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*Time, 4 March 2022, "COVID-19 May Be Linked to Spontaneous Psychosis. Researchers Are Trying to Figure Out Why," Jeffrey Kluger.
Comments: The first two cases described (the North Carolia case and the first UK one) sound fake to me. It is not clear to me why someone is clearly trying to link psychosis to COVID-19, when there doesn't seem to be any reason to do so; based on the article, this seems to be particularly the case with the so-called "Long COVID" cases, which I am also quite a bit skeptical of.
Huh: "The good news is that unlike more chronic forms of psychosis, most cases seemingly related to COVID-19 do not appear to last."
https://time.com/6153809/covid-19-psychosis-symptoms/
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News18, 14 March 2022, "Severe Mental Illnesses Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases, Claims New Study."
Comments: This article contains no information, which convinces me of its claim. Oddly, it claims that schizophrenia is a severe form of schizoaffective disorder? Why mention schizoaffective disorder, here, at all?
https://www.news18.com/amp/news/lifestyle/severe-mental-illnesses-increase-risk-of-cardiovascular-diseases-claims-new-study-4872248.html
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Ktar News, 14 March 2022, "Mexican man acquitted of murder pleads guilty to gun charges," AP.
Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, 51, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, who murdered an American named Kate Steinle in 2015, and who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017, has been found competent to stand trial. Trump referenced the murder, when he talked about immigration policies and sanctuary cities.
https://ktar.com/story/4948797/mexican-man-acquitted-of-murder-pleads-guilty-to-gun-charges/amp/
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Mad in America, 14 March 2022, "Antipsychotics Worsen Cognitive Functioning in First-Episode Psychosis," Peter Simons.
"However, people taking an antipsychotic [Risperidone/paliperidone] did significantly worse than the placebo group on three tests: immediate paired-associate recall, total paired-associate learning, and delayed cued recall—tests that measure learning and memory."
https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/03/antipsychotics-worsen-cognitive-functioning-first-episode-psychosis/
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Retraction Watch, 14 March 2022, "Psych journal in revolt as it publishes paper saying masturbation and gay sex are harmful," Adam Marcus.
"Several psychiatry researchers have been unsuccessfully seeking distance from a dodgy journal with which they’re affiliated – and which has now published an article claiming homosexuality and masturbation deserve to be considered (or reconsidered, as the case may be) mental illnesses."
The article was written by an Iranian based in Ahvaz, Sayed Ali Marashi, and the journal in question is Clinical Schizophrenia & Related Psychoses.
https://retractionwatch.com/2022/03/14/psych-journal-in-revolt-as-it-publishes-paper-saying-masturbation-and-gay-sex-are-harmful/
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Macomb Daily, 14 March 2022, "Oakland County man gets 15 years in prison for sex trafficking minor victim in Roseville," Mitch Hotts.
Tory Anderson, 34, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl and branding her face with his name.
(Anderson suffers from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, controlled substance addiction, AIDs, and bladder cancer.)
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The City, 14 March 2022, "How Can NYC Make Shelters Safer? We Asked Four People on the Front Lines," Reuven Blau.
Summary: NYC shelters can be made safer by increasing the number of security guards and increasing the privacy (and, therefore, safety) afforded to people using the shelters.
https://www.thecity.nyc/platform/amp/2022/3/14/22978285/how-can-nyc-make-shelters-safer-we-asked-four-people-on-the-front-lines
The Post and Courier, 14 March 2022, "Editorial: This could be a game changer for troubled SC Juvenile Justice Department," Staff.
The current state of Juvenile Justice in SC: "State law appropriately requires juveniles with severe mental illnesses to be treated at mental health facilities rather than DJJ, but for a variety of good and bad reasons, the state Department of Mental Health closed its youth facilities in 2015. Mental Health is able to place some young people in private treatment facilities, but the most challenging ones are stuck behind the fence at DJJ’s secure lock-up facilities in Columbia, in spite of the state law to the contrary. And the number has been growing steadily." / The guards at these juvenile delinquent centers, which are already subject to severe understaffing, are also subjected to further strain from some disruptively mentally ill inmates, whose number is only growing. The governor believes the solution to this problem is the creation of another facility solely for these mentally ill juveniles. The Department of Mental Health is not under the direction, presently, of the governor's office, and as this department has been derelict in its duties, this should, perhaps, be changed.
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-this-could-be-a-game-changer-for-troubled-sc-juvenile-justice-department/article_9eb7cb1a-a26a-11ec-9321-bb2e7cd88d6f.html
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Jacobin, 14 March 2022, "What the Anti-Psychiatry Movement Got Wrong About Mental Illness," Madeleine Ritts.
(1) "The influence of the pharmaceutical industry over medical education, clinical research, and clinical practice is not unique to psychiatry. However, it is true that psychiatry’s role in impeding a thorough understanding of the very conditions the pharmaceutical industry’s drugs purport to treat is disturbing. Pharmaceutical companies exert a troubling degree of power and authority in defining mental disorders, conducting research into the causes of mental suffering, and determining how it can best be addressed. In the mid-twentieth century, as psychiatry became increasingly reliant on pharmaceutical interventions, the pharmaceutical industry recognized how profitable an alliance could be, and a relationship of disquieting dependency was born. In Anatomy of an Epidemic (2010), Robert Whitaker traces psychiatry’s struggle for legitimacy alongside the interests of the pharmaceutical industry to expose the deep links of dependency between them. This relationship, following the emergence of “breakthrough” psychoactive drugs in the 1950s, is clearly illustrated by the transition from talk therapy as the dominant method of treatment toward pharmaceutically driven therapy."
(2) "Over time, researchers were able to observe that psychoactive drugs affected the balance of various chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the brain, and reasoned that the drugs must be correcting for chemical imbalances. For example, because Thorazine blocks dopamine receptors in the brain — the effect of which reduces aggression and psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations — it was postulated that psychoses must be caused by an excess of dopamine. From these kinds of observations, the infamous “chemical imbalance” theory of mental illness was born. [...] The chemical imbalance theory was peddled to patients and the public because it was a convenient marketing tool. But its promise of chemical cures was greatly exaggerated."
