While that may be true, Hermann - you are kinda asking this thread to validate your opinion and presense by going off topic, rather than sending that particular party a U2U.

I think it's more of an oversight than trolling behavior, I like your opinions personally - and it never hurts to have as many ways of looking at this phenomenon in order to help broaden our interpretations of what can be a very confusing experience.

Cheers!

Originally posted by Dracotic
Does anyone think that prophets, god men, etc. had schizophrenia?

Ask the masons.

People's general attitudes and views on this subject tick me off.
I am 27 and at some point before , when I was twenty-something , I started having some weird experiences and eventually broke down and shared with my father. He diagnosed me as a schizophrenic. He says my uncle or whatever has it and that's why my uncle's so weird / has problems.
I didn't know until we discussed it one time that "A Beautiful Mind" was about schizophrenia. I had enjoyed the movie but looking back I'm shocked that I didn't realize / know what it really was about when I was watching it.
I feel my interest in paranormal / occult and other stuff has little to do with my mental health and this whole "schizophrenia" thing. ( I hate that word , I hate that word! )
Does that mean I'm wrong when I say this or that happened? No , what's real for me is just as real as something else is for someone else. And unlike some people , I don't really drink alcohol , I've never taken an illegal drug and only once and purposely took way more than what I needed because that was a suicide attempt. I only succeeded in making myself sick for the next day. Also , I was suicidal and all waaaay before being diagnosed with this *beep* thing.
People who aren't experiencing what we're experiencing really have no right to say we're crazy , "it's just in your mind" , ect.
BS.
If the mind is so bloody brilliant , it wouldn't be so bloody difficult to heal ourselves if it truely is a mental thing...the body can easily heal itself of minor cuts and stuff but it's much harder for the mind to make sense of certain things and heal itself. I keep going back and forth on what it's really all about but I can't stand for people to steamroll over what I believe and tell me I'm wrong. The worst of it is ...dealing with family members. They can be so caring but it hurts even more when they are all "it's just you" , "it's all in your mind" , ect. Ticks me off soooo much. And "schizophrenia" doesn't really explain the phantom touching thing. If I'm just imagining it all , shouldn't it be easy for me to unimagine it? That's where the line gets blurred and I have to feel that people are making up BS to try and explain away things with their "science" that they really can't and don't want to understand. I have tried to drown out the voices with music but I can't drown out the feeling of constantly being watched. I used to be able to sleep with the lights off and I'm not afraid of the dark but I'm afraid of what may be lurking in the dark. Unlike some people , I'm not afraid of the voices in the usual way , they have said "I'm going to kill you" , "Don't ignore me." , and things like that...they don't say things like "Pick up that knife and kill somebody" and even if they did I would not do it. I really hate the feeling of somebody trying to control me and even though I've yet to hear them really say anything like "kill yourself" , I do feel like they want to control me and that just ticks me off. One of the very first experiences I heard a voice clearly say "You're not tired"...I couldn't sleep that night. Usually I can't really understand what they're saying but I quickly stopped caring about what they had to say. I hate them and wish they'd go away. I want to feel closer to my old self , the self that could sleep with the lights off and didn't feel like she was constantly being watched. I've had long talks sometimes with brother and father about it. I hate talking about it. Most of the time I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it but sometimes I get too worked up over things. I don't really get violent or anything just really worried / scared. So all that stuff about all schizophrenics being violent all the time...BS.
I may have a bad temper and all but I keep a pretty tight lid on it.
And really , how can I not have a bad temper with the way the media.... and other people's attitudes on things like this?!
I have a punching bag that I punch sometimes to help me.

I haven't seen Donnie Darko yet but I can't wait. I love horror movies. Isn't that funny? I can be such a scaredy cat and crybaby but then I go play survival horror games and watch horror movies. Most horror movies aren't really all that scary anyway , just gross. The really good horror movies , like "What Lies Beneath" , "Sixth Sense" , and "Silent Hill" are creepy and disturbing. Even though it's got that gross factor , "Saw" is really good.

I love this :
"There are things known and unknown and in between lies The Doors"

Sorry if I'm getting too off topic.

Any way , I can't remember every little thing but like the suicide thing , you can be "withdrawn" without being schizophrenic.

Schizophrenia is NOT a multiple personality disorder. I know who I am.
I have lots of "Mary Sues" and like to roleplay and stuff but I'm not so lost as to believe that I've got more than one personality and all. I feel badly for the people who do and I'm not trying to treat their condition lightly either.

I apoligize if any of my statements offend anyone.

