NAMI was working to change sz and sza from a psychological disorder to “brain” disorder. My question is does that mean I have a brain “disease”?
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When I got diagnosed with schizophrenia my psychiatrist told me it’s a disease.
I think disease is an appropriate descriptor for sz and sza. But i would wouldnt like it used in everyday conversation about it i think. I prefer mental health struggles and the like.
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No one ever really talked to me about what sza is when I was diagnosed. I was basically given a label and led out the door with a sample of a prescription that I wasn’t told side effects of.
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SZA is a disorder
It’s defined in mental terms so I don’t think calling it either a brain disease or a brain disorder is consistent
Yea that’s how I see it,itw physiological and causes mental effects
I think in terms of physical health, it can be called a brain disease. According to much of what I’ve read the illness is caused by a chemic imbalance of dopamine receptors. It is not just a behavioral problem it is a condition in the brain.
For me personally it is easier to accept as a brain disease than a brain disorder. I can’t say why exactly, maybe it’s just because disorder sounds too much like a psychiatric term whilst disease sounds more of a medical one.
No, it means NAMI has a very one-sided agenda. I think there’s various aspects to schizophrenia…with both brain and psychology and a whole host of other processes playing a role.
Disturbances in the brain can also be brought about by social/psychological factors…e.g. trauma causing disturbances in dopamine signalling in the brain. In this case psychology is the deeper cause.
I think it isn’t an either/or. And the emphasis isn’t the same in everyone.
I knew very little about it, I only knew it involved hallucinations. Also I remember when I was a kid someone told me that it’s something very smart people get. Lol, I don’t know if that’s true.
Oops I replied to the wrong thread. (edit)
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A manageable problem is how I see it.
I’m not sure of the disease as we don’t know the reasons you get it. There’s no pathology that says you are sz at our current tech level. So. Would just go to disorder simply because we don’t know!
I personally think it is all 3 of those and I don’t care which one is used either.
It’s all the same to me.
Would it be right to say SZ is a brain disorder if no tests on the brain are done in order to diagnose it? Or conversely, is my SZ diagnosis uncertain because my brain wasn’t investigated?
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Yeah it’s hard but scans and other methods usually don’t show anything different which is why they don’t normally do it. I guess the displayed pathology of your symptoms is what is diagnosed.
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