(3) "By and large, psychiatry rests on a knowledge base that has been compromised by industry involvement, but this fact alone does not explain legitimate concerns over psychiatric overreach. Family physicians — who are responsible for the majority of psychopharmaceutical medications available to outpatient populations — receive far less training in psychotherapy than they ought to. Their good-faith efforts to help people are often compromised by an overreliance on the prescription pad."
(4) "Furthermore, the drug approval processes of the US Federal Drug Administration and Health Canada — which generally follows decisions made in the United States — are dramatically skewed to the benefit of pharmaceutical companies."
(5) "In order to take a drug to market, drug companies must submit all the clinical trials they have sponsored (they are not obliged to submit independent reviews of their products). Although drug companies can run as many trials as they like, they only must produce two trials showing that a drug is more effective than a placebo for it to be approved. Negative trials rarely see the light of day, while the positive studies are promoted at conferences and published in medical journals."
(6) "A left politics of mental care must call for publicly funded and democratic inquiry into the nature of mental suffering and possible treatments, ongoing assessments of what is important to people who suffer, and a commitment to provision of treatment and solicitude in care. Societal responses to mental illness have long been characterized by extremes of paternalism or neglect."
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/03/anti-psychiatry-movement-mental-illness-psychological-suffering
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WKRG News 5, 15 March 2022, "Mobile nun builds ministry that sheds light on her own mental illness," Rose Ann Haven.
Noteworthy: Sister Lucindia Claghorn, Alabama, teenage onset, "donated all the proceeds of her book to AltaPointe Health where she continues to be a patient and runs a support group twice a week."
Symptoms: "They start out as just whispers, murmuring. I can’t discern what they’re saying, but the sicker I get, the more pronounced they become and the more they tell me I’m evil. I’m the antichrist. I have to commit suicide just to save the world.”/"She recalled screaming in class from hallucination of blood on her hands, her classmates taunting her, even spitting on her."
Best Quote: "“When you are diagnosed with schizophrenia, it has the same social effect of being convicted of a felony. You don’t have credibility in society. People don’t believe you,” said Claghorn."
Book: "‘Angel of Love, Prayers for the Mentally Ill.'"
https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/mobile-nun-builds-ministry-that-sheds-light-on-her-own-mental-illness/amp/
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The College Fix, 15 March 2022, "After top Columbia doc suspended for calling a black woman beautiful, students still want him fired," Alex McKenna.
Jeffrey Lieberman, chair of the department of psychiatry and psychiatrist-in-chief at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, was suspended for calling a black woman beautiful on Twitter (in the tweet in question, he called her a "freak of nature," while admiring her).
("Lieberman is world renowned as a leading expert on schizophrenia and well-respected in psychiatry.")
https://www.thecollegefix.com/after-top-columbia-doc-suspended-for-calling-a-black-woman-beautiful-students-still-want-him-fired/
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Portugal Resident, 15 March 2022, "Portugal condemned for heartless sloppiness," Natasha Donn.
Summary: Portuguese authorities were found derelict in their duty to assist in finding Rita Slof Monteiro, a schizophrenic woman who disappeared, when she was 18-years-old in 2006, by the European Court of Human Rights. Portugal is expected to pay compensation to her family for the distress they have suffered, due to this. Nothing was done to help them find her, until 2009.
Comments: Why did the Portuguese state drag their feet so much in this case? How corrupt is Portugal?
https://www.portugalresident.com/portugal-condemned-for-heartless-sloppiness/
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The Indian Express, 15 March 2022, "Shortage of psychiatrists in govt hospitals taking toll on patients," Rupsa Chakraborty.
Summary: While the Indian government is funding yoga centres for mental health, there is a desperate need for more psychiatrists, which still has not been met.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/shortage-of-psychiatrists-in-govt-hospitals-taking-toll-on-patients-7820054/lite/
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Stuff, 15 March 2022, "A Taranaki grandmother's heart break over her mentally unwell grandson," Helen Harvey.
"She wonders where all the money the Government has given for mental health has gone."
Comments: This article is about the difficulties that New Zealand's schizophrenics have in getting treatment. It may be corruption in the government, which led to this state of affair.
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NYT, 15 March 2022, "Suspect in Shootings of 5 Homeless Men Arrested in Washington," Andy Newman, Ashley Southall and Campbell Robertson.
The suspect, Gerald Brevard III, has himself been homeless, in the past, and it is implied that he has schizophrenia, although this is never claimed in the article. Did he know any of the victims?
Was this due to symptoms or a quarrelsome nature, or is this a sign that he may have experienced discrimination at work, also?: "“He’d be on the job for one moment and the next I would hear he was no longer employed because he was in some kind of dispute or issue,” said Ms. Brevard, 48, a former law enforcement officer who is now a doctoral candidate in education. “But he’s always tried to maintain employment.”"
The details are lacking, here: "Sometimes he would spin conspiracy theories and appear paranoid, she said, “but when he called me, he was always pleasant and always very mannerable.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/us/homeless-shootings-arrest.html
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PsychCentral, 15 March 2022, "Can Lack of Sleep Cause Symptoms of Psychosis?," MR: Nicole Washington, Author: Rosanna Sutherby.
Comments: I am going to answer, "no," here. I did not lose sleep, before psychosis. After a certain point in psychosis, I started to have trouble getting to sleep. In my case, at least, lack of sleep did not cause psychosis; the former came as part of the latter. What is described in this article is not psychosis, and it should not be labeled as such.
https://psychcentral.com/health/sleep-deprivation-psychosis
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Latin Times, 15 March 2022, "8-Year-Old Girl Reported Missing In December Found Dead In Home Of Mom's Boyfriend," Nirmal Varghese.