I want to believe in many things and
there are some things I don't believe in.
There are things I don't want to believe in that others claim are real or they claim to be themselves - demons ( the evil kind yes there are claims of "good" demons too since basically some believe that demons are just fallen angels ) and satanists.

I am somewhat of a skeptic about many things
but I take my dreams seriously , unless of course it's just really silly or stupid , for example if I had a dream about a talking fish I wouldn't take that seriously. Now , if that fish was predicting a death in the family or something and then later it happened in "real life" , then I would start taking that dream seriously.

Just as people shouldn't be quick to explain everything away as paranormal , people shouldn't be quick to explain everything with science. And you can't possibly explain everything away with "science" anyway. It's good to have some mysteries , makes the world more interesting.

Lately , I've been considering taking on a few more meds to help me but I don't want to become overmedicated. *sighs*
I hate how quickly people suggest medication and therapy for everything.
Sometimes , it's good and it can help...but not all the time.

Originally posted by ludaChris
From my understanding, schizophrenia is a complete break from reality. I'm no expert but we cover such things in some of my Corrections classes about how some inmates become schizoprenic in prison and lose all touch with reality as most of us know it. To them nothing is as it seems, its really terrible that one could be in a place they considered so terrible their mind breaks from reality to get away from it. I always wondered if what we call schizophrenia is really our minds coping mechanism during really hard tribulant times that we cant seem to get out of. Anyone think this is possible?

Schizophrenia develops in some people only after they go through tough and stressful times that 'push them over the edge'. So yeah, I think in these 'developed' cases it is a form of 'escape' from the stress of reality.

GENERAL EYES, I've just gotta say thanks. A few years ago, I was diagnosed agoraphobic and paranoid schizophrenic. I was hearing cops under the house giving me running commentary on everything I did. They took the worst position of all possibilities and motives, as if I were... well, no good. Once they even told me to take my shirt off, put my hands above my head, and come outside. My (x)wife thought it was hilarious, but I was scared out of my mind. For months, I thought they really were there, I'd tiptoe around the house so they wouldn't know where I was, and basically just folded into myself by making as few actions as possible. It also got to where I could almost control what they were saying. Anyway, your explanations on page 5 were right on, and incredibly helpful. I just wanted to say thanks. Quite thought provoking, not to mention it's helpful to know that I'm not the only one. Excellent topic choice Dracotic.

For many years I thought the doctors were right and I was hallucinating all that I see and hear. The medication zoned me out so it went away. Now I'm on a dosage where the dangerous hallucinations (auditory, visual etc.) are gone. The fact remains I still see and hear things that others can't. Combined with my other more discreet psi abilities, I believe that many- not all - schizophrenics possibly just have a gift to see through the veil separating this reality from other realities of time, space or dimension.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It's very reassuring to know there are others like me. I also feel the "normal" world and medical community conspire to keep us labeled as 'nut jobs' because they fear the unknown.

For many years I thought the doctors were right and I was hallucinating all that I see and hear. The medication zoned me out so it went away. Now I'm on a dosage where the dangerous hallucinations (auditory, visual etc.) are gone. The fact remains I still see and hear things that others can't. Combined with my other more discreet psi abilities, I believe that many- not all - schizophrenics possibly just have a gift to see through the veil separating this reality from other realities of time, space or dimension.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It's very reassuring to know there are others like me. I also feel the "normal" world and medical community conspire to keep us labeled as 'nut jobs' because they fear the unknown.

Much sincere sympathy to all afflicted with this serious condition. My exwife is a schizophrenic and would never take meds despite several involuntary hospitalizations and much grief in our family. She heard voices and experienced all sorts of weird things, although she didn't see things that were not there, at least as far as I know. But it caused her to be removed from the family, as she would not take any meds or counseling, and made life way too weird for young kids and a husband.

Si I know the difficulties, believe me. I think that in many cases the condition is caused by some childhood trauma; the mind splits and wants an alternative reality that does not include the current bad one. Or, it could be that unusually sensitive people, people who were and are not equipped spiritually and emotionally for a cold and cruel world, with all of the horrible things that happen all the time, and they split the mind to escape that painful reality. No telling. All the doctors can do is treat symptoms, it is a very strange and under studied phenomenon.

Keep taking the meds if they help, for sure. No matter what the cause is, the fact is that in society one must act in certain ways to avoid negative attention, and so staying in the same reality groove as the majority of the people is a must. Good luck to all.

Drugged hospitlized whats next accupuncture for red necks.