I just wanted to get a quick unscientific poll that SZ patients are more likely to abuse and use drugs or alcohol. Is this true for the rest of you?
I’ve had my share of drug experiences and would consider myself with a addictive personality, but can control myself with my medication.
Is it a part of SZ that people with SZ are more addictive in nature or is it just a co morbidity?
What do you guys think?
I am a recovering addict with 25 years clean. Yes, people with schizophrenia have a higher rate of drug and alcohol abuse than the general population . I don’t really know if schizophrenics have addictive personalities. It just may be that we are more prone to addiction because of the nature of our disease. It’s a disease of the mind and we are more likely to self-medicate to try to ease symptoms which can turn into addiction. Did I make my point clear?
I have found alcohol to be a drug for me. It is legal and available every day.
Addiction is as serious as schizophrenia
Yeah Nick77. I agree we may be prone to self-medicate and it’s sad sometimes because my doctor thinks I only abuse my drugs… She understands what negative symptoms are, but you doesn’t know how it feels. It seems like people who are medicated for sz, it doesn’t matter about their negative symptoms… Sad.
I’m a recovering addict also. Nice to hear from you nick77.
I’m too poor to be an alcoholic. God it makes me feel so much better though. But I pay my bill first.
You definitely got your priorities right, lagoonlovely.
Lagoon, imo, if you were a alcoholic, it wouldn’t matter if you paid your bills, you would drink first. lol. I’m not going to say you’re not, but that’s the typical thinking of an addict or alcoholic. I like my pills more than alcohol… 
That’s why I give my change to the homeless when I can. Mama didn’t give them a whole lot of love that’s for certain. Or something.
I think they are separate issues.
I recall a stay of their being 8 millions addicts in the states while there are only 2.4 million schizos.
Now proportionally how many of those schizos are also considered addicts I don’t know.
Most people on this site seem to have things under control, aside from the pot smokers.
The demographic here probably doesn’t represent the real world stats.
Addiction is always a choice to fight or sustain. Sz folks might have added pressure but drugs also really ■■■■ with us.
I can’t handle anything other than alcohol. Not with this psuedo telepathic persecution framework baring down on me.
Got the voices under control at this point but who knows what form they would take to if I started using again. My mind is pretty creative when I’m sober I keep it subdued. If I got high though I’d start rationalizing the potential existence of the devil and God and then I’d get persecutory voices and delusions eventually leading to suicidal thoughts.
Sz are all different and they are just people with an illness. They have the same spectrum of potential to conquer addiction as anyone else.
I personally keep my vices simple. Coffee, tobacco, beer.
I like beer, I like cigars, I like coffee, I like shrooms, acid, DMT and mescaline.
I like weed too.
Yeah.
I used to be a social drinker but I don’t really do anything social anymore so I no longer drink. It’s not that I am opposed to alcohol. If I had the urge to go have a few beers with an old friend I would consider that an improvement. But I hear marijuana makes you paranoid and I don’t need any help in that department so I am afraid to try it.
Don’t try it man. It’s a waste of time and money and it will probably leave you paranoid. If you’re used to being sober just roll with that.
I’ve tried MJ when I was first diagnosed sz. Not good at all, my voices increased double and I was very paranoid until the effects wore off. I think you’re right MJ is not a good drug for people like us.
As long as your not over eating or something I agree with @SoitGoes. Its numbs you and you experience the highs at there best.
Yeah I have no desire to get high on anything ever again.
Yes, MindJam is right. It’s the nature of the disease of alcoholism. Drinking socially is a choice. Once you cross that line into alcoholism, drinking is not a choice anymore, it turns into something you HAVE to do.
Yes, it is good to have a good healthy fear of it. Thank your lucky stars that you never went down the destructive path of smoking marijuana. I smoked it after I got sick and my mind barely survived. I’m not exaggerating or being melodramatic. Marijuana is really harmful.
Hmm… I’m pretty f ***ed up now.
Have been for the last couple days.
Am I addicted? Yeah prolly.
Such is life.
Yeah, I used to like crack and powder cocaine. Until I started losing jobs and living situations because of it. And when I sold all my TV’s, my thousand dollar stereo, my tape deck in my car, a couple watches, and literally the clothes off of my back etc for a few rocks, I finally understood the true nature of addiction. It wasn’t pretty.
That is well said. Poeple are glorifying drugs and alcohol. But when I start with one beer a week it turns into having to drink vodka everyday to feel anything worthwhile in life.
It is like someone singing glorifying schizophrenia if they are singing about voices in their head. In reality for me there is nothing glorious about my schizophrenia.