Summary: Child (Sophia Mason) of a SZ woman, Samantha Johnson, found dead at the home of her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson; there was a history of child abuse.
https://www.latintimes.com/8-year-old-girl-reported-missing-december-found-dead-home-moms-boyfriend-509677?amp=1
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Newsmax, 15 March 2022, "Crossed Eyes in Children Linked to Increased Risk for Mental Illness," Lynn Allison.
Summary: It is claimed that children with strabismus have an increased risk of developing a mental illness like SZ; 83% greater risk for SZ is claimed. I would need to see studies to believe this one.
https://www.newsmax.com/amp/health/health-news/strabismus-crossed-eyes-children-mental-health/2022/03/15/id/1061253/
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KNOE News, 16 March 2022, "Bastrop family organizes peaceful protest for Patrice Ukeju," Alyssa Azzara.
Summary: The family of Patrice Ukeju, a schizophrenic black woman, are pushing for Captain Gerald Givens to be fired and arrested, after a video of him dragging Ukeju was released.
https://www.knoe.com/2022/03/17/bastrop-family-organizes-peaceful-protest-patrice-ukeju/
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WBTV, 16 March 2022, "Missing Iredell County woman may be in Gastonia area, authorities say," Staff.
Niecy Rose Moore, a black woman who has a SZ and Bipolar diagnosis, hasn't been seen since she took an Uber to East Franklin Boulevard.
https://www.wbtv.com/2022/03/16/missing-iredell-county-woman-may-be-gastonia-area-authorities-say/
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WCNC, 16 March 2022, "UNC professor shares personal motivation for studying psychedelics as possible treatment for mental illness," Lexi Wilson.
Summary: Bryan Roth claims that his mother's schizophrenia is what makes studying psychedelics as a possible treat from SZ appealing to him.
https://www.wcnc.com/amp/article/news/health/psychedelic-mental-illness-treatment-drugs-health/275-d667ae6b-cb7b-4d13-9f55-69e637325a3a
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Daily Record, 16 March 2022, "Pensioner killed wife and told police that he had been 'possessed by the devil', Sophie Corcoran and Chloe Burrell.
Summary: Nigel Audsley, a schizophrenic Brit, murdered his wife Patricia. He claims this was because he had a delusion that he was the Devil, but I think this was due to his own tendencies, and not his mental illness. He tried to pretend that someone else had broke in and done it, after, also.
Comments: If he was a decent person, he would have tried to protect his wife, and would not have killed her; then, if he was worried that he might hurt her, he would have put some space between them, for a while. This is a common suggestion for SZs that have delusions or hallucinations, which tell them to harm loved ones.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/pensioner-killed-wife-possessed-devil-26486582.amp
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Republic-Times, 16 March 2022, "Coalition: mental health, drug use go hand-in-hand," Madison Lammert.
"[Becker] said that young people often use drugs to self medicate, meaning they turn to drugs to help handle emotions. While she is personally seeing less alcohol use in minors, vaping - with some products now containing CBD - is on the rise. Therefore, teaching healthy coping skills is an essential aspect of drug use prevention."
https://www.republictimes.net/coalition-mental-health-drug-use-go-hand-in-hand/
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KWTX, 16 March 2022, "Waco man with severe schizophrenia missing," KWTX staff.
SZ in question: Paul Russell Brown, 52. White Male. Went off medications. Missing.
https://www.kwtx.com/2022/03/16/waco-man-with-severe-schizophrenia-missing/
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Yale, 16 March 2022, "D'Souza Elected to SIRS Board."
Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD, professor of psychiatry, has been elected to the board of directors of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS).
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/dsouza-elected-to-sirs-board/
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Newswise, 16 March 2022, "Home care can help with the recovery of people with schizophrenia in low- income countries."
Summary: The study in question took place in Ethiopia. Seventy-nine people with SZ were selected to receive community-based rehabilitation for one year, while eighty-seven people with SZ reveived treatment from the health centre. It is claimed that the former group showed the greatest improvement.
https://www.newswise.com/articles/home-care-can-help-with-the-recovery-of-people-with-schizophrenia-in-low-income-countries
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People, 17 March 2022, "Kyleigh Leddy Paints Vivid Portrait of Sister's Schizophrenia: 'She Became Another Person'", Sandra Sobieraj Westfall. New Book. [The Perfect Other: A Memoir of My Sister - Kyleigh Leddy]
Noteworthy: Father of SZ is tech executive, mood change after head injury, creative oldest sibling, went to Drexel University.
Symptoms: "Hallucinations began, along with paranoia, delusions and rages."
Treatment: At least, 17 different medications.
https://people.com/health/kyleigh-leddy-paints-vivid-portrait-of-sisters-schizophrenia-after-head-injury-she-became-another-person/?amp=true
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Fierce Pharma, 17 March 2022, "Citing manufacturing 'deviations,' Macleods recalls drugs to treat high blood pressure, schizophrenia," Joseph Keenan.
Summary: A drug prescribed for SZ, Olanzapine, has been recalled (Class II) by the NJ-based arm of an Indian pharmaceutical company.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/macleods-recalls-drugs-treat-high-blood-pressure-schizophrenia
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My Journal Courier, 17 March 2022, "Settlement sets better treatment for mentally ill inmates," Amy Beth Hanson.
"The Montana State Prison will no longer be allowed to punish inmates with severe mental illnesses for behavior caused by their illnesses by putting them in solitary confinement or setting unreasonable behavioral expectations, under a settlement to a federal lawsuit announced this week. [...] Inmates with severe mental illnesses will be guaranteed a minimum of four hours of out-of-cell time per day. Their cells must at least have a toilet, sink and platform beds with a pad and pillow, and if they're on an exterior wall, a clear window."
Comments: This is a positive development, which the ACLU has been involved in. I wish the ACLU had more rivals in some of the causes that they support, for while they do much that is good like this, they also do much that is bad; the former better helps to hide (or excuse) the latter.
