This is some crazy shit.
First of all it takes the mental illness idea. I don't believe schizophrenia should be suppressed but I don't understand enough to make this point.
Schizophrenia is the longstanding prototype of mental illness. Medical perceptions of the diagnosis are strongly tied in with the medicalisation of the human condition itself.
Schizophrenia is caused by differences in the brain. I disagree but this is what the medical profession thinks - at least most doctors do. Some psychiatrists may be more advanced than the rest of their profession.
The brain illness is responsible for the abherrant behaviour and cognitive dysfunction. This 'truth' has been the pursuit of psychiatric science since its creation. Schizophrenia is ostentsive. It fits the prototype of mental illness as it was originally defined.
And, course course, there's the prognosis. Bental challenges the validity and reliability of the science. He doesn't go far enough into how it totally breaks down in clinical practice. Regardless of these salient points, the diagnosis predicts a worse life course better than any other system which attempts to fortell a person's future. Bentall made reference to the science of psychiatry in the same breath as astology in these respects in his book Madness Explained but respect must be given to psychiatry for doing future prediction it so well.
What's perhaps worst is the science and treatment have such little benefit to these poorer outcomes. People with schizophrenia are still being disadvantaged, dying and all sorts of other bad stuff.
I have my own personal thoughts on the solutions to the problem but they're even madder than this one.
It takes a look back into medical history to see that mainstream thinking isn't always the truth. Stroke patients a scant century ago were written off. Their brain had malfunctioned and all doctors could do was to let them die comfortably. A stroke is definitely something which changes the brain and quickly.
One day an old man had a stroke and international best medical practice was applied. He was sent home to die. His two sons were academics and had their own theories. They put them to the test to save their father.
Their father was forced out of bed. He was forced to relearn how to walk. He was fed on all fours from a dog bowl which he was forced to crawl to.
This insanely degrading treatment helped him recover a high level of function. He went back to mountain climbing as a hobby having been given a prognosis of being left to die at home.
There was no real treatment at the time for strokes but this experiment showed what was possible. The patient died of a heart attack and when he was autopsied they found the stroke had destroyed a large part of the biological neural connection between his brain and body. His rehabilitation overcame this brain deficit.
The principle which was proved is neuroplasticity. The mind can overcome biological damage to the brain. Today this idea is the fundamental of modern stroke rehabiliation services and they do it with more human dignity than those two carers who expermiented on their father.
Rehabilitation in stroke overcomes a classically defined brain illness.
I've had half a bottle of wine already and smoked a bit too. Am I so crazy that I can see a potential new direction for schizophrenia treatment?
Perhaps neuroplasticity means schizophrenics could be rehabilitated rather than drugged to death by modern treatments?
I'm not the only crazy one. There is already promising new research into this area. I found it after I searched online for schizophrenia and neuroplasticity. One site is using computer games. People have already bought into the idea of brain training if they own a modern Nintendo portable. It was advertised using a campaign which focused on its value for brain training. This is all I'm talking about. Brain training.
My idea is slightly more crazy. It is in part based on my non medical understanding of schizophrenia. There are other things relating to the prognosis of mental illness and the disability.
The first is wealth or lack of it. Poverty is bad in lots of ways. The majority of people with schizophrenia in the UK are on medical benefits. It's about 95%. It is one of the highest rates of people not in employment or education who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Work brings them out of poverty or education gives a person purpose and a pathway to work. This is obvious. Poverty affects happiness and life expectancy. Work gets a person out of poverty at least.
Schizophrenics can't get suitable work. For one, they're crazy. There is still stigma and discrimnation. But they also have no work experience because treatment used to be medical benefits and housing and a few psychosocial treatments for the lucky ones. It is. Getting better but lots of people are still unemployed. The unemployment reinforces the worse occupational outcomes.
There are many challenges but there's also a crazy opportunity. Neuroplasticity. Schizophrenia treatment and failings, especially on the disability aspect. Poverty and its effects.
I would say...go on...finish this off yourself...but no one gets the reference.
Employment could be a treatment. Organisations which do stuff for money or for the greater good could employ schizophrenics in certain roles or with just some daily task which work on neuroplasticity to reduce their pathology.
Work which involves memory recall. Work which involves dealing with people. Whatever. Think about the pathology and think about the possibility. How is it possible to allow a human being to do what were most amazing at: adapting?
With the right brain training it may be possible to truly change the pathology of schizophrenia just like rehabilitation services did for stroke patients.
Rather than computer games though couldn't treatment be done differently. In our jobs we're constantly being brain trained. If we were a bit smarter about things we could treat some of the pathology of severe mental illness by offering roles which were hybrid jobs in their purpose.
They do a function required by an organisation and the individual is suitably reward irrespective of their disability. Part of their work is certain task which are aimed at treating them but also form part of their job.
This takes a high level of sophistication in job creation within the framework of a modern organisation. Managers don't break roles down into the type of activity which would allow the principle of neuroplasticity to allow a schizophrenic to be made normal.
So it is crazy. There are the barriers of reality. Current recruitment practices don't split roles up in this way either. They seek to find the best and those who fit in. Few organisations truly exist to do more than deliver to their bottom line in a Machevillian way.
Organisations are swayed by legal duties and charity campaigns. They can also be incentivised by financial rewards to do more than achieve their bottom line. Many organisations still have ideals too, ideals which would mean they might be willing to look at employment as healthcare.
The most idealistic organisations in this respect are the healthcare organisations and charities. The Third Sector.
Would they be crazy enough to innovate a new direction of mental healthcare treatment? One which requires totally mad thinking on their part.
Work could be a way to treat the pathology. Work could also be a way to significantly affect the poorer life outcomes of schizophrenics in the uK and this could lead to other improvements in other measures.
Alternatively there's the status quo and those who aren't crazy enough to even attempt innovating. They're responsbile. 20% of the completed suicide rate is by schizophrenics. They die 20 years earlier. 95% are out of work or not in education.
The status quo is a life on harmful and unpleasant drugs. The drugs don't treat the core pathology, just the externalisation. Few other treatments are offered.
Today the schizophrenic is written off. I heard of that happen to a stroke patient once. The medical profession failed them when it took that attitude.
Thank fuck for the invention of applied neuroplasticity right?
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