Immune Clue to Preventing Schizophrenia

|:~ source ~:|

Okay, so as some of you might know, I am a psychology major. During my time here on ATS I have seen many people who could possibly be schizophrenic, so I decided to share this with you for the sake of informing and being proactive. Before I get into the article, I want to take a moment to briefly fill you in on what schizophrenia is and some facts associated with it.

Schizophrenia--"split mind"--can be defined as a psychotic disorder in which personal, social, and occupational functioning deteriorates as a result of strange perceptions, unusual emotions, and motor abnormalities. One of the key features of this is psychosis, which is a loss of contact with reality. Those who experience psychosis may experience hallucinations (false sensory perceptions) or delusion (false beliefs). It is important to note that psychosis, although usually mainly associated with schizophrenia, can also be found in those who abuse stimulants, and those who have mood disorders or brain injuries.

Some Statistics of Note

• Approximately 1 out of 100 individuals (globally) during lifetime
  
• Estimated 24 million worldwide
  
• 2.5 million of those being within the United States
  
• As many as 25% of schizophrenics attempt suicide
  
• Common within lower socioeconomic status (but can occur in any)
  
• downward drift theory--which proposes that schizophrenics fall from higher income groups to lower ones/remain poor due to an inability to function
  
• 23 average age of onset in males
  
• 28 average age of onset in females
  
• Equal numbers of males and females recieve the diagnosis
  
• 3% of divorced individuals compared to 1% married individuals and 2% of single individuals
  
• Prevalence rises from 1% to 3% among second-degree relatives (uncles, grandkids, half-siblings, etc) to 10% among first-degree relatives
  
• Identical twins have a greater concordance than fraternal twins--48% versus 17%
  
• 2.1% of African Americans
  
• 1.4% of White Americans
  

Type I Schizophrenia: dominated by positive symptoms--tend to have a better prognosis and the cause is related to biochemical abnormalities in the brain.
Type II Schizophrenia: displays more negative symptoms and the cause is related to structural abnormalities in the brain (some studies show that schizophrenics have relatively small temporal and frontal lobes as well as abnormalities in structures such as the hippocampus, amygdala, and thalamus.

There are three recognized phases in the course of schizophrenia: prodromal, active, and residual.

prodromal: symptoms not obvious, but person begins to deteriorate (socially, speech, thought, emotion)
active: symptoms become apparent & can be triggered by stress or trauma
residual: most-severe symptoms disappear, but negative symptoms (like blunted affect) may persist.

* each phase can last days or years *

1/4+ recover fully, but the majority continue to have residual problems. Prognosis is better if the person had more-normal levels of functioning before onset, or initial symptoms were caused by stress, came on abruptly, and were met with early intervention.

Positive Symptoms: delusions; hallucinations; disorganized speech/actions/inappropriate affect
Negative Symptoms: alogia; flat affect; avolition; withdrawal; isolation

Other schizophrenic-like disorders: brief psychotic disorder; alcohol/drug-induced; dementia, prion disease, lyme; medical condition-induced; schizoaffective; schizophreniform (schizophrenia-like symptoms present less than six months); delusional disorder (delusions are based in reality


Now let's get into theories--which is what the article focuses on.

1. Professionals theorize that schizophrenia results from excessive dopamine activity--also known as the dopamine hypothesis. The key here is that professionals have acknowledged that dopamine might not be the only thing involved.

2. Family dysfunction (double-blind hypothesis) is another theory (one that isn't as widely accepted anymore) that states that some parents repeatedly communicate pairs of messages that are mutually contradictory, helping produce schizophrenia in their children. While this might not be entirely realistic, schizophrenics are 4x more likely to relapse in an environment of criticism, disapproval, and hostility expressed within a family.

Recent studies suggest that heightened levels of immune response have been found in people who are either at-risk of developing schizophrenia or who have it, already. Scientists believe that it may be possible to prevent schizophrenia by calming the brain's immune system.

The UK Medical Research Council team wants to test anti-inflammatory drugs to treat or even prevent the disease.

Other experts in the field said the study, in the American Journal of Psychiatry, was "important" and furthered understanding of the illness.

There has been mounting evidence that the immune system and inflammation play a key role in schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions. The researchers analyzed microglia, which are like the brain's own gardeners weeding out infection but also "pruning" unwanted connections between brain cells. A chemical dye which sticks to microglia was injected into 56 people to record their microglia activity. The highest level was found in patients with the condition, but those deemed at high risk of developing schizophrenia also showed heightened activity levels.