It is likely that other groups were also involved in this development, but are less prominent than the ACLU, and therefore, get less recognition from the media. This is also a problem.
https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/amp/Settlement-sets-better-treatment-for-mentally-ill-17010113.php
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Dawn, 17 March 2022, "Defending the mentally ill," Zainab Maboob.
The author of this article is the lawyer that helped bring about this new judgment in Pakistan, last year: "The ‘Safia Bano’ judgement established that it is unlawful to execute a person with mental illness, who is unable to understand the reason for their execution. The court held that such executions would ‘not meet the ends of justice’."
https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1680408
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The Strait Times, 17 March 2022, "5 weeks' jail for IMH nurse who slapped schizophrenic patient," Wong Shiying.
Efendi, 26, has been sentenced for abusing a 59-year-old patient with SZ; his abuse was caught on camera. Other nursing staff also abused the patient.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/5-weeks-jail-for-imh-nurse-who-slapped-schizophrenic-patient-endangered-him-by-tilting-his-chair
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EssexLive, 17 March 2022, "Essex crime: 'Sadistic' Colchester man with paranoid schizophrenia killed his two nephews in vicious attacks," Ellis Whitehouse.
Summary: SZ Brit, Tom Saunders, killed two of his nephews and their friend. He has been give a life sentence. Saunders had received no treatment at the time of the killings. Premeditation is claimed; it is said that the attack was unprovoked.
https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/essex-crime-sadistic-colchester-man-6820243.amp
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The Swaddle, 18 March 2022, "What It’s Like to Live With: Paranoid Schizophrenia," Devrupa Rakshit.
Noteworthy: has two paternal aunts with the condition and a maternal uncle, 20 at onset, journalism internship in toxic work environment at onset (and had delusions related to this), was at college, India.
Symptoms: "At one point, I started to feel like people from work were following me back home, tracking my phone, getting cameras installed in my house…"/ "I began seeing demonic apparitions in my roommate’s face, I could see zombies walking through the canteen on campus, I believed there was going be a terrorist attack on the premises."/ "Sometimes, for example, I feel like someone — maybe, an underworld gang — is reading my thoughts and tracking everything that’s going on in my mind. Then, if I hear a sound outside — of a car reversing, for instance, or something else beeping somewhere — I feel these silent spectators are acknowledging my thoughts. My mind never stops making these connections, even though logically, I can understand they might not make sense."
Treatment: ECT and medications.
https://theswaddle.com/what-its-like-to-live-with-paranoid-schizophrenia/
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WNYT, 18 March 2022, "Police: Missing Halfmoon man might need medical help," Chris Rooney.
SZ in question: Bilal Ashfaq, 20, missing, Indian man.
https://wnyt.com/saratoga-county-ny-news/police-missing-halfmoon-man-bilal-ashfaq-might-need-medical-help/6422251/?cat=11960
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Cambridge Independent, 18 March 2022, "How Cambridge game developer worked with Addenbrooke’s psychiatrist to address psychosis," Mike Scialom.
"The game follows Senua, a Pict warrior who has to face down otherworldly entities on her way to Helheim to retrieve the soul of her dead lover – whose death she witnessed – from the goddess Hela. Along the way she hears disconcerting and accusatory narratives, inner voices and ‘messages’. The voices are troubling, malevolent and distressing for Senua and therefore – potentially – the player, yet they must be navigated to achieve her goal."
[Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice].
https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/amp/how-cambridge-game-developer-worked-with-addenbrooke-s-psych-9245228/
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Fierce Pharma, 18 March 2022, "Eli Lilly takes more heat for campaign contributions to election objectors," Natalie Missakian.
Summary: Eli Lilly and the other big pharmaceutical companies (Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer) are donating to the Sedition Caucus, once again.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/eli-lilly-takes-heat-campaign-contributions-election-objectors
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The Teal Mango, 19 March 2022, "Where is Isabella Guzman, The Women who Stabbed her Mother?," Khadija.
Summary: Isabella Guzman stabbed her mother over 79 times. She claimed to have suffered from "schizophrenic thoughts," for several years, prior to this. Supposedly, she had a delusion about how if she killed her mother she would "save the world;" I smell BS, here - how would she save the world by doing this? (And why did she stab her mother so many times, when murdering her did not require this?)
Gen Z appreciates her physical appearance, and therefore feels sympathy for her, according to this article. Guzman has utilized Tiktok, for this purpose.
Comments: I am skeptical as to her diagnosis. I believe that schizophrenics, generally, never forget that murder is a crime, even if their understanding of right or wrong may be compromised, in some cases; I never forget that murder is wrong, but I do not feel I have investigated enough cases to be able to wholeheartedly say that this is common, or always the case. I do not believe that Guzman should be released, given the nature of her crime. Her supposed delusion doesn't explain the overkill, at all.
https://www.thetealmango.com/featured/where-is-isabella-guzman-the-women-who-stabbed-her-mother/#
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Psychology Today, 19 March 2022, "Poor U.S. Mental Health Care Is Confirmed by a Top Authority," Robert C. Smith.
What stood out for me, here:
(1) "Despite the dramatic advances in neuroscience research, where NIMH is at the vanguard, Insel was troubled by persisting poor mental health care at all levels."
(2) "Surprisingly, given his espousal of a greatly widened biopsychosocial approach, particularly for expanded environmental and social care, he retains the reductionistic stance that mental disorders are fundamentally brain diseases."
(3) "He offers some hope for psychiatry’s almost exclusive focus on finding brain diseases in reviewing that 30 percent of patients with autism spectrum disorder have some genomic basis."
Book: Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health - Thomas Insel
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/patient-zero/202203/poor-us-mental-health-care-is-confirmed-top-authority?amp
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The Daily Mining Gazette, 19 March 2022, "Brain illness and stigma," Catherine Paavola.
