I started out to understand Schizophrenia not to find someone to blame.
There is no such thing as a perfect parent and certainly there is no perfect child.
There are parents who are so bad that the State will take their children from them and the
majority of these children are effected some way by their parents, a few escape
relatively un-scathed. at the opposite end of the spectrum most of the offspring of good
parents grow up fine while a few are seriously affected. About 1% of the population becomes
Schizophrenic. This figure is pretty universal which points to a genetically based
predisposition. However, the key to understanding mental aberrations is the individual's reaction to:
trauma, whatever happened to them, what they witnessed or what they themselves did.
Is Mental Illness a learned reaction to an insane world?
No. Normality is the learned reaction to an insane world and to the insanity buried in
the psyche. Schizophrenia is a failure of the maturation process. In fact the process is
thrown into reverse.
Is Schizophrenia one Disease or many?
There are many similar disorders which are the result of physical illness, poisons tumors etc. That is why the mentally ill should be first be examined by a medical doctor to eliminate these. Schizophrenia is a mental or if you prefer a spiritual disorder. The root of the disorder will be found 6-9 months before its first observation. What sends the individual into obsessive introspection and regression varies from individual to individual and the results of this are different for each individual. The spectrum of mental phenomenon, which then results from this underlying mechanism gives rise to the appearance of more than one disorder. There are common things buried in each of our Psyches and these are often seen in patients, further there are unique things in each of our Psyches.
Why do you disagree with the Medical Model?
People with disorders like Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar and Depression all respond to placebo medicine, all occasion spontaneous remissions and a percentage all recover from conventional treatment. People with true organic illness like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's do not exhibit any of the above. 25% of Schizophrenics recover with conventional treatment but this figure can be boosted to nearly 60% if the patients are treated with vitamins by medical staffs that believe that the condition is caused by a vitamin deficiency. Placebos work on the mind or on the spirit.
Eric Setz wrote this page 5th May 2005. Last modified 15th October 2006.
Thanks for visiting the Psychiatry Anti-Psychiatry Re-Visited Page.