(pictured above) brain scans show higher levels of microglia activity (orange) in people with schizophrenia

Small trials have suggested that anti-inflammatory drugs may help to improve patients' conditions when used alongside traditional drugs. But scientists are now focusing on using anti-inflammatory drugs that selectively target the microglia rather than the body as a whole.

I am interested to hear what ATS has to say about this exciting news, which has the potential to revolutionize the way that mental health professionals understand and treat this disorder.

I tried my best to present the information in the most-ethical way possible and hope that I have not offended any affected parties--and if I have, please accept my humblest apologies.

a reply to: rukia

Toxoplasmosis Gondii has been known to cause Schizophrenia Up to half of the world's population is infected with toxoplasmosis In the United States about 23% are affected and in some areas of the world this is up to 95%.

Scary to think this is in the food supply



en.wikipedia.org...

Great news and very well done on your OP.
I have known many patients who would jump at the chance at being tested on.
If I suffered from it I would try anything.
Lets hope this ends up being a big step forward in better treatments.

www.schizophrenic.com...


Subtypes.


Undifferentiated here.

Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: rukia

Seeing as you're a psychology major, I wonder what your input will be on the following.

Several years ago I had a complete breakdown(after finding the beloved ATS). I had always known the world was messed up and the government was a sham, but when I realized the actual extent to which it is messed up - it pushed me over the edge. I lost it, wound up in a loony bin/rehabilitation centers for a period of a month or two. They put me on just about every medication under the sun and when I was no longer in their facilities I stopped taking all of them except Lithium and Trazodone(for sleep).

I displayed more of mania. I would go days without sleeping and was on no drugs before I got admitted. They attempted electroshock therapy on me(in the state of Oregon which is illegal without the clients consent, which I did NOT consent to.) and loading me full of antipsychotics, intravenously. None of them had any effect on me and I continued telling them all to F off, until finally they loaded me with what I'm assuming was a massive dose of Haldol. The haldol knocked me out for a period of 48 hours at which point I woke up in an entirely different facility than the one I had originally been admitted to. None the less, I showed signs of schizophrenia(my uncle on my dads side developed schizophrenia in his younger years after being exposed to Lsyergic Acid Diethylamide(not sure why this is censored) or PCP, we are unsure which one), however the primary diagnosis was bipolar disorder(which I was diagnosed as as a kid along with ADD/ADHD and all that great stuff.)

8 years later, here I am on absolutely zero medications. I meditate fairly regularly, have the occasional beer here and there and smoke some green here and there. All within moderation. And I do not drink/smoke everyday.

Smoking used to trigger panic attacks for me, over the years - and studying much about the ego, it no longer does. And if it does, I simply repeat a mantra to myself that it is only temporary and "this to shall pass". And it goes away. And I'm fine.

So, how is it that I was effectively able to reverse all of this with absolutely no therapy? I simply used the strength of my being to fight off all this crap. And well I'm honestly doing better than I ever have in my life. Completed a 2 year in computer science, I study ethical hacking, I'm quite content with my life. I know where I want to go and I know how to do it. How is it I was able to pull this off and not others? Was it my studies of psychology and the ego? I've read a fair amount of Carl Jung and studied some Freudian psychology as well on my free time. Was it the meditation? What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your input

a reply to: b3l13v3

First of all, although I'm a psychology major and know a fair bit, I am in no way a professional, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

I think you said it yourself--you had a breakdown and you freaked out because your worldview was shattered. I don't think you were schizophrenic, it kind of sounds like you had a brief psychotic episode brought on by that stress.

Your uncle's schizophrenia was drug-induced (I'd say the PCP would be more likely to induce it, but acid can also do it in susceptible individuals, I'm sure)--so couldn't be passed down. I'd guess that he had Type I Schizophrenia.

I'm not a fan of meditation--opening yourself up to those kind of things is a recipe for disaster and can open doors you didn't want to open, spiritually-speaking. So while I'm not going to say it was the meditation, I don't think that it helped.

It is possible that your ADHD diagnosis as a child was actually incorrect and you were bipolar the whole time. The two have pretty similar symptoms. Bipolar is honestly one of the disorders that I really struggle to understand, but if you have definite periods of mania and depression (extreme highs and lows), then it's bipolar. But what you're talking about sounds a bit more like Cyclothymic Disorder link.

Basically it all depends on how long you experienced the psychosis. If it was less than 6 months then that sounds like Schizophreniform disorder link.

