tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post5597658436480930324..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Rethinking SchizophreniaAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-77610800271661796842014-11-15T04:59:14.900-05:002014-11-15T04:59:14.900-05:00I am big fan of Michael Jackson and I am very upse...I am big fan of Michael Jackson and I am very upset after reading your article that he was suffering from schizophrenia problem. It’s very sad that after so much success in the life then he is also in list of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-with-schizophrenia/celebrity-lists" rel="nofollow">celebrities with schizophrenia</a>.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14902837130625049610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-53559102538685847282011-10-28T18:18:15.427-04:002011-10-28T18:18:15.427-04:00I concur with your diagnosis. I liked the general...I concur with your diagnosis. I liked the general of the article more than the specific.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-79409712665255826362011-10-28T07:14:59.140-04:002011-10-28T07:14:59.140-04:00You're the professional in the field, but Kyra...You're the professional in the field, but Kyra sounds like a relative of mine about her age who is diagnosed bipolar but whom I consider schizoaffective. The boundaries between the two are very fuzzy, and in some sense matter less nowadays since the meds used to manage extreme symptoms are often the same. Except that the one virtue of grandstanding celebrities and the overuse of the concept of bipolar is that it carries a less "hopeless" weight as a diagnosis than schizophrenia for some...<br /><br />I've been thinking a lot lately about how sometimes habits instilled by good parents, and external structures can help people in at least the initial stages of episodes. And help people control themselves long enough to get help from a trusted doctor or friends or just escape a situation that is exacerbating symptoms. "Self-awareness" isn't just a matter of navel-gazing but of managing strong emotions and fears and obsessions, and NOT acting on certain impulses until one has done the kind of thing Kyra describes (asking a coworker if they hear what she hears). Part of the trouble in helping certain patients is that they grew up in chaotic households with absent or abusive or otherwise non-functioning parents. Parents and substitute parents (healthy grandparents, ministers, etc.) MATTER. <br /><br />I remember how, when our youngest was hospitalized in a teaching hospital at a very tender age, acutely ill, we were the only married parents on the wing visiting a kid. We came everyday, and sometimes brought his siblings, and his minister. The other kids got no one or a social worker or maybe a single parent completely intimidated by the place. That didn't alter the fact that my kid was sicker than most, but his prognosis was still better as he left to a safe school, regular care, parental discipline and love, good food, a calm and drug free environment, a DOG, etc. <br /><br />Excuse rambling thoughts...Mental illness is a bear. On bad days I think I'd rather my kid were healthy and just a dirty thieving Wall Streeter...or even just a typical drunken undergraduate getting Cs and dissing us. But we play the cards we are dealt...Retrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.com