http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/bio/publications/rethinking-schizophrenia.shtml
I may have posted this before but its worth posting twice
Apparently there is a really dope prodrome inventory…they can usually tell if an adolescent is going to become schizophrenic because of the ah ■■■■ it im copying and pasting
Recognizing that these features might seem endemic to adolescence, the
Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) was developed to
distinguish high risk for psychosis from more common adolescent angst73 .
Recently a large multi-site project in the United States of 291
adolescents followed for 2.5 years reported that the prodrome
represented a 405-fold increase in risk (relative to the general
population) and that a combination of three factors (for example,
genetic risk with recent functional decline, unusual thought content,
and either suspicion/paranoia or reduced social functioning) resulted in
a positive predictive power for conversion to psychosis of 74–81% (ref.
74 ).
@notmoses have you seen this ■■■■? This ■■■■ is rad. I once told my mom I was going to invent a prodromal inventory. Some ■■■■■■ beat me to it.
2 Likes
I worked with adolescents for two different ten-week training cycles about eight – no, nine – years ago. I didn’t know as much about sz then as I do now, but I knew enough to chart in observations of pretty much what you boldfaced. I found out later on the two of them decompensated very badly (because they showed up at another placed I worked). Years earlier, I saw the same sort of thing at a third facility. I thought, “Oh, lord. These poor kids are not going to get up out of this black hole.” And they didn’t until they were medicated.
BUT… here’s a thing to take note of: The angrier they were, the better their chance of climbing out of that hole. One of the docs there (a female I still think very highly of) seemed to understand, and she refused to just douse them with hi-dose hi po anti-Ps like Prolixin, Haldol or Risperdal unless she just had to. She seemed to know that it was going to be better in the long run for those kids (all females, btw) to be able vent their rage (to some extent) and discharge the energy back of it. It’s a balancing act, though. One has to keep a very sharp eye on the pt.
1 Like
Second prodrome:
Quit job as if i didn’t need money anymore. Wtf?
My friends eyes turned red, creepy.
I began to divine with playing cards, never did that before.
Better look at the clock, oh it’s 3:00, better check the clock, it’s 3:00. Wierd, better look at the clock, it’s 3:00.
An nde with evil beings that i levitated towards, strange. Starting to look as though this isn’t schizophrenia.
And then off to the beach to see pan the half goat faerie god, maybe i should stop at this pyramid on the way, why are their voices in my mind prompting me to kill myself on the top? Wierd.
That was a very wierd trip to the beach.
I’m not sure I had a prodrome but I did have about a 20 month period where things gradually unravelled before first admission to psychiatric hospital. Early in that period I was seeing a psychiatrist as an out patient from boarding school. Can’t remember what went on but do know I was prescribed anafranil. At school I would wake early and then stay in bed late. Academically it went down the pan- weekly work handed in late,sleeping during free study periods, dropped one Alevel and barely managed the other two, The obsession with changing sex was there. Felt hopeless and full of dread especially about the prospect of going to university if I passed the exams . Couldn’t imagine coping with being there and with all the other people. Was slightly better at home during school holidays but still bad enough for my mum to tell me years later that when she asked my dad what the matter with me was he said quite matter of factly “Well he’s going mad isn’t he?”
I can’t say my social functioning dropped significantly mainly because social interaction difficulties were very much to the fore anyway and I was very much a loner with no friends. I do know that with some people they have a good body of friends but lose them as the illness progresses but that was never the case with me.
I was mildly paranoid and definitely socially phobic on account of the bullying I was subjected to.
Ding ding ding ding! So important.
I was once turned away from an anger management group for being too angry. Glad to hear it’s good for something. 
Pixel.
2 Likes