Mental Illness Awareness Pt.3 – Schizophrenia, Impulsive Behavior, Multiple Personality Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress

Click here to read Intro
Click here to read Part 1
Click here to read Part 2

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a condition that has plagued the mental health world for decades.

Mental health experts have been finding more cases of these individuals than they have in the past. This condition is nothing that should be ignored and ignoring the diagnosis only adds to the problem.

Schizophrenia has several levels of symptoms and these patients must be treated immediately.

Any person complaining of any of the following must receive treatment immediately:

• Paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Hearing voices

These individuals suffer immensely and those around them also suffer because of the  person’s actions and lack of reality. They often feel that someone is trying to get them or coming to get them. They may also tell you that the CIA or KGB is out to get them as well.

Hallucinations affect the sensory in the sense that it conveys messages to sense organs and then creates a  suspicious force. This causes the person to be suspicious of everything around them including objects, places, things and people.

Once they suspicion sets in they can become extremely dangerous and may act out violently.

The twin area of the brain is affected in this condition and causes the individual to break off from reality. Medication is often required to prevent schizophrenic episodes and hallucinations.

Researchers have been astounded by this condition for years and are always seeking answers to questions regarding the condition. The hallucinations that these individuals suffer from are similar to psychotic breaks and the patient looses contact with reality.

The voices that they hear often tell them that there is danger near, which is often not true. An example of a serious schizophrenic was the Oklahoma City Bomber.

Signs that a person may be schizophrenic include:

• Laughing for no apparent reason
• Shouting at the air
• Constant muttering during periodicals
• Covering ears

Most individuals who suffer from this condition are recognized by the age of 13 and these individuals are often not treated until later in life when they should be treated much earlier. This is often because certain symptoms are often found in other disorders and professionals wait to see if the person is a true schizophrenic or if they are suffering from another condition.

The downside is that if the person is not treated early enough they often break into paranoia and this is when diagnosis is quite dangerous. The reason is because they begin to hear voices in their head and they may claim the voices are from God, the Devil or aliens. Their visual perspective is often similar to the voices they hear in their head.

They may tell you that they see people from the CIA or KGB or that someone delivered packages to their door, etc.

These individuals are not typically suicidal, but would rather kill than die. There have been a few cases of schizophrenics showing suicidal behaviors however.

Impulsive Behaviors

Impulse Control Disorders are becoming more common in today’s children. There are few people who have never acted on an impulse, but when symptoms are reoccurring and consistent then the individual needs help. Judgment plays a large role in impulses and if the judgment is ignored in a dangerous situation someone may get hurt.

Most of the individuals suffering from this condition act on impulses against their better judgment. In many cases these behaviors hurt others.

These individuals also tend to not have the ability to regard the law, society, him or herself or others. They simply act without thinking. The patient also has an intense feeling to act out on an impulse even though his instinct says “no.”

Intermittent Explosive Disorder is the worst of these conditions because the end result can be deadly if left untreated. These individuals illustrate explosive behaviors and patients with this disorder have neurological and brain aberrations. Many of these individuals are very dangerous and other mental illnesses are often lurking beneath the
surface.

For example, a child could be diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorders, Impulsive Control Disorder, Antisocial Disorder, Oppositional Defiance and Psychopathic Tendencies. These individuals can be hard to treat and many will tell you there is no treatment for them.

These individuals will do several dangerous acts including:

• Abuse a person to the point of death
• Bash walls
• Bust windows
• Terrorize the home
• Hurt animals
• Start fires
• Make explosives
• Engage in pornographic materials obsessively
• Laugh for no reason
• Walk around with a deranged look

This is also just the beginning of their actions in many ways. These individuals will also show no remorse for their actions and may even blackout during their explosions.

These individuals also appear to have a good side and an evil side. They tend to be triggered by certain actions or words, but they may also explode for no apparent reason. Founding counseling for these individuals is often difficult if you can find them at all.

Many will simply tell you that it is hereditary and there is nothing they can do for you. Parents can deal with these children by showing absolutely no fear for them and using reverse psychology.

Impulse Control Disorders also include Pathological Gambling Obsessions. This activity is often uncontrollable as well once the addiction of gambling sets in.

These people may also have underlying disorders such as:

• Antisocial personalities
• Mood swings
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Depression
• OCD

These individuals also resort to theft and kleptomania.

Pyromaniacs are also placed in this category because they are unable to control their impulses. These individuals set fires and watch them burn. They will also extend this beyond their own home. These people have issues with  substance abuse, self-esteem, resist authority and other similar symptoms.

If you notice someone sitting around and burning items in the home and laughing about it you will want to watch this person closely. Some individuals only show slight symptoms while others will be more severe.

Multiple Personality Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress

These two conditions are often linked together because the person may develop additional personalities to deal with their stress.

These patients are often the survivors of severe abuse. Multiple Personality Disorders often have several symptoms including:

• Distinct personalities
• Personalities of different genders
• Personalities of different ages
• Multiple signatures
• Different IQs
• Personality Types
• Amnesia
• Voices in the head
• Frequent nightmares
• The use of “we” when referring to self
• Outer body experiences

These patients are often alone in the world because the experts do not usually have enough information to understand their diagnosis. It is often difficult to ever hear the truth about these conditions as well. These patients will often fight against lying and will strive for accuracy.

Female patients are rarely violent, while males may be. Some males patients have been sent to prison for crimes including robbery and rape.

Patients often act on projection or interjection caused by an alter personality. This condition has been questioned as whether or not it is real, but the fact is that it is a true condition. Many have tried to pretend to have multiple personalities to get out of crimes by way of insanity, but it is nearly impossible for these individuals to maintain
distinct personalities.

Personalities may include child alters, teens, adults and even elderly personalities. All personalities are a sub part of the actual person who has been traumatized to the point that they are no longer able to cope.

These individuals are also very intelligent. These individuals tend to have issues and difficulty with medical treatment as their blood pressure may raise and lower, they may have seizures and their respiratory rates may change. Some personalities may even be blