Knowledge vs Experience

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I’ve noticed that a lot of mental illnesses are kind of relatable.

Even if you haven’t been in the throes of it,

Or diagnosed,

It’s possible to understand.

Humans all have experienced anxiety in some form,

Taking that feeling and knowing someone can’t control it is understandable.

I feel similarly about depression.

But schizophrenia and schizoaffective are kind of a horse of a different color.

You can describe your symptoms,

However,

When you say Satan himself is stalking you and making you put a pickle jar lid on and off thirty times or he’ll kill your dog,

Not so relatable.

(I realize that example could be more of an OCD thing, but you get my point)

Can someone understand without experiencing it?

Of course our medical professionals do in a certain sense.

But that’s very clinical.

They understand symptoms in the light of medical treatment or coping skills.

Very useful, but I still don’t think it’s the same.

Family and friends can understand in the sense they see what your symptoms do to you.

I feel that is also different.

On a day to day struggle sort of way,

Can someone without these challenges really know?

I wonder that a lot.

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Yes drs know a lot about mental illness yet they didn’t experience it

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3

I addressed that in my post.

I believe it is a different kind of understanding.

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It just occurred to me that my cardiologist probably hasn’t had a single heart attack.

That quack! I’d better stay away from him, huh?

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Heart attacks and mental illness are completely different.

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6

My pdoc told me i know about sz more than him

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He probably does know a lot more.

I’d hope he does anyway.

This is about being able to relate on a day to day kind of way.

But if you believe knowledge > experience, I respect that.

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8

Psychiatrist does less in terms of applied knowledge than most drs. Over the course of career they do get a lot of experience observing mental illness though.

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You know more about living with it. I doubt you know more about treating it, especially given the wild stuff you post about going on/off meds every 30 minutes.

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Drs know nothing about negative symptoms. He told me there is no treatment and that they don’t exist but when I took a supplement that increase dopamine I felt like before sz but i was hearing voices. He thinks negative symptoms are all in my head and he doesn’t believe me that my negative symptoms were better on Latuda and Abilify eventhough he knew I had some jobs on them. Now on risperidone I stay in bed most of the time. I am 100℅ sure its the risperidone. Drs don’t know everything about sz.

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Rexulri has been worse for negatives for me,

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12

I showed him the studies about brain regions and sz. He said he is not up to date.

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I swear after graduation drs get lazy

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14

Good time to run screaming in the other direction.

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15

There are some crappy pdocs out there.

I had one who wanted me to swim through a membrane in a swimming pool to reconstruct my birth.

I switched until I got a professional one.

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I mean he knows a lot about detecting symptoms and treating them. But everyday there is new studies. I think they get tested for new info every year

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I think most pdocs think negative symptoms don’t exist. He told me meds don’t make negative symptoms worse. He is wrong. I told him I can barely get out of bed now on risperidone, he said well its because you don’t want to get out of bed and you don’t want to work.

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My pdoc prescribed me Wellbutrin for negatives and depression. So, I think she believes negatives exist.

But I can’t speak about the general pdoc population in Belgium or Globally. I’ve only met a few.

But negatives are well described in the literature.

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19

At least she didn’t blame you for them and said you’re just lazy.

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20

perhaps the whole thing is more complicated and some worlds actually break through to us, they see us and we don’t see them - that’s how Satan comes

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