My Son’s Story: Part 4
My Family Has ‘Eccentric Personality Disorders’
Understanding schizoid personality and schizophrenia: How to treat it
It’s not that bad
I wrote a letter to my son’s teachers.
Good Morning, At Midnight yesterday Jack (not his real name it’s his imaginary friend’s name) had a psychotic break. He begged me to take him to the Nothern Westchester ER because there was a chip in his head and he was being attacked by demons. A team of therapists evaluated him and gave a working diagnosis of Psychosis…
This all started Tuesday afternoon while trying to help him do a book report. He really had a hard time writing what he meant down. His sentences didn’t make any sense, he made up words that didn’t exist and he started saying that the school thinks he’s a retard and a lost cause that’s why they didn’t help him learn to express his words onto paper. He believed he was cursed.
My son has been suffering from insomnia which couldn’t be cured with melatonin or cough meds. I set up an appointment for him to see a doctor later that day but missed it because I was transferring him to a Mental hospital instead. Apparently, Insomnia is a side effect of psychosis.
They gave Jack an anti-anxiety drug to help him sleep because he had another paranoid psychotic break in front of the psychiatric team which was exacerbated because He hadn’t slept for 24 hours.
The psychiatrist ordered a PT scan for his brain and found it normal but he was driven via ambulance to a mental hospital for psychiatric care. After talking to the team there, they fine-tuned the diagnosis to Bipolar with psychotic tendencies and ADHD but haven’t really finished their evaluation yet until they observe him more.
He will be staying at the mental hospital with other teenage boys for 4 days to 2 weeks for treatment.
My son just came out of a mental institution after being in the hospital for 2.5 weeks for psychiatric treatment.
An eccentric Personality disorder is also known as Schizoid personality.
It's genetic.
Everyone in my immediate family has some form of ‘eccentric personality disorder’, some more intense than others.
It’s kind of punk rock:
I had a psychotic break twice in my life and was institutionalized for 3 weeks once for a mental breakdown. My son’s diagnosis fell under the umbrella of psychosis(thought disorder) of schizophrenia while my thought disorder fell under the umbrella of ‘bipolar/ ADHD.’
Personally, I think my son was misdiagnosed, I think he had a psychotic break after smoking weed and not sleeping. Although he’s being medicated for schizophrenia, what I think my son really has is an Eccentric Personality disorder.
What is an Eccentric Personality disorder?
Although my son was diagnosed with schizophrenic tendencies, all his life he has been schizoid.
According to WedMD. com:
A Schizoid personality disorder is one of a group of conditions called eccentric personality disorders. People with personality disorders have long-standing patterns of thinking and acting that differ from what society considers usual or normal. People with a schizoid personality disorder also tend to be distant, detached, and indifferent to social relationships.
They generally are loners who prefer solitary activities and rarely express strong emotion. Although their names sound alike and they might have some similar symptoms, schizoid personality disorder is not the same thing as schizophrenia. Many people with schizoid personality disorder are able to function fairly well, although they tend to choose jobs that allow them to work alone, such as night security officers, library, or lab workers.
Understanding schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is the most misunderstood diagnosis and most feared diagnosis. It’s what most people think of when they think of the word ‘crazy’. They see things that aren’t there, hear voices no one else hears and often think they are under some form of attack from people or imagined entities.
My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a perfect storm of problems.
- Excessive Marijuana use
- Suffering insomnia for 24–48 hours
Not sleeping for 24–48 hours. This created hallucinations and a psychotic break. Sleep deprivation is so bad it is used as torture:
In fact, prolonged sleep deprivation is an especially insidious form of torture because it attacks the deep biological functions at the core of a person’s mental and physical health. It is less overtly violent than cutting off someone’s finger, but it can be far more damaging and painful if pushed to extremes.-Pychologytoday.com
I tried everything to help him go to sleep but the melatonin and cough meds didn’t work. Then he told me he smokes to help him go to sleep but he was doing it all the time. I think he was stressed out because he was failing in school, having difficulty concentrating and was overwhelmed by past-due homework.