Summary: The mother of a schizophrenic hopes to reduce stigma by the use of "brain illness," instead of "mental illness." She also details her son's disability payments, and his struggles to retain his home.
https://www.mininggazette.com/opinion/columns/2022/03/brain-illness-and-stigma/
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Comments: The first two cases described (the North Carolia case and the first UK one) sound fake to me. It is not clear to me why someone is clearly trying to link psychosis to COVID-19, when there doesn't seem to be any reason to do so; based on the article, this seems to be particularly the case with the so-called "Long COVID" cases, which I am also quite a bit skeptical of.
Huh: "The good news is that unlike more chronic forms of psychosis, most cases seemingly related to COVID-19 do not appear to last."
https://time.com/6153809/covid-19-psychosis-symptoms/
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News18, 14 March 2022, "Severe Mental Illnesses Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases, Claims New Study."
Comments: This article contains no information, which convinces me of its claim. Oddly, it claims that schizophrenia is a severe form of schizoaffective disorder? Why mention schizoaffective disorder, here, at all?
https://www.news18.com/amp/news/lifestyle/severe-mental-illnesses-increase-risk-of-cardiovascular-diseases-claims-new-study-4872248.html
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Ktar News, 14 March 2022, "Mexican man acquitted of murder pleads guilty to gun charges," AP.
Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, 51, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, who murdered an American named Kate Steinle in 2015, and who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017, has been found competent to stand trial. Trump referenced the murder, when he talked about immigration policies and sanctuary cities.
https://ktar.com/story/4948797/mexican-man-acquitted-of-murder-pleads-guilty-to-gun-charges/amp/
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Mad in America, 14 March 2022, "Antipsychotics Worsen Cognitive Functioning in First-Episode Psychosis," Peter Simons.
"However, people taking an antipsychotic [Risperidone/paliperidone] did significantly worse than the placebo group on three tests: immediate paired-associate recall, total paired-associate learning, and delayed cued recall—tests that measure learning and memory."
https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/03/antipsychotics-worsen-cognitive-functioning-first-episode-psychosis/
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Retraction Watch, 14 March 2022, "Psych journal in revolt as it publishes paper saying masturbation and gay sex are harmful," Adam Marcus.
"Several psychiatry researchers have been unsuccessfully seeking distance from a dodgy journal with which they’re affiliated – and which has now published an article claiming homosexuality and masturbation deserve to be considered (or reconsidered, as the case may be) mental illnesses."
The article was written by an Iranian based in Ahvaz, Sayed Ali Marashi, and the journal in question is Clinical Schizophrenia & Related Psychoses.
https://retractionwatch.com/2022/03/14/psych-journal-in-revolt-as-it-publishes-paper-saying-masturbation-and-gay-sex-are-harmful/
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Macomb Daily, 14 March 2022, "Oakland County man gets 15 years in prison for sex trafficking minor victim in Roseville," Mitch Hotts.
Tory Anderson, 34, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl and branding her face with his name.
(Anderson suffers from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, controlled substance addiction, AIDs, and bladder cancer.)
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The City, 14 March 2022, "How Can NYC Make Shelters Safer? We Asked Four People on the Front Lines," Reuven Blau.
Summary: NYC shelters can be made safer by increasing the number of security guards and increasing the privacy (and, therefore, safety) afforded to people using the shelters.
https://www.thecity.nyc/platform/amp/2022/3/14/22978285/how-can-nyc-make-shelters-safer-we-asked-four-people-on-the-front-lines
The Post and Courier, 14 March 2022, "Editorial: This could be a game changer for troubled SC Juvenile Justice Department," Staff.
The current state of Juvenile Justice in SC: "State law appropriately requires juveniles with severe mental illnesses to be treated at mental health facilities rather than DJJ, but for a variety of good and bad reasons, the state Department of Mental Health closed its youth facilities in 2015. Mental Health is able to place some young people in private treatment facilities, but the most challenging ones are stuck behind the fence at DJJ’s secure lock-up facilities in Columbia, in spite of the state law to the contrary. And the number has been growing steadily." / The guards at these juvenile delinquent centers, which are already subject to severe understaffing, are also subjected to further strain from some disruptively mentally ill inmates, whose number is only growing. The governor believes the solution to this problem is the creation of another facility solely for these mentally ill juveniles. The Department of Mental Health is not under the direction, presently, of the governor's office, and as this department has been derelict in its duties, this should, perhaps, be changed.
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-this-could-be-a-game-changer-for-troubled-sc-juvenile-justice-department/article_9eb7cb1a-a26a-11ec-9321-bb2e7cd88d6f.html
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Jacobin, 14 March 2022, "What the Anti-Psychiatry Movement Got Wrong About Mental Illness," Madeleine Ritts.
(1) "The influence of the pharmaceutical industry over medical education, clinical research, and clinical practice is not unique to psychiatry. However, it is true that psychiatry’s role in impeding a thorough understanding of the very conditions the pharmaceutical industry’s drugs purport to treat is disturbing. Pharmaceutical companies exert a troubling degree of power and authority in defining mental disorders, conducting research into the causes of mental suffering, and determining how it can best be addressed. In the mid-twentieth century, as psychiatry became increasingly reliant on pharmaceutical interventions, the pharmaceutical industry recognized how profitable an alliance could be, and a relationship of disquieting dependency was born. In Anatomy of an Epidemic (2010), Robert Whitaker traces psychiatry’s struggle for legitimacy alongside the interests of the pharmaceutical industry to expose the deep links of dependency between them. This relationship, following the emergence of “breakthrough” psychoactive drugs in the 1950s, is clearly illustrated by the transition from talk therapy as the dominant method of treatment toward pharmaceutically driven therapy."
(2) "Over time, researchers were able to observe that psychoactive drugs affected the balance of various chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the brain, and reasoned that the drugs must be correcting for chemical imbalances. For example, because Thorazine blocks dopamine receptors in the brain — the effect of which reduces aggression and psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations — it was postulated that psychoses must be caused by an excess of dopamine. From these kinds of observations, the infamous “chemical imbalance” theory of mental illness was born. [...] The chemical imbalance theory was peddled to patients and the public because it was a convenient marketing tool. But its promise of chemical cures was greatly exaggerated."
