may have a harder time managing relationships
and that kind of thing,
but they are totally capable of loving.
And I can speak from experience
that I, myself am capable of loving.
So yes, people who are living with schizophrenia can love.
Is schizophrenia inherited from the mother or the father?
So it's possible to inherit schizophrenia
from either your mother or your father, or both,
but the chances of inheriting it when your mother has it
are 9.3%,
and the chances of inheriting it when your father has it,
are 7.2%.
So there is a little bit of a discrepancy there
in terms of having
a little bit more of a higher percentage of risk,
if your mother has it,
but for the most part, it's pretty even,
and you can inherit it from either parent.
How do you test for schizophrenia?
So there's currently research being done
into looking into biological markers for the illness,
but as it stands right now,
basically what happens is your doctor or psychiatrist
examines the presenting symptoms
and makes the diagnosis based off of that.
Now, to rule out any physical illnesses,
they may perform some diagnostic tests
such as MRIs or CT scans or that kind of thing,
just to rule out any physical ailment or physical illness
that might be contributing to the symptoms
that you're experiencing that might look like schizophrenia.
but there are no specific laboratory tests
or diagnostic tests right now, as it stands,
for schizophrenia.
Are schizophrenia smart?
Yes, we are all geniuses.
(laughs)
Next question. Just kidding.
No, no, people who have schizophrenia
are not more intelligent than anyone else.
It affects everyone equally,
and so there are going to be people with schizophrenia
who are more intelligent than the average person,
but there are also going to be people with schizophrenia
who are less intelligent than the average person.
And there's a whole spectrum of intelligence levels
that people are going to have
when they're living with schizophrenia,
just like the average population.
I think that a bit of a negative stereotype
is that people with schizophrenia are geniuses of some kind.
And I think this is really a prominent belief
because of stories like "A Beautiful Mind," of John Nash,
who is a genius in terms of mathematics,
but I don't think that that's representative
of most people who are living with the illness.
Just like the general population,
most people aren't geniuses, but some people are.
And so you're gonna have that same sort of reflection
in the population of people who have schizophrenia.
What triggers schizophrenia?
So there are several factors
that contribute to the risk of developing schizophrenia
and these include genetics, environment, brain chemistry,
brain structure, and brain development.
Scientists believe that many different genes
may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia,
but there is no one gene that's responsible
for the development of schizophrenia itself
and it is not yet possible to use genetic information
to predict who is going to develop schizophrenia.
Scientists also think
that interactions between an individual's genes
and an individual's environment are really pivotal
in terms of the development of schizophrenia.
So the person's environment plays a really big role
in terms of triggering schizophrenia.
How do you help someone with schizophrenia?
We already did a video
on how to support someone with schizophrenia
or schizoaffective disorder,
make sure to check that video out if you wanna learn more,
but I think at the core of it
is really to just be there for the person
and to show them love and compassion.
Some more guiding points though
on how to actually do this for the person
are to accept their illness
and any of the difficulties that it poses as well,
also to not buy into the myth
that somebody who's living with schizophrenia
can't get better
or can't leave a meaningful and productive life.
Do your best to help your loved one
to feel better and enjoy life,
but also make sure to pay attention to your own needs
and to make sure you're looking after yourself as well.
And I think the last quick point would just to be,
to maintain a sense of humor through it all
and to maintain a sense of hope too.
I think from my experience doing all these things
really helped in terms of my loved ones
supporting me through the illness
and helping me to come to terms with my schizophrenia
or Schizoaffective disorder.
But I think, again, what's really at the core of it
and what really helped me the most
was my friends and family just showing me love
and showing me that they still loved and cared for me
even with the illness,
and they just accepted every part of me in that way.
Is there a genetic test for schizophrenia?
There is no current genetic testing
to predict somebody who's going to develop schizophrenia,
as it stands,
but researchers are working on this right now.
It's also important to note, though,
that it is a combination of genetics
as well as environmental factors that are kind of at play
in terms of determining who developed schizophrenia.
So it's not just about the genetic predisposition,
but it's also about the environmental factors.
But as it stands, there are no current genetic testing
to determine who has schizophrenia
or who will develop schizophrenia.
What does schizophrenia do to the brain?
In schizophrenia, dopamine is tied
to hallucinations and delusions,
so brain areas that run on dopamine may become overactive,
and antipsychotic medication
actually stops this from happening
or prevents it from being too overactive.
So scientists are working right now
to understand more about what actually happens in the brain
when schizophrenia is present.
Doctors also believe that the brain loses tissue over time
and imaging scans such as PET scans or MRIs
show that there is generally a loss of gray matter
over time.
So this increased knowledge about how the brain structure
is actually affected with schizophrenia
is leading some people to call for a change
in the way that schizophrenia is identified.
So, not as a mental illness anymore,
but more as a brain disease
like Alzheimer's, or things like that.
Is schizophrenia a chemical imbalance?
Schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance
of things like dopamine,
like I mentioned in the previous question,
as well as other changes in the brain.
Like I mentioned in the previous question again,
the brain structure actually changes as well.
So I hope that helped to shed some light
on some of the most commonly googled questions.
I think they were great questions,
but some of them I was a little surprised by.
I was surprised that people were googling them
and wanting to know the answers to them,
but I think that, that just alludes to the fact
that there is so much unknown around schizophrenia
and around the illness, and around what people know,
and I think a lot of this
has to do with stigma around the illness.
People just don't know very much about it.
So I helped this kind of help to shed some light
on some of those questions and hope you enjoyed it.
If you'd like to see more videos like this one,
make sure it's subscribed to our channel.
And if you wanna help support
the creation of future videos like this one,
make sure to check out the link to our Patreon page
in the description below.
Thanks so much again for watching
and wishing you and your loved ones good health.
Bye. (soft music)