Why do I have schizophrenia?

For a long time I have been wondering ‘why do I have schizophrenia?’ Is it because I was born that way or because of my experiences? This question haunts me. I read that schizophrenia is much more common if you are descended from someone with the illness. I don’t know of any schizophrenia in my family so I ask myself why I do i have this affliction? There have been studies that suggest childhood abuse can have an influence on developing this disorder. I grew up in a loving, supportive family, but there have been times I have wondered if I was abused at a young age, perhaps sexually by an outsider. I think this because as a young person I had uncomfortable memories that I couldn’t really piece together and also because some of my psychological traits. I don’t think it is realistic for someone to think schizophrenia is purely hereditary. I am not a doctor or professional researcher and don’t have studies to back me up but I can certainly express my point of view. Maybe if schizophrenia is in a person’s family it increases the likelihood of being abused in a particular manner(and not because of genes). Let me explain. If sz was caused by sexual or physical abuse then maybe the traits that develop in turn from being hurt in this way make it more likely that a schizophrenic’s offspring may become victims. In some cases the abused may become the abuser or they might in some instances be less fit to protect their kids from abuse from others. Another question… how does it affect a person as they become adults if they are abused at an extremely young age, an age so young that they remember nothing about the abuse? Are there residual effects from that? I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to say anything overly controversial or offensive. Just trying to spark a conversation and hopefully get some input so I can better make sense of my troubled life (lol).

I think that sexual abuse affects how the illness progresses and probably adds other complications to it. I believe my illness was 100% started before I was born. I did have a number of bad things happen in the same year including a molestation incident with a neighbor, and there was a later run in at school but my Mother noticed problems with me shortly after I was born. I have schizophrenia in the family, my Dad had the flu while my Mom was pregnant, my Dad’s Mother died two months before I was born and my Mom couldn’t attend because she was pregnant so there was separation between them that probably caused stress to Mom (I also have evidence that my Dad was upset at Mom because she didn’t attend the funeral even though she had a legitimate excuse), Mom also had gestational diabetes, and me and my twin were born almost 2 months premature. I think I was born with it really. I think the molestation added anxiety to my disease including possibly PTSD.

I wasn’t abused. And no one else in my family has schizophrenia. Yet here I am.

Schizophrenia is mostly genetic.

a person is labeled as having schizophrenia if they have certain symptoms but it has been discovered that a lot of different things could cause these symptoms so what might be your cause for your schizophrenia might or might not apply to someone else who has the diagnosis . medication can help with these symptoms but getting to what has caused them for you personally is going to be a journey of discovery or you can choose to skip that and just take whatever helps with the symptoms . The internet is a great place to get started its like one big giant library therapy or spirituality can also help with that .

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