(3) "By and large, psychiatry rests on a knowledge base that has been compromised by industry involvement, but this fact alone does not explain legitimate concerns over psychiatric overreach. Family physicians — who are responsible for the majority of psychopharmaceutical medications available to outpatient populations — receive far less training in psychotherapy than they ought to. Their good-faith efforts to help people are often compromised by an overreliance on the prescription pad."
(4) "Furthermore, the drug approval processes of the US Federal Drug Administration and Health Canada — which generally follows decisions made in the United States — are dramatically skewed to the benefit of pharmaceutical companies."
(5) "In order to take a drug to market, drug companies must submit all the clinical trials they have sponsored (they are not obliged to submit independent reviews of their products). Although drug companies can run as many trials as they like, they only must produce two trials showing that a drug is more effective than a placebo for it to be approved. Negative trials rarely see the light of day, while the positive studies are promoted at conferences and published in medical journals."
(6) "A left politics of mental care must call for publicly funded and democratic inquiry into the nature of mental suffering and possible treatments, ongoing assessments of what is important to people who suffer, and a commitment to provision of treatment and solicitude in care. Societal responses to mental illness have long been characterized by extremes of paternalism or neglect."
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/03/anti-psychiatry-movement-mental-illness-psychological-suffering
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WKRG News 5, 15 March 2022, "Mobile nun builds ministry that sheds light on her own mental illness," Rose Ann Haven.
Noteworthy: Sister Lucindia Claghorn, Alabama, teenage onset, "donated all the proceeds of her book to AltaPointe Health where she continues to be a patient and runs a support group twice a week."
Symptoms: "They start out as just whispers, murmuring. I can’t discern what they’re saying, but the sicker I get, the more pronounced they become and the more they tell me I’m evil. I’m the antichrist. I have to commit suicide just to save the world.”/"She recalled screaming in class from hallucination of blood on her hands, her classmates taunting her, even spitting on her."
Best Quote: "“When you are diagnosed with schizophrenia, it has the same social effect of being convicted of a felony. You don’t have credibility in society. People don’t believe you,” said Claghorn."
Book: "‘Angel of Love, Prayers for the Mentally Ill.'"
https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/mobile-nun-builds-ministry-that-sheds-light-on-her-own-mental-illness/amp/
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The College Fix, 15 March 2022, "After top Columbia doc suspended for calling a black woman beautiful, students still want him fired," Alex McKenna.
Jeffrey Lieberman, chair of the department of psychiatry and psychiatrist-in-chief at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, was suspended for calling a black woman beautiful on Twitter (in the tweet in question, he called her a "freak of nature," while admiring her).
("Lieberman is world renowned as a leading expert on schizophrenia and well-respected in psychiatry.")
https://www.thecollegefix.com/after-top-columbia-doc-suspended-for-calling-a-black-woman-beautiful-students-still-want-him-fired/
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Portugal Resident, 15 March 2022, "Portugal condemned for heartless sloppiness," Natasha Donn.
Summary: Portuguese authorities were found derelict in their duty to assist in finding Rita Slof Monteiro, a schizophrenic woman who disappeared, when she was 18-years-old in 2006, by the European Court of Human Rights. Portugal is expected to pay compensation to her family for the distress they have suffered, due to this. Nothing was done to help them find her, until 2009.
Comments: Why did the Portuguese state drag their feet so much in this case? How corrupt is Portugal?
https://www.portugalresident.com/portugal-condemned-for-heartless-sloppiness/
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The Indian Express, 15 March 2022, "Shortage of psychiatrists in govt hospitals taking toll on patients," Rupsa Chakraborty.
Summary: While the Indian government is funding yoga centres for mental health, there is a desperate need for more psychiatrists, which still has not been met.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/shortage-of-psychiatrists-in-govt-hospitals-taking-toll-on-patients-7820054/lite/
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Stuff, 15 March 2022, "A Taranaki grandmother's heart break over her mentally unwell grandson," Helen Harvey.
"She wonders where all the money the Government has given for mental health has gone."
Comments: This article is about the difficulties that New Zealand's schizophrenics have in getting treatment. It may be corruption in the government, which led to this state of affair.
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NYT, 15 March 2022, "Suspect in Shootings of 5 Homeless Men Arrested in Washington," Andy Newman, Ashley Southall and Campbell Robertson.
The suspect, Gerald Brevard III, has himself been homeless, in the past, and it is implied that he has schizophrenia, although this is never claimed in the article. Did he know any of the victims?
Was this due to symptoms or a quarrelsome nature, or is this a sign that he may have experienced discrimination at work, also?: "“He’d be on the job for one moment and the next I would hear he was no longer employed because he was in some kind of dispute or issue,” said Ms. Brevard, 48, a former law enforcement officer who is now a doctoral candidate in education. “But he’s always tried to maintain employment.”"
The details are lacking, here: "Sometimes he would spin conspiracy theories and appear paranoid, she said, “but when he called me, he was always pleasant and always very mannerable.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/us/homeless-shootings-arrest.html
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PsychCentral, 15 March 2022, "Can Lack of Sleep Cause Symptoms of Psychosis?," MR: Nicole Washington, Author: Rosanna Sutherby.
Comments: I am going to answer, "no," here. I did not lose sleep, before psychosis. After a certain point in psychosis, I started to have trouble getting to sleep. In my case, at least, lack of sleep did not cause psychosis; the former came as part of the latter. What is described in this article is not psychosis, and it should not be labeled as such.
https://psychcentral.com/health/sleep-deprivation-psychosis
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Latin Times, 15 March 2022, "8-Year-Old Girl Reported Missing In December Found Dead In Home Of Mom's Boyfriend," Nirmal Varghese.