Just like my ADHD, people with schizophrenic tendencies often have a hard time following up with work or treatment. Which makes it difficult be consistent and finish projects.
I took him to the neurologist thinking he has ADHD. They gave him Adderall, If he doesn’t have Adhd, this can exacerbate schizophrenia by taking Ritalin or Adderall. Plus those drugs make it difficult to sleep.
A psychiatrist said that another thing that might have brought on his psychosis is the side effect of the vaccine shot. My son started acting strangely after he got his second dose. If you are predisposed to mental illness, it might get worse. Who knew?
They say that the first signs of schizophrenia start at in mid 2o’s and 30’s in females (like me) and 17 years old in males:
After learning more about schizophrenia I realized that people shouldn’t smoke marijuana if they are genetically predisposed to mental illness. I had an uncle with untreated schizophrenia.
My therapist says that in the 20 years she’s been practicing, she never saw marijuana causing psychosis until the past 3 years. Marijuana is now laced with something that causes psychosis. It’s not the same pot we use to smoke in high school.
So be careful what pot you smoke and trust where you get it from.
Having said that, It’s still dangerous for my son to smoke pot. He was detached, flat and paranoid when getting high from marijuana and exhibited features of schizophrenia:
- he would say things that didn’t make sense to others with disorganized speech patterns.
- have a hard time staying on topic…jumping from topic to topic
- become suspicious of others
- laugh out loud when no one told a joke🤣 Heck I do that sometimes, I crack myself up with my own jokes and even talk to myself AND respond.
This is the first YouTube video I watched to help me understand schizophrenia:
Schizoid personality and schizophrenia: How to treat it.
My son is being medicated for schizophrenia with the antipsychotic drug called Zyprexa and is seeing a therapist once a week.
In between the time of therapy I encourage him, not to smoke weed at all, to journal and treat himself with I method I use and wrote about here:
I also learned a lot about how to treat these disorders my family and I have been diagnosed with through CBT- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:
Everybody needs help: you, me, the therapist, the Queen of England, the Pope of the Catholic Church- Adriana Azor.
Everyone suffers a bit of psychosis at times. You can test this for yourself. The next time you are upset over something like a misunderstanding of thinking someone did something but later realized it wasn’t the case.
CBT helps you to question your feelings and preception of the world positively and brings you to a healthy state of mind. — Adriana Azor
Thought disorder is an unhealthy way of perceiving the world that causes some form of mental illness. Some simple examples of thought disorders are:
- I didn’t get invited…no one loves me
- She didn’t call back …she’s breaking up with me
- I made a mistake…I’m a loser
The negative conclusion to preceptions to things that actually happened in the real world can cause depression, anxiety, worry and fear. These are under the ‘normal ’ realm of mental illness. However, when it gets to the point of thinking thought like:
- Demons are attacking me….I must sleep with the kitchen knives to protect myself
- There is a chip in my head ….someone is controlling my thoughts…I hear their voices talking to me
- He’s staring at me …they are stalking me, spreading rumors and are out to get me
You are in a thought disorder ‘abnormal’ realm of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is the most misunderstood diagnosis and most feared diagnosis. It’s what most people think of when they think of the word ‘crazy’.
Look, I know many people don’t like the word “crazy” but I’m not offended by the word and actually, I don’t think being nuts is such a bad thing.
Once you’re not hurting yourself or others, being treated, and/or taking meds (I’m not on meds); Having a mental illness can be a good thing. I believe in making the best of a bad situation. I mean, what’s the alternative?
Aristotle said:
No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness
More from me:
I wrote my son’s story in 4 parts:
More Helpful Resources for schizoid personality and schizophrenia:
The Following links were shared to me by Cee Arr:
There’s also info. on drugs and schizophrenia here: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/schizophrenia/causes/#DrugAndAlcoholUse and about the affcets of recreational drugs on mental health here:
Hope that helps — remember to take care of yourself, and your own mental health. And always focus on the love — you can’t go far wrong that way, even if it feels like you are ❤Thank you Cee Arr
Here is another article I found very helpful from AsherTheChampsh:
Thank you AsherTheChamp