Lying in schizophrenic patients
Schizophrenic patients are mentally ill, but not stupid. They know that their beliefs meet with rejection and at some point they start telling people what they want to hear. With such lies, they hide their symptoms on the one hand, but on the other hand they try to avoid potential persecutors and hostile people. Psychiatrists therefore make great efforts to deal with the patients without judgement and to build up a relationship of trust in order not to be lied to.
Is life expectancy reduced in schizophrenia?
Although schizophrenia is not a primarily physical illness, it has an enormous impact on mental and therefore also on physical health, e.g. on the heart and the vessels. Untreated, schizophrenia is simply grueling. Particularly dangerous is also the risky behavior that patients show in their delusion, e.g. risky driving if they feel persecuted. Suicide is also a problem for schizophrenic patients when they see no other way out. Thus, although schizophrenia in itself does not primarily cause physical illness, life expectancy is reduced by several years or even decades, especially in its long-term form, due to psychological stress and accidents or suicides.
Why are schizophrenics more artistically gifted?
Many schizophrenic patients turn to art to express their emotions. Art therapy is a popular approach for all mental illness, as it has been proven to help patients, and a pronounced schizophrenia with hallucinations understandably provides the person with an enormous amount of inspiration. What comes out of it is therefore usually not only due to a possible talent, but above all an expression of the emotional life of the patient. Art is therefore usually merely a mirror of schizophrenia, a highly complex and fascinating disease.
Schizophrenia and alcohol – is it compatible?
Many substances have a certain psychogenic potential, i.e. they can trigger or intensify psychoses. This is especially true for drugs, but alcohol can also aggravate the symptoms through its intoxicating effect. As a nerve poison, alcohol and other drugs can also damage the brain, which also has a negative effect on schizophrenia. Moreover, most antipsychotic drugs are not compatible with alcohol. For schizophrenic patients there are therefore many reasons to keep their hands off alcohol.