But there's also a big chance that perhaps you just suffered from anxiety that went into a brief psychotic episode. I'm also sure that being pumped with random drugs and getting electroshock didn't help matters. A lot of what you're saying sounds like anxiety. I think you should definitely go ask a professional, though, and provide him with what you wrote here. I think you need a second opinion.

Would you mind going into more detail about what you meant by "lost it"? I think that would help me understand what happened a bit better.

a reply to: rukia

Eh. Well for starters a limousine showed up at a place that I just so happened to expect it to show up, I yelled at a guy who got out of the limousine, got picked up by police and dropped back off at my house(who verified there was a limousine and that I did not hallucinate it), received phone calls of family members that sounded just like them and then started saying very sinister stuff. It's a really long story. Keep in mind this happened in the middle of no where, at a school that was on summer break(no one there). And I just so happened to "know" the limousine was going to be there. Pretty crazy stuff. Never heard any voices in my head... but when I finally snapped and ended up yelling at cars in the middle of the street(very paranoid) and got picked up a 2nd time in a week by the popo, they hauled me off to the mental evaluation station at which point the cop's face was completely blank. Didn't see anything. No mouth eyes nose, nothin, just a blur of fleshy colored crap.

Also, while I was in one of the rehabilitation centers, some guy opened the door while I was sleeping at night and I looked at him and his eyes we're you guessed it - pitch black, just like a lizards. Not saying I believe in lizard people, but black eyed people - they exist.

And as of now, I have absolutely no mood swings. I'm straight as an arrow. I let the past be the past, definitely last person I'd want to talk to is anyone who works with pharmaceuticals. Sure some people need 'em, but I am vehemently opposed to them unless it's a matter of life or death. I wont take as much as antibiotics, and I haven't got sick in over 3 years.

Edit to add:

The psychosis only lasted a month or so, with lingering "depressing" side-affects which I attribute to the concoction of medication I was on and the fact I had experienced extremely abnormal stuff that me nor my family members could explain. It probably took me around 2-3 years to fully "recover" but I've never had any other psychotic episodes since or before then.

a reply to: stonerwilliam

yeah it's mostly found in cat # isn't it ?

Now when does it become awareness compared to realizing that what most call real in society is not really real. People who live in other parts of the world call Americans crazy because they constantly believe in things that are not really correct. You can mount a mound of evidence behind a commonly accepted consensus when upon examination the consensus is not even real.

So where do you draw the line between wisdom or awareness and schizophrenia? I would have to say that just because something is socially acceptable and is backed by evidence, it doesn't mean it is real. It does not mean it is on the right path.

So those who automatically believe those who interpret the evidence without question even though these scientists have been taught to interpret the evidence incorrectly and derive conclusions from following the path set forth by people who profit from deceiving others are considered normal. Those who question the direction of society and the integrity of the evidence provided are considered nuts.

Maybe all that yellow in the brain scans means they are cautious about believing in a lie.

I know I am not normal, I believe that lumpy mashed potatoes are just as good if not better than super whipped and smooth mashed potatoes even though the trend was set as a marketing campaign by those who were selling beaters back in the fifties. Now more than half of the people in this country believe lumps are inferior so I guess I am a little skitzo.

Identify what is real and really necessary before calling someone crazy. The evidence in this OP may be real but I question the ability of those in the profession to actually judge what is really normal. Just because it is socially accepted does not mean it is right. Half the people in the world think Americans are nuts.

a reply to: rickymouse

Er, while I agree with what you're saying--I think that some people actually DO suffer and want/need treatment.

And as for crazy--what is crazy? Crazy isn't a diagnosis. But there is plenty of evidence from people who are "normal" and people who are schizophrenic to show that there are definite abnormalities in the brain in those who have a disorder. Their brains do not function normally--and in the case of the article we can see that perhaps it is due to over-reactivity that has gone awry. But that alone is not a mental disorder.

To be diagnosed as mentally ill, you need to meet the 5 D's: duration, distress, deviant, danger, and dysfunction.

Just being eccentric isn't a mental disorder. So no worries--nobody is calling that mentally-ill.

In fact, some of the best minds in history have been eccentric as all heck.