Summary: Child (Sophia Mason) of a SZ woman, Samantha Johnson, found dead at the home of her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson; there was a history of child abuse.
https://www.latintimes.com/8-year-old-girl-reported-missing-december-found-dead-home-moms-boyfriend-509677?amp=1
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Newsmax, 15 March 2022, "Crossed Eyes in Children Linked to Increased Risk for Mental Illness," Lynn Allison.
Summary: It is claimed that children with strabismus have an increased risk of developing a mental illness like SZ; 83% greater risk for SZ is claimed. I would need to see studies to believe this one.
https://www.newsmax.com/amp/health/health-news/strabismus-crossed-eyes-children-mental-health/2022/03/15/id/1061253/
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KNOE News, 16 March 2022, "Bastrop family organizes peaceful protest for Patrice Ukeju," Alyssa Azzara.
Summary: The family of Patrice Ukeju, a schizophrenic black woman, are pushing for Captain Gerald Givens to be fired and arrested, after a video of him dragging Ukeju was released.
https://www.knoe.com/2022/03/17/bastrop-family-organizes-peaceful-protest-patrice-ukeju/
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WBTV, 16 March 2022, "Missing Iredell County woman may be in Gastonia area, authorities say," Staff.
Niecy Rose Moore, a black woman who has a SZ and Bipolar diagnosis, hasn't been seen since she took an Uber to East Franklin Boulevard.
https://www.wbtv.com/2022/03/16/missing-iredell-county-woman-may-be-gastonia-area-authorities-say/
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WCNC, 16 March 2022, "UNC professor shares personal motivation for studying psychedelics as possible treatment for mental illness," Lexi Wilson.
Summary: Bryan Roth claims that his mother's schizophrenia is what makes studying psychedelics as a possible treat from SZ appealing to him.
https://www.wcnc.com/amp/article/news/health/psychedelic-mental-illness-treatment-drugs-health/275-d667ae6b-cb7b-4d13-9f55-69e637325a3a
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Daily Record, 16 March 2022, "Pensioner killed wife and told police that he had been 'possessed by the devil', Sophie Corcoran and Chloe Burrell.
Summary: Nigel Audsley, a schizophrenic Brit, murdered his wife Patricia. He claims this was because he had a delusion that he was the Devil, but I think this was due to his own tendencies, and not his mental illness. He tried to pretend that someone else had broke in and done it, after, also.
Comments: If he was a decent person, he would have tried to protect his wife, and would not have killed her; then, if he was worried that he might hurt her, he would have put some space between them, for a while. This is a common suggestion for SZs that have delusions or hallucinations, which tell them to harm loved ones.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/pensioner-killed-wife-possessed-devil-26486582.amp
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Republic-Times, 16 March 2022, "Coalition: mental health, drug use go hand-in-hand," Madison Lammert.
"[Becker] said that young people often use drugs to self medicate, meaning they turn to drugs to help handle emotions. While she is personally seeing less alcohol use in minors, vaping - with some products now containing CBD - is on the rise. Therefore, teaching healthy coping skills is an essential aspect of drug use prevention."
https://www.republictimes.net/coalition-mental-health-drug-use-go-hand-in-hand/
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KWTX, 16 March 2022, "Waco man with severe schizophrenia missing," KWTX staff.
SZ in question: Paul Russell Brown, 52. White Male. Went off medications. Missing.
https://www.kwtx.com/2022/03/16/waco-man-with-severe-schizophrenia-missing/
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Yale, 16 March 2022, "D'Souza Elected to SIRS Board."
Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD, professor of psychiatry, has been elected to the board of directors of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS).
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/dsouza-elected-to-sirs-board/
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Newswise, 16 March 2022, "Home care can help with the recovery of people with schizophrenia in low- income countries."
Summary: The study in question took place in Ethiopia. Seventy-nine people with SZ were selected to receive community-based rehabilitation for one year, while eighty-seven people with SZ reveived treatment from the health centre. It is claimed that the former group showed the greatest improvement.
https://www.newswise.com/articles/home-care-can-help-with-the-recovery-of-people-with-schizophrenia-in-low-income-countries
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People, 17 March 2022, "Kyleigh Leddy Paints Vivid Portrait of Sister's Schizophrenia: 'She Became Another Person'", Sandra Sobieraj Westfall. New Book. [The Perfect Other: A Memoir of My Sister - Kyleigh Leddy]
Noteworthy: Father of SZ is tech executive, mood change after head injury, creative oldest sibling, went to Drexel University.
Symptoms: "Hallucinations began, along with paranoia, delusions and rages."
Treatment: At least, 17 different medications.
https://people.com/health/kyleigh-leddy-paints-vivid-portrait-of-sisters-schizophrenia-after-head-injury-she-became-another-person/?amp=true
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Fierce Pharma, 17 March 2022, "Citing manufacturing 'deviations,' Macleods recalls drugs to treat high blood pressure, schizophrenia," Joseph Keenan.
Summary: A drug prescribed for SZ, Olanzapine, has been recalled (Class II) by the NJ-based arm of an Indian pharmaceutical company.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/macleods-recalls-drugs-treat-high-blood-pressure-schizophrenia
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My Journal Courier, 17 March 2022, "Settlement sets better treatment for mentally ill inmates," Amy Beth Hanson.
"The Montana State Prison will no longer be allowed to punish inmates with severe mental illnesses for behavior caused by their illnesses by putting them in solitary confinement or setting unreasonable behavioral expectations, under a settlement to a federal lawsuit announced this week. [...] Inmates with severe mental illnesses will be guaranteed a minimum of four hours of out-of-cell time per day. Their cells must at least have a toilet, sink and platform beds with a pad and pillow, and if they're on an exterior wall, a clear window."
Comments: This is a positive development, which the ACLU has been involved in. I wish the ACLU had more rivals in some of the causes that they support, for while they do much that is good like this, they also do much that is bad; the former better helps to hide (or excuse) the latter.
