Science now understands that the brain can re wire itself around damaged areas. What if hallucination and conditions like schizophrenia are caused by the brain adapting from damage by viral, bacterial, or loss of oxygen/blood flow. Could the brain actually use auditory/visual centers to "think" resulting in hearing voices or seeing the imagined or both.
You misunderstand schizophrenia. There's no evidence, as far as I am aware, that schizophrenia is a result of brain damage. There seems to be a genetic link to schizophrenia. (http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/hereditygen.htm) Schizophrenics cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. When they hear voices, its usually just their own thoughts. We (non-schizophrenics) are largely unaware of just how many internal dialogues are going on in our heads. Normal people have filters to quiet these "voices". When a normal person goes into say, a crowded restaurant, their brains have a natural filter that filters out all other conversations going on around us. This allows us to be able to focus on our immediate surroundings, the person we are talking to etc. A schizophrenic does not have this filter. When they go into a crowded restaurant, they are unable to naturally filter out all other conversations. They can simultaneously hear the conversations going on at the tables around them, hear the cooks in the kitchen etc. This same filter is responsible for drowning out the voices in our heads. This is why schizophrenics have such a difficult time concentrating on things. Imagine how massively overstimulating even the quietest environment would be if you were unable to filter out everything going on around you. A quiet evening in a coffee shop would be like a rock concert As far as the inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, well, that's harder to explain, but it also has to do with filters in the brain. When I walk down the street and see a group of people standing around and say they start laughing, I may unconsciously think for a second that they are laughing at me. But as soon as the thought comes into my head, I brush it off and move on. A schizophrenic does not have that ability to brush it off. They would continue to entertain the thought that those people are laughing at them. Ever have a moment in your life where you thought that maybe someone was out to get you? Or maybe your walking through a dark alley at night and feel like someone is watching you? For the most part, you realize it is just silly, but you may create and elaborate fantasy of some dark stalker out to get you. Even as you create this fantasy on your head, you know it is not real. If you don't have schizophrenia, you brush it off and realize its just silly. A schizophrenic feels those eyes on their back and runs with it. They go with that fantasy and as they are having it, it becomes a reality. As you can see, schizophrenia is a result of what some psychiatrists in my field refer to unprofessionally as fuck-think. Its not about brain damage or a viral infection or loss of oxygen. It is a result of distorted thinking. While some forms of brain damage can result in distorted thinking, nothing comes close to mimicking schizophrenia. Excessive use of some psychedelic drugs can cause schizophrenia, but experts speculate that when someone becomes schizophrenic from the use of drugs, then they probably already had a genetic predisposition towards it. The drugs just exacerbated it and brought it to the surface. I know people who have done vast amounts of LSD, Mushrooms, DMT, Peyote, Meth, robo trips, etc... the lost goes on and on. Yet they are for the most part, psychologically healthy people, fully capable of functioning in normal society. Other people can take one hit of acid and well, never come down. These people had perfectly healthy upbringings with good loving and attentive parents, yet, they were always a little weird.
brain damage can cause a wide range of side effects much stranger and diverse than schizophrenia. We have a specific module in the brain for recognizing faces. If a windshield wiper goes through this part of the brain and it is damaged beyond repair you will no longer recognize anyone. There are a lot of specific modules that could be damaged.
Yes, this has always interested me because my face-recognition module does not work very well. I really do not remember faces until I have become fairly familiar with them, nor do I find similar-looking people easy to distinguish between. In my own case, I put this down to my very poor eyesight as a child (which was mercifully improved by an operation). When being collected from school, I searched for my mother among the other parents by looking for a familiar dress or coat. Since faces were more or less indistinguishable, I suppose that my face-recognition module did not receive the necessary stimuli for proper development.
I have a friend who researches schizophrenia and I've seen some of his lectures on the disease. There is a genetic component, yet, in twins it's only a 50% increase. There are lots of correlations. For example, dark skinned people who migrate to and live in cold climates (say a Polynesian moves to London) their children are at higher risk (perhaps due to Vit D). The list goes on and on and on and on and to tell you the truth no one knows why some people are more susceptible to schizophrenia. You ideas about brain plasticity may actually have some merit. People with schizophrenia seem to have more regressive events (more paring back during development) compared with other people. It may be there's something going on - or not.