One thing that has been stressed to me in my studies is that normal doesn't technically exist

Luckily, psychology has come a long way and isn't as judgmental anymore. Heck, technically everybody has a mental disorder or five. But it's when it meets the 5 d's that it becomes an actual issue. Anyways, thank you for bringing up what you said--you made a very valid point that I neglected to make

a reply to: b3l13v3

Thank you for sharing. First of all, I believe you. Second, I don't think that what you said sounded crazy. Weird, sure. Scary--certainly. But not really crazy. The only "crazy" part I saw was the yelling at cars. But that could be explained by the shock of experiencing what you'd experienced. Honestly, I don't know what to think about what happened to you--but my first impression is that this might be a spiritual issue. Were you meditating a lot before the onset of your problems? A close friend of mine had a similar (but not quite as intense) experience after meditating and she was freaked out for a while--I don't remember the particulars but she said she was being messed with by these shadowy demonic figures while meditating. Messing with that kind of thing is like messing with a ouija board in some ways, I think. I have never meditated though, so I can't tell you any of this from experience.

This is totally going to sound weird, but do you or have you ever believed in God? Spiritual warfare does exist. And I think it does play a role in many mental illnesses. Psychosis for a month sounds like a brief psychotic episode, though. You could have very well been thrown over the edge a bit after being subject to such strange things--especially if you didn't know that such things could happen and weren't prepared to deal with them.

You'd also be surprised at the amount of psychologists who agree. Not saying that mental illness is entirely spiritual, but I do believe that it plays a role (which many people want to ignore--for obvious reasons). And I think that if I didn't know that spiritual warfare existed, I would have probably lost it when I saw the weird things that I've seen (if you want, take a look at some of my other threads). You do seem like you were a bit paranoid--but heck, I would be too if I were in your shoes. And I don't know what to make of your experiences--but my first thought is that this doesn't seem like it's entirely a psychological issue. I'm not going to totally rule that out, of course, but I think you should consider that perhaps what you experienced was something spiritual. Anyway, I'm going to pray for you and your continued safety and well-being. It sounds like something was messing with you and I'm happy that you're okay now.

I think you would do well with talking to a psychologist who understands and accepts things of a spiritual nature--since I'm not a professional and could very well be wrong. I am also largely opposed to pharmaceuticals--except in extreme cases where people literally need them. However, to the best of my knowledge, you sound coherent and you have a very realistic view on what happened to you. You also speak with conviction and seem very lucid about what happened. If anything ever happens to you again, I think you should ignore it all and just pray. Don't let it freak you out--because it wants to freak you out. Regardless of if you believe in God or not, God still loves you. Have faith that everything will be okay--and remember that everything happens for a reason.

Oh, one last thing--was the person with the creepy evil eyes who went into your room at night someone you'd seen before or who was also a patient? Did you ever see this person again?

One book I think you should definitely take a look at is Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. It isn't religious or anything and offers a more logical view on things, especially if faith and stuff isn't really up your alley. It's a great book and I think you'd enjoy it.

Thank you again for sharing--that took a lot of guts.

a reply to: stonerwilliam

Yeah, seriously. I think that perhaps all of these weird inflammation diseases might be related. It's quite a scary thought, indeed.

a reply to: rukia

Yeah, it was certainly spiritual. I learned about the "Illuminati"(evil assholes that really do exist, is what I call them now) and I wanted to go to war with them. However I could, of course I didn't know how to do that, but I was filled with an amount of hatred towards them that is unsurpassed. I didn't meditate, but I would focus or envision their complete and utter destruction. Now days I lean more towards you can't fight hate with hate, hence why I think the dark stuff that happened happened to me. Kinda brought it upon myself.

The phone call I received(which my mother had handed me the phone, I know this conversation took place) involved a very close relative and the relative started off talking normally to me then quickly descended into this raspy, demonic dark voice asking me to "join them" and that they would come and pick me up in their "craft". I swiftly told them/it to go # themselves.

The following morning was when all hell broke loose and I was yelling at the cars. That phone call was certainly the catalyst.

As far as the shadow eyed person, it was someone I had never seen working at the facility before. This was more of a "out-patient" treatment center as opposed to the locked down place I was originally placed in. I only saw the person there one time and after I saw the black eyes I quickly went to the door and out into the hallway and looked at the guy who was in the office/monitoring area(area with glass where they can see all sides of the facility). His eyes had returned normal, but he was staring directly at me from inside the office area giving me this dark smirk.

I don't know what the hell kind of stuff I found myself involved in back then and while I without the shadow of a doubt know I was off of my rocker, I know and my family knows that some other unexplained weird stuff happened as well.

