Schizophrenia - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment & pathology

I have schizophrenia. I spent most of my teenage years in a mental hospital. Doctors didn't want to treat me at first because i'm too young. The other patients would make fun of me because of my illness. Everything started when i was in a 3 days long unresponsive catatonic state with constant hallucinations. I thought i was dead. I'd see demons and monsters and i felt their touch on my skin. They wouldn't leave. It was neverending. It was hell. Since this day I've been very sick with this illness and was kept in intensive psych care because all i could do was cry until i couldn't feel my face, scream until i couldn't breathe and try to end my life. I thought other humans were monsters too. I thought they wanted to kill me. I thought my mom and my dad wanted to kill me. This illness is hell. I want everyone who has it to know that that medications can help and that therapy can help and that i know it hurts and that you may want to end it all but it will be okay. Even though you don't know it, you're stronger than the monsters in your head.

I don't suffer from schizophrenia, just educating myself in the most convenient way, as everyone should.

I have schizophrenia- I was diagnosed with it when I was 6-7 , at first my parents thought I was crazy because I would talk back to these “hallucinations” but it got worse to the point where I started acted on it (obviously I was 6 so I didn’t know I had it ) but my mom knew there was something wrong with me when I chased a cat around the house and started talking to it . I went to the hospital a lot growing up and spend most of my life in a mental hospital everyone would make fun of me and call me crazy at first I was lucky - my hallucinations where just nice things , cats ,friends that I wished I had - but then when I became 12 it started to get really bad - I started seeing demons , monsters , and started to hear loud voices that would speak in deep dark tones. I would always react negatively and scream and shout a lot and so I got bullied even more. I was so scared to the point I tried to commit suicide but this made my life worse when I failed because I was in an even more secure environment now and I couldn’t do much . I slowly started to confront these images and started to become more confident. When I was 19 I was able to leave because I was able to somewhat ignore them more - I still see and hear them and get distracted by them but I got help- my parents and I no longer where in contact I left for school immediately after becuase they decided to neglect me from a young age and they pretended that they where actually there for me . Sometimes I would hallucinate them trying to kill me - anyways flash forward 4 years at age 23 I am now happily married with a beautiful child and is a housewife. I don’t know how my life turned out so amazing it’s quite shocking after all the suffering I feel really blessed

My grandson is 23…He has schizophrenia and has delusions, and all the rest that goes along with it. He is a triplet. His brother and sister are ok, but he was the smallest and had to stay in the hospital for additional 2 weeks. I feel he was born with it. He never could look anyone in the eyes and always kept his head down. He also cried a lot growing up. Had to call the police several times because he would run off. I love him so much, he is so kind and sweet when he takes his meds. He will have to live with his mom always. Such a sad situation, but I pray everyday for him and my daughter.

I lost a friend today that had schizophrenia to suicide . Please be kind to others and just bc they act “strange” does not mean their crazy. Your mind is very powerful it can make you see and hear things . I only had the phase for 6 months but those were the longest 6 months . I lost my friends, I stopped going to school and slept with my mom cause all I could hear was screams . You’re not alone , please don’t let it win.

I pray for everyone suffering from schizophrenia. It's like your mind being in it's own prison.

my symptoms started showing when i was around 4-5 years old and have adjusted and adapted to my schizophrenia for over the last 18 years. ive studied and plan on taking big studies in school towards schizophrenia and phycology and i love and appreciate how accurate this video is

This taught me a lot about myself. I've been diagnosed for about a year now but it's so hard to understand what it is. I just know it completely takes over my life.

In the last few years of my life I have become friends with several schizophrenic people. In every single schizophrenic friend, I learned there was great physical abuse during the young formative years. Constant physical, mental, sexual, emotional or psychological abuse during their childhood seemed to traumatize all of them....and everything was worse when the abuse seemed to almost always come from the very same people that were responsible for loving them and making them feel safe and cared for. Shame on grown people who abuse their own young innocent blood....i dont think it is a coincidence that my friends who were severly and regularly abused as youngsters, in some way, are schizophrenic ....just my own observation

This explanation is incredible.

I F-ing hate schizophrenia, but I love my kiddo. She was diagnosed with very early onset at 8 years old. She’s 15 and each day that she’s alive is a gift. The glorious moments that she is lucid is are beautiful moments that I hold tight to. It’s not an illness I’d wish on my worst enemies.

I'm 22 and have schizophrenia. I take 5 different medications a day including Clozapine. I thank the Lord that I found this video so I can finally communicate my struggle. God bless you all.

everybody gangsta till the clothes in your wardrobe have faces

Schizophrenia runs in my family so yeah, I think there's more to the genetic component than people realize.

Last night, my roommate of 3 years now completely broke down and showed signs specifically of disorganized speech and total delusion. I was terrified and emotionally crushed watching him like this. I really appreciate your video, it helped me better understand exactly what I witnessed. That being said, I would also like to say that my roommate has had several concussions in his life and was recently diagnosed with PCS (post concussive syndrome). Since this diagnosis, he has been different and not the same agreeable person he once was. I could begin to see mere thought of his brain being permanently damaged really start to take a toll on him. I believe this brain damage could be a cause for a potential schizophrenia diagnosis, or it at least accelerated his symptoms (he is 21). My roommate is my best friend and one of the best people I know. It is incredibly painful to watch someone you care about suffer and you not be able to help. Thank you again for providing such an educative video, I hope to continue to learn how to best understand and be there for my friend.

When i was younger my family didn't understand schizophrenia so i heard alot of scary stories about my moms mom.. .ive since grown away from that part of me, separated myself from those negative family members and now have a Bachelors in Applied Behavioral Sciences🎓

My daughter was diagnosed this past year after a 2nd psychotic break. She is now 36 and has been living at home or 2 years. This is a clear video, simple and to the point. I shared it with her and I am sharing it with family and friends. People can learn from this and that's my mission , help others understand without judgement.

My girlfriend has mild schizophrenia so I decided to search more about it and your video is the best and most detailed explanation I have seen so far. Thank you for this.

I have a schizophrenic uncle who I live with, he's my best friend and I love playing games with him, before I knew his illness we would always spend time together and be happy, but he lost his job and that got him depressed, he started acting out of the ordinary as he would talk to himself, laugh at nothing, listen to music alot (in my family we listen to music alot when we feel sad and others) and etc, I felt scared and after what I learned I realized he had schizophrenia, I told a few of my friends about this since I never really liked the bad thoughts that symptom would bring up as it would make me feel depressed, some people would bully me about it calling my uncle a maniac and insane, some people would compare me to him and also call me insane, for the people who call people maniacs and other names with schizophrenia, that is completely wrong, schizophrenia is a symptom where people are not themselves and go to a state where they're depressed at times, they don't mean anything they say and do when it affects them, and the way doctors treat them so carelessly is outrageous, my uncle has never been properly treated because of how careless they where, but now he's gladly doing better, to anyone who has this symptom please know everything will be fine, lots of people go through what your going through, you are not alone, you can always get through anything no matter how hard it can be.

My friend who has schizophrenia refused to get help. As she's an adult, no one can force her to receive medical care. All I can do is to watch helplessly. I pray that she would stay safe for one more day and maybe change her mind. Thank you for this video.