Is an unmedicated sz more dangerous than the average person? - Poll

A similar poll has been done before but the recent threads opinions suggest it is time for another poll to see what this forums members views are.

Do you believe unmedicated sz’s have have more potential to be dangerous than the average person?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

Money love and lust can do terrible things to the average person, so it really depends what type of pressures are on that average person

If you mean a happy average person then i would agree unmedicated sz is far more dangerous

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An unmedicated sz can also have great insight into their condition which makes them harmless, so i would agree being sz and unmedicated dosent mean your dangerous per say

But if you mean unmedicated and no insight then i woukd agree theres potential there to be dangerous

But also depends on the persons history, etc and their propensity towards violence, they could be the above and still harmless

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There might be some specific dangers where SZ would rate higher, but overall I think SZ are less likely to leave the house, less likely to start fights in a nightclub, and less likely to own and drive their own car.

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I posted about doing terrible things to my brother but it was onnly to vent which was very theraputic, i had to let soneone know what thoughts i was having. Because i did that it was a form of release, it made the anger much less and i could handle the rest. Unfortunalty i got a bad reputation for being dangerous on here which is not who i am really.

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It was parsnoia about the land which caused that anger and once i gained insight into that i immediatly quit farming to be happier. I didnt act on those thoughts because i posted them instead. I get i was having dangerous thoughts and then i thought why, its because of money when all i really want is food and shelter put two and two together and found my way out if it.

I also believe theraes sone people on this site who actually encourage that behaviour or in other words psychopaths

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I had a pretty crazy delusion and some intense hallucinations but I was never a danger to anyone.

I accept some schizophrenics can be dangerous, but so can some people in the general population.

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If you have hostile voices which are out of control calling you names, and people seem to be plotting against you because your psychosis is out of control what do you think might happen? The risk is the same if the meds do nothing about it.

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Well, I might as well voice my own opinions on this thread. I think that someone in a psychotic state who thinks that people are out to kill him/her or thinks that others are demons or thinks that people are mind controlling him/her or thinks that they are a prophet who’s destined to kill satan or thinks others are poisoning them or any other of a million scenarios that may race through a delusional persons mind is much more likely to strike out at these supposed enemies than the average person.

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When my sister was unmedicated (she has schizoaffective bipolar type), she literally tried to murder me. I still have nightmares about it. It happened 13 years ago.

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She also almost killed her best friend. The friend’s dad walked in and saved the friend just in time. That was around the same time period.

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Everyone has a capacity to be dangerous.

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I don’t think dangerous is the right word. Unpredictable, yes, definitely.

For me, personally, I’m a much bigger danger to myself than to others

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I would say no, its equivalent to drunks. A high alcohol level is like psychosis and not all drunks are dangerous.

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[ The risk for homicide was increased in individuals with psychosis (with and without comorbid substance abuse) compared with general population controls (random-effects OR = 19.5, 95% CI 14.7–25.8).]

[Conclusions Schizophrenia and other psychoses are associated with violence and violent offending, particularly homicide. However, most of the excess risk appears to be mediated by substance abuse comorbidity. The risk in these patients with comorbidity is similar to that for substance abuse without psychosis. Public health strategies for violence reduction could consider focusing on the primary and secondary prevention of substance abuse.]

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In 2016 I became completely psychotic with zero insight.

I was so delusional and paranoid that I became a danger towards my father.

In my mind he was torturing me and trying to kill me so I was acting in self defense.

Pretty sick.

Yes an unmedicated SZ person with no insight is more dangerous than the average person.

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I think it’s complicated. When I was completely psychotic, I just went around hugging people lol.

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Depends. I’m mostly unmedicated. Been out of my AD for a month, so completely right now.

I’m not dangerous. I mean I’d hurt someone in self defense, but not offense. I guess I’m dangerous if i have to be.

But i have great insight and know if I am going sideways. Last time I went off meds and it went bad I knew to get back on.

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I think there are many factors to consider with this question. The nature of the psychosis, whether the afflicted person has trauma in their background (and what kind of trauma if so), their level of insight, substance abuse comorbidities, other mental health comorbidities, the environment of the psychotic person, the reactions of others to the psychotic person, etc.

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I think it’s definitely situational. only about 1-3% of schizophrenics are physically violent (last i heard, stats could be different now).

I guess it also depends on what you define as dangerous. do you mean being physically harmful? To others? To themselves? do you mean mentally and emotionally harmful?

and i agree with @anon47167357 that insight can definitely play a part in it. i had a lot of insight when i was first being diagnosed, but i guess i was still a harm to myself because it made me suicidal. like i said, i think its just situational and also depends on your definition of dangerous

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