Schizophrenia is an ambiguous term and covers a wide range of conditions. A person suffering a Bipolar Condition will be classed as a Schizophrenic, as will someone perhaps suffering an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, even Autism can fall foul of being termed it. Some Schizophrenic's in example will not be able to write a paper for concern over how they feel when they attempt to write it being the weight of observations of others defining the overall outcome. They might rewrite segments again and again to "sense" the right passage. Some will see that as a psychological ailment, manifesting some "para-psychological power", however there is actually more basis if you take into consideration in the quantum world that if a particular document changes the allocation of matter in the universe i.e. building a new self powering vehicle or something similar, you'd have all these resources being allocated to their production and people being transported around by them, causing the very shape of the universe to be changed. If that persons rewrite changed the distance at which the vehicle could travel because of an engine schematical change, you'd find the vehicle might travel a greater distance while being a greater mass, which in turn would require a great allocation of resources (matter) I suppose you could say Schizophrenia is like a Darwinistic "Genus", with many branches sprouting out of it. All in all, not all Schizophrenics will hear voices or see hallucinations, Some will just have mood swings, others will just suffer greatly from anxiety but for the most part what they truly suffer from is how people treat them. Suffering schizophrenia can be to a schizophrenic like become a third class citizen. People will never interact with them the same, or take them serious, if anything this apparent inability of other people is likely to cause the person suffering a condition far more grief in the long run and is probably the trigger for those events that the press usually picks up on (knifing, shootings, rapes etc) So it's not the condition that causes people to snap, but the inability of the suppose normal community of people to accept them. Imagine if you were laughed at, joked about, ignored and even bullied, would you want to take it? and if so, for how long are you willing to?
I fully agree that is likely. This could be easily correlated and statistically proven with data from people in similar shoes as yours.
they need to study why so many homeless people have schizophrenia, or why so many schizophrenics go homeless...
Often times schizophrenics are far too paranoid to go to the doctor and talk about their symptoms. One of the defining traits of schizophrenia is denial. The schizophrenic has absolutely no idea that he is schizophrenic, or that there is anything wrong at all with him for that matter. Keep in mind that the moment that you think to yourself "Am I crazy" indicates that you are in fact not crazy. The schizophrenic does not have the ability to ask such a question. They think that all the fucked up shit going on around them is reality. So very few of them end up seeking help. Many of them end up homeless because they are unable to hold down any kind of job or intimate relationship. There are a few different types of schizophrenia. Though they are almost indistinguishable. Nearly all schizophrenics suffer from paranoia, delusions of grandeur, and delusions of persecution. A schizophrenic may very well feel that there are people out to get him. He may feel that doctors are in on some plot to get them. So they are very unlikely to seek help on their own. If they are forced to see someone, they will be given a slough of medications to take. Many of them will refuse to take their meds because they feel that the medication is some sort of drug that "they" are using to control them. Many of the medications used have undesirable side effects that the patient will believe are being forced upon him. These side effects include, but are not limited to: restlessness, stiffness, tremors, muscle spasms, Tardive Dyskinesia, dry mouth, excesive weight gain, constipation, low white blood cell count, diabetes, confusion, impotence, blurred vision. Some of these side effects can be countered by the administration of other drugs. So as you can see, schizophrenics usually end up taking a large amount of medications. To someone who suffers from paranoia, delusions of persecution, and an difficult time understanding what medications are prescribed for, and not even believing that these medications are necessary, treatment is difficult. Many schizophrenics will stop taking, or refuse to take their medications altogether. They will then often times run away and end up living on the streets, in slums, or hostiles. It is a sad and unfortunate disease. If you have not seen "A Beautiful Mind" with Russel Crowe, then watch it. It will help you to understand schizophrenia a bit better. It is also a true story about the mathematician John Nash. I hope this offers some insight into your question.
