Posted by med_empowered on February 7, 2005, at 1:31:36
In reply to Re: a schizophrenic illness - what does THAT mean? » Phillipa, posted by Glydin on February 6, 2005, at 19:50:02
hey! I think its kinda disturbing that they're using antipsychotics for bipolar AGAIN (the introduction of lithium into this country in the early 70's ended the use of haldol/thorazine type drugs for bipolar maintenance therapy, and really improved the lives of a lot of people with bipolar), and other conditions off-label-anxiety, bipolar II, depression, sleep disorders, etc. The atypicals still carry the risk of tardive dyskinesia, akathisia, etc., and, more importantly, tend to cause cognitive impairment and other deficits (this is called Neuroleptic Induced Deficit Syndrome). Anyway, the current theory is that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, especially type I with psychotic episodes, are genetically linked and similar...but apparently not similar enough to be the same illness. Sooo, antipsychotics will work for bipolar, and sometimes drugs such as lamictal will work in conjunction with antipsychotics for schizophrenia. My problems? There is no diagnostic test that shows bipolar or schizophrenia in the brain. Its up to the clinician to spot it. Schizophrenia is heavily overrepresented among the poor and minorities, and always has been..some psychiatrists try to explain this away with talk of genetics (unproven) or biological factors (unproven), but as a future sociologist, my mind thinks this: this is absolute pseudo-scientific BS. Sure, diagnosis the poor as schizophrenic and then tell us its "genetic". What does this mean? That the poor come from a crazier gene pool than the rest of us? Please. Given psychiatry's history of lobotomies (didn't stop until the 70's), insulin treatments, metrozol therapy, tooth extraction (didn't stop until 50s), forced-sterilization, etc., everyone should be careful when seeking treatment.
poster:med_empowered
thread:453895
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050202/msgs/454207.html