It is likely that other groups were also involved in this development, but are less prominent than the ACLU, and therefore, get less recognition from the media. This is also a problem.
https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/amp/Settlement-sets-better-treatment-for-mentally-ill-17010113.php
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Dawn, 17 March 2022, "Defending the mentally ill," Zainab Maboob.
The author of this article is the lawyer that helped bring about this new judgment in Pakistan, last year: "The ‘Safia Bano’ judgement established that it is unlawful to execute a person with mental illness, who is unable to understand the reason for their execution. The court held that such executions would ‘not meet the ends of justice’."
https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1680408
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The Strait Times, 17 March 2022, "5 weeks' jail for IMH nurse who slapped schizophrenic patient," Wong Shiying.
Efendi, 26, has been sentenced for abusing a 59-year-old patient with SZ; his abuse was caught on camera. Other nursing staff also abused the patient.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/5-weeks-jail-for-imh-nurse-who-slapped-schizophrenic-patient-endangered-him-by-tilting-his-chair
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EssexLive, 17 March 2022, "Essex crime: 'Sadistic' Colchester man with paranoid schizophrenia killed his two nephews in vicious attacks," Ellis Whitehouse.
Summary: SZ Brit, Tom Saunders, killed two of his nephews and their friend. He has been give a life sentence. Saunders had received no treatment at the time of the killings. Premeditation is claimed; it is said that the attack was unprovoked.
https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/essex-crime-sadistic-colchester-man-6820243.amp
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The Swaddle, 18 March 2022, "What It’s Like to Live With: Paranoid Schizophrenia," Devrupa Rakshit.
Noteworthy: has two paternal aunts with the condition and a maternal uncle, 20 at onset, journalism internship in toxic work environment at onset (and had delusions related to this), was at college, India.
Symptoms: "At one point, I started to feel like people from work were following me back home, tracking my phone, getting cameras installed in my house…"/ "I began seeing demonic apparitions in my roommate’s face, I could see zombies walking through the canteen on campus, I believed there was going be a terrorist attack on the premises."/ "Sometimes, for example, I feel like someone — maybe, an underworld gang — is reading my thoughts and tracking everything that’s going on in my mind. Then, if I hear a sound outside — of a car reversing, for instance, or something else beeping somewhere — I feel these silent spectators are acknowledging my thoughts. My mind never stops making these connections, even though logically, I can understand they might not make sense."
Treatment: ECT and medications.
https://theswaddle.com/what-its-like-to-live-with-paranoid-schizophrenia/
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WNYT, 18 March 2022, "Police: Missing Halfmoon man might need medical help," Chris Rooney.
SZ in question: Bilal Ashfaq, 20, missing, Indian man.
https://wnyt.com/saratoga-county-ny-news/police-missing-halfmoon-man-bilal-ashfaq-might-need-medical-help/6422251/?cat=11960
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Cambridge Independent, 18 March 2022, "How Cambridge game developer worked with Addenbrooke’s psychiatrist to address psychosis," Mike Scialom.
"The game follows Senua, a Pict warrior who has to face down otherworldly entities on her way to Helheim to retrieve the soul of her dead lover – whose death she witnessed – from the goddess Hela. Along the way she hears disconcerting and accusatory narratives, inner voices and ‘messages’. The voices are troubling, malevolent and distressing for Senua and therefore – potentially – the player, yet they must be navigated to achieve her goal."
[Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice].
https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/amp/how-cambridge-game-developer-worked-with-addenbrooke-s-psych-9245228/
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Fierce Pharma, 18 March 2022, "Eli Lilly takes more heat for campaign contributions to election objectors," Natalie Missakian.
Summary: Eli Lilly and the other big pharmaceutical companies (Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer) are donating to the Sedition Caucus, once again.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/eli-lilly-takes-heat-campaign-contributions-election-objectors
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The Teal Mango, 19 March 2022, "Where is Isabella Guzman, The Women who Stabbed her Mother?," Khadija.
Summary: Isabella Guzman stabbed her mother over 79 times. She claimed to have suffered from "schizophrenic thoughts," for several years, prior to this. Supposedly, she had a delusion about how if she killed her mother she would "save the world;" I smell BS, here - how would she save the world by doing this? (And why did she stab her mother so many times, when murdering her did not require this?)
Gen Z appreciates her physical appearance, and therefore feels sympathy for her, according to this article. Guzman has utilized Tiktok, for this purpose.
Comments: I am skeptical as to her diagnosis. I believe that schizophrenics, generally, never forget that murder is a crime, even if their understanding of right or wrong may be compromised, in some cases; I never forget that murder is wrong, but I do not feel I have investigated enough cases to be able to wholeheartedly say that this is common, or always the case. I do not believe that Guzman should be released, given the nature of her crime. Her supposed delusion doesn't explain the overkill, at all.
https://www.thetealmango.com/featured/where-is-isabella-guzman-the-women-who-stabbed-her-mother/#
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Psychology Today, 19 March 2022, "Poor U.S. Mental Health Care Is Confirmed by a Top Authority," Robert C. Smith.
What stood out for me, here:
(1) "Despite the dramatic advances in neuroscience research, where NIMH is at the vanguard, Insel was troubled by persisting poor mental health care at all levels."
(2) "Surprisingly, given his espousal of a greatly widened biopsychosocial approach, particularly for expanded environmental and social care, he retains the reductionistic stance that mental disorders are fundamentally brain diseases."
(3) "He offers some hope for psychiatry’s almost exclusive focus on finding brain diseases in reviewing that 30 percent of patients with autism spectrum disorder have some genomic basis."
Book: Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health - Thomas Insel
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/patient-zero/202203/poor-us-mental-health-care-is-confirmed-top-authority?amp
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The Daily Mining Gazette, 19 March 2022, "Brain illness and stigma," Catherine Paavola.
Summary: The mother of a schizophrenic hopes to reduce stigma by the use of "brain illness," instead of "mental illness." She also details her son's disability payments, and his struggles to retain his home.
https://www.mininggazette.com/opinion/columns/2022/03/brain-illness-and-stigma/
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