How do Schizophrenics think?

Denerick

I've always had this morbid fascination with Schizophrenia, like I've associated a rare genius with those who have the condition. I wonder what it must be like to possess the thought process of a Schizophrenic. Can modern pyschology explain the reasoning process of a shizophrenic to any great degree? Or is this really all just a mystery or conjecture?

Odysseus

Denerick wrote: »

I've always had this morbid fascination with Schizophrenia, like I've associated a rare genius with those who have the condition. I wonder what it must be like to possess the thought process of a Schizophrenic. Can modern pyschology explain the reasoning process of a shizophrenic to any great degree? Or is this really all just a mystery or conjecture?

Could you expand do a bit, do you mean symptoms like thought broadcasting, learning to live with vvarying degrees of audiorty hallucinations etc? Or something else?

Denerick

Odysseus wrote: »

Could you expand do a bit, do you mean symptoms like thought broadcasting, learning to live with vvarying degrees of audiorty hallucinations etc? Or something else?

Its really the delusions I'm getting at. I'm curious about how they can so thoroughly believe something that is logically impossible to be true.

Odysseus

Denerick wrote: »

Its really the delusions I'm getting at. I'm curious about how they can so thoroughly believe something that is logically impossible to be true.

I haven't got the time to explain it fully now and it's getting late, also there are different opinions on it, but if you explore those delusions there is a logic to them. Just not the "rational logic " you are referring too.

I get back to you on it, or maybe some might give you a different viewpoint on the topic. Some therapies may very strongly challenge the delusion, but I'll leave you with a Freudian qoute that would quide my work "they love their delusions as they love themselves", hence if you attack the delusion too strong or even in a minor way it can unconsciously be seen as an attack upon themselves.

Also are you referring to schizophrenia or delusional disorder, or would you be aware of the difference.

sam34

dont have much time at the mo to answer this, but its worth reading the biography of john nash.

at a time when he was well, they asked him how he could have believed such bizarre things, considering how intelligent he was.

his answer was simple and poignant "i believed it because it was the same thought process as every other thought and belief i had, it came to me the same way that any of my thoughts about mathematics did"

bisset

I've always wondered how people who vote Fianna Fail think.!! Seriously though if you are really interested in the subjective experiences of people who are suffering from or have suffered from schizophrenia I would recommend the book 'Eden Express' by Mark Vonnegut (son of Kurt). It gives a very detailed account of his suffering from a psychotic illness. Another book along the same lines is 'I've never promissed you a rose garden'. While most people who are diagnosed as suffering from schzophrenia seem to have symptoms in late teen years or early twennties anybody can suffer from a psychotic illness at any time of their lives. So be careful what you wish for.

Valmont

Denerick, this book would be right up your alley. It's a philosophical, observational, and clinical look at schizophrenia and quite a bit more.

hotspur

Valmont wrote: »

Denerick, this book would be right up your alley. It's a philosophical, observational, and clinical look at schizophrenia and quite a bit more.

I love that book and I think the embodiment material is very interesting, though the OP asked about modern psychology's take on schizophrenia. There is little in that work which is congruent with modern views. I would still recommend it as a read for those training in psychology or a cognate field.

For a simply written, more modern overview I recommend something like the chapter on schizophrenia in Alan Carr's Abnormal Psychology (which can be obtained in digital form online if you know where to look). If you're interested in how the positive symptoms like the delusions are treated there's a good chapter on CBT treatment for them in David Barlow's edited Clinical handbook of psychological disorders (4th ed) (also can be obtained online).