My brother was just diagnosed with Schizophrenia/Bi-polar

Here's the story: My big brother was just diagnosed with schizophrenia/bi-polar at school. I don't know what the fuck to do. My parents are in histerics. I'm a fucking loss for words. It turns out that he was hearing voices and finally got the balls to go see a therapist at school. They took him right to the head shrink of the school and he called my parents. Now he's at home, he won't leave his room he looks like a fucking person who has just tried to commit suicide or something. Now his friends don't know what to say to him, and neither do I. I was thinking about smoking him out and trying to talk to him. ANY suggestions? I need fucking help to try to help my big bro.

what to do..right?have him swim with dolphins

Yo 150, I know were your at man. Listen, he's still your bro. Treat him like it. Schizophrenics can be fatally dangerous to others and themselves. My best advice to you and your family is to buy this book on schizophenia by the leading doctor. Dr. Tory. It will help tremendously.

well the thing is..my friend is like that..i guess its like a war with them..you just have to help them fight it.i told my friends older brother that he should give him a big hug and tell him how much he loves him, that it might actually help, but i dont think he was man enough to do it.

i used to hear voices..but i won my war.and now i see things.its not a mental thing when other people around you hear and see the same things you do, i'll tell you that.

power of prayer.i'll help out.

help him get some valium

That sucks.

I'd say smoke some herb with him.... weed is the snake oil heal all medicine.

His nice side might come out if you give him some pain killers.

i know this dude who has to take elephant tranquilizers when he gets angry. but yeah get him some percaset, and hell be set for a while, give him some percaset then smoke him a blunt. actually talk to your school therapist, he prolly has some great ideas

welcome to the club.

that doesn't fucking mean anything, im sure if half the people on here went for evaluations, they would be diagnosed with that or something similar.

I got diagnosed with that, and a grip of other "conditions". People lie.

danklordz is a product of the mental health industry.

shit happens, and shit stinks.

oh, by the way. smoking him out doesnt seem like the brighest idea.

don't listen to any of these idiotic humps telling you to give your bro drugs... he'll get drugs from the doctor. That's where the weirdness starts, Schizo's are notorious for not taking their meds. They will fake it, hide pills, lie... it's the stuff that keeps them sane though so you should keep an eye on him to make sure he is taking his scrips... Schizo is also a degenerative disease, it's really quite sad.

good luck with that man...

Two Different Diagnoses

I am an RN. I work on a locked adolescent psychiatric unit.

First of all, schizophrenia and bi-polar illness are two separate diagnoses. It is possible to have both, of course, but pretty rare. I would try to convince your parents to get your brother seen by the best psychiatrist they can manage, to get him accurately diagnosed. Some therapist or counselor at a school may not be qualified to diagnose mental illness, only a physician can do that (preferably a psychiatrist, although sometimes in small towns people are hospitalized with a diagnosis provided by a General Practitioner just to get them in the hospital where they can get some help and get started on stuff like psychological testing.)

Schizophrenia is a fairly common illness. About 1 to 2 percent of the population has it (that's about 2.7 million + people) and most of them can control it with proper medication. Forty percent of the beds in psych hospitals are occupied by schizophrenics, though. Depending on the situation, treatment often begins with hospitalization, because people resist being hospitalized for mental illnesses until there is just about no other choice. If his doctor reccommends hospitalization, and your brother refuses to cooperate, he may have to be taken into custody with a mental health warrant issued by a Mental Health Court. Then, constables will take him to the hospital to make sure he gets there safely.

Like ALL mental illness, schizophrenia is caused by a very small change in the chemistry of the brain, in the neural synapses (nerve junctions). Over a long period of time, untreated schizophrenics can experience actual physical changes to the brain, but in the short term, very little physical change to the brain is readily detectable. EARLY TREATMENT IS BETTER, AND HAS A BETTER OUTCOME, GENERALLY SPEAKING.

There are different types of schizophrenics. The catatonic type usually doesn't speak, move or interact. They often just sit and stare off into space, hour after hour.

Disorganized schizophrenics generally don't make sense when they talk (incoherence) and they have what's called "altered affect" (odd behaviors, extreme social withdrawal, wierd mannerisms, hypochondriac complaints, and sometimes ritualistic behaviors, like puffing out the cheeks, smacking of the lips, etc.)

Paranoid schizophrenics have delusions, preoccupations with anxiety, anger, argumentiveness, and sometimes violence.

Undifferentiated Type is marked by prominent psychotic features, inappropriate affect, and delusions. All are characterized by emotional blunting, social withdrawal. eccentric behavior, illogical thinking and what is called "loose associations"--

Auditory hallucinations can be brought on by other things besides schizophrenia. I have seen depressive patients who had voices, visual hallucinations and even olofactory (smell) hallucinations. Antidepressants caused the voices to disappear. Tactile hallucinations ("There are bugs crawling on me!") generally are associated with substance abuse, but not always.

The good news is that schizophrenia is very treatable. There is about an 80 to 90 percent chance that psychiatric medications like Thorazine, Haldol, Mellaril, Loxitane, Prolixin, Stelazine, Navane, Risperdal or Zyprexa can help schizophrenia. No one drug is superior to the other, but the newer drugs (Risperdal and Zyprexa) have fewer possible side effects.

Bi-polar illness is much more common, and usually treatable with anti-depressants (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil ) and a mood stabilizer like Depakote, Tegretol or lithium carbonate. It's also a serious illness, but not nearly as worrisome as schizophrenia.

DON'T LOSE HOPE. I have seen many schizophrenics leave the hospital and live very normal lives on the outside, AS LONG AS THEY CONTINUE TO TAKE THEIR MEDICATION. And I've seen many, many people with bi-polar illness get better, finish high school and go on to college.

And for pete's sake, don't give him any street drugs. He has enough problems without that shit.

Contact me at Rsaxon50@hotmail.com if you have specific questions, I'll be glad to share what knowledge I can. Work towards getting him into treatment as fast as you can. It is not safe leaving him untreated. Let me know how things are going---I care. Ka-Bar

When he talks to you....listen to him and try to think the way he is thinking and respond in that format if you can.....if he doesn't,give a pen and a pad so he can write down his thoughts and drain them from his head.....my bro is the same way.....sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't.......but his writings are fuckin' nuts......he is definitely one the illest MC's I know....crazy.

yeah get him away from the school doctor....

school = bad

private = good

Originally posted by ..oX..

dont you think its just a little bit monumentally stupid to be giving a skitzophrenic drugs and weed? i cant imagine its going to help his situation.

what he said...

and kabar comes through yet again!

i'd chill with that fuck-up all day long, those people are fun to watch, just treat him like he's normal knowing that he isnt, good times!