As far as god goes, I believe in Buddha, Jesus, Allah, Hinduism, Taoism - I believe all of the great religions have some underlying good information to serve as beneficial to the individual on their pursuit in their own spirituality, I am not a "god-fearing" type. God cannot be explained in conventional form, I suppose. But yeah, I think "something" is out there.

a reply to: rukia

Rukia

Listen to me, you are very intelligent which means you will be able to cognitively save your own mind if you haven't already

It's the poor dumb ones that fall hard when they get this condition

Sad I know

a reply to: rukia

I agree with that post. The five Ds are very important and I believe that there are people that need help. I would rather see a person go see a psychiatrist than have a doctor prescribe antidepressants right away. Some of the drugs used to treat epilepsy are antipsychotics also, so I know how these drugs make you feel and how they can negatively effect your health. I have temporal lobe epilepsy and I am deemed intolerant to all of them. It shows up in my genetics, I cannot detoxify these meds because of a lack of enough of some enzymes so some actually increased my seizure activity and all of them took a toll on my kidneys and liver. One of the things they do is to disrupt the folate cycle and I already have a problem with that cycle genetically. That triggered a loss of blood making ability and they always wanted me to be getting blood draws which complicated issues. Now I have an even more reduced ability to make blood, my hypovolemia has gotten worse and did not return to normal even after getting off the meds. Depakote and other epilepsy meds can be hard on the liver and kidneys. I did not like how the Lamictal made me feel, it distorted my thinking and increased my suicidal thoughts.

Strange how the antipsychotic meds are used to treat epilepsy, I suppose the way these destroy the energy cycle makes them be used for either. I just can't see disrupting the methyl cycle as an adequate correction method. The P450 enzymes should not be messed with long term. Maybe they should do genetic testing on people to see if there is already problems with this before prescribing these types of meds.

Now, since I have extensively studied how to control epilepsy with various foods chemistries, I think there are better ways to adjust diet to fix some of the psychotic symptoms. Now this won't work for everyone because there are some people who have the inability to process foods correctly or take out certain chemistry out of foods, but it could cut down on the number of people on meds. The rat race we have created with stress and high debt is really hard on people's mental health.

I went to a neuropsychologist for a couple of years after the accident and also a neurologist who tried to fix the problems from the TLE acquired from the accident but the meds were a lot worse than the TLE. A head of cabbage and ten pounds of potatoes a month, and avoidance of high sugar/quick carb foods can control my TLE. No matter what, if I increase the output of my muscles by working hard, I always scramble my mind, the body creates energy when you work hard. I guess I just have to take it slow and watch what I do. It sucks, I really like to work up a sweat and I am constantly monitoring my condition. NAC and certain homemade soups that create NAC helps to a certain point to moderate things.

I know that if I think I am normal I am probably nuts. Nobody is really normal, we all have our little quirks and eccentricities.

You will make a fine shrink.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thank you! I want to be a lawyer, though, I think.

But who knows--I'd like to think that I can help people. I'm just not sure if I am ready to handle the baggage that comes with being a shrink. Plus, I tend to be a bit aggressive. I'm overly talkative--and I fear it wouldn't be so much of going to me to talk about your problems more than it would be me chatting your ear off

Bah, but maybe I'm a bit too hard on myself sometimes. I would really like to help people in the mental health system--especially those people who are forgotten and pushed aside and categorized like things and not people. But I think it might be easier to fight for them legally--instead of trying to pull that off from inside the system. Who knows, though. If I can figure out how, I'd be down.

a reply to: ScrewGmail

Ah, I'm not schizophrenic. I have an eating disorder and some anxiety and ocd, though--and some ADHD as well--and you're right that my intelligence does help me quite a bit and keeps me from going too far into that b.s. But thank you. I think that perhaps schizophrenia is caused by intelligence gone awry--after all, madness is only a small step from genius.

I think there's hope for everyone. Intelligence isn't everything. In fact, my tendency to intellectualize things is what keeps me doing this stupid eating disorder crap. Ditto with the anxiety and over-thinking things.

But perhaps you're right with the schizophrenia thing--since that's actually psychosis it would make sense that high intelligence would spare you from experiencing the brunt of that, I imagine.

I've known one person who is schizophrenic and he's so smart--he got published in a scientific journal and went to the same school that I did which was a second-tier private university. Really nice guy--he dealt with it as well as he was able, but even he still struggled at times with the paranoia and the voices he heard. I think he's doing well now, but I don't see him any more since we live in different states.

originally posted by: Hijinx
a reply to: stonerwilliam

yeah it's mostly found in cat # isn't it ?

In the articles i have read about it 60.000.000 Americans have it and in Europe 95% in some country's you can get it from a flea bite or in the food supply

I was once married to a schizophrenic...

The pain from that experience actually caused me to almost completely give up on life at one point.

Those brains scans reminded me of something that a Professor of Psychology once said:

The truth is, we cannot tell who is mentally ill and who is not by looking at pictures of their brains or analyzing their blood. Psychiatrists had to invent their own book of diseases because pathologists would have nothing to do with them. It’s called The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, the DSM, a great work of fiction.

Transcript: Psychiatry is a Fraud & Is All About Control

It's an excerpt from a speech by Dr. Jeffrey Schaler that many believe is the best speech about psychiatry ever written.

Mental illness refers to something that a person does; real disease refers to something that a person has. The diagnosis of mental illness is always a weapon ~ Dr. Jeffrey Schaler

What do you think psychiatrists would do if Jesus were alive today? Or Buddha? Or Mohammed? Ba-da-bing! Right into a mental hospital, injected with drugs to stop their crazy beliefs and speech. Psychiatrists today are the true Grand Inquisitors. They would crucify the holy men and women of yesterday in an instant.

Transcript for Video

Another excellent video by Todd White about Psychology:

originally posted by: rukia
I want to be a lawyer, though, I think.

Gene Neill's book and interviews are a must for anyone interested in law.

He was a very successful Miami attorney who prosecuted many of the organized crime and Mafia figures in the east coast underworld.

He got involved with organized crime and started planning bank robberies until he was finally arrested and sentenced to fifty years in a maximum security Federal prison.

Because of the weapons he was caught with (silencers etc.), he had no chance of ever getting out.

One day he was told that they made a mistake in Washington and he was freed, he never learned why...

I made it right to the top in the criminal law business, you can't make any more money in the criminal law business than I was making. When you're right at the top, well where do you go then? You can't drink any more and you can't take any more dope and you can't make any more money and you can't belong to any more country clubs, you can't buy any more yachts and you can't buy any more airplanes...

I started getting involved in crime really just for the thrill... It wasn't the money it was for the kicks, it really was not for the money, I couldn't spend the money I had, it was just for the thrill...they were perfect crimes, nobody was ever arrested, to this day nobody was ever arrested... (interview starts @ 1 hr 15 min.)

Gene Neill Interview - Mar 11, 1986

He spent the entire first day in his cell wondering if there really was a God. What if he had been wrong about God? So the first night he got on his knees in his cell & pleaded if God really existed to please help him. He said the Lord spoke without anger or condemnation & said, “Gene, I love you. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”

FLA Lawyer Got 50 Years & Got Saved!

A man in his cell block was serving a life sentence for robbing a stage coach and had not been out of his cell in 63 years...

The most incredible story I have ever heard in my lifetime and I've been everywhere and I've seen everything.
There was a man in my cell block who was an Indian, he had robbed a stagecoach in the Oklahoma Indian territory and he had been in Springfield when I got there he had been there 64 years. He hadn't had a card, a visitor, or a letter. ...the old Indian had never been out of his cell in 63 years, no visits, just sitting there, he said I felt so sorry for him, I went to the warden and I got special permission and I went down and they opened up his cell and they let him out and I walked him out to the parking lot and I put him in my car and I drove him around the streets of Springfield for three hours...

He said the day I put him in my car in Springfield was the first time he had ever heard there were automobiles. Nobody had dropped by in 63 years to tell him that there were cars and he said that he had never heard of radio, television, this was 1970, he said we had been driving for about an hour when an airplane flew over, the old Indian looked at it intently and he turned to me and he said "What is that? What is that?" (Interview starts @ 2 hr. 14 min.)

Gene Neill Interview - Oct 29, 1985

I have several links to interviews etc. I can send you if you are interested...

Whenever I see articles (or in this case, a very well written forum thread!) about Schizophrenia, I always drink in every word and try to work things out in my own head. My father was Schizophrenic. And now that I'm an adult and can think back on events, I believe that his mother was too. Once I worked that out, I was always petrified that I could be next. Hey, my grandmother, her son, his daughter - me? Genetic?

prodromal: symptoms not obvious, but person begins to deteriorate (socially, speech, thought, emotion)

In the back of my mind (not at the forefront! It's not -always- nibbling at me! Haha. (yet)) I await these events. I probably won't even be aware of it, I'm not quite sure how awareness would work, but the fear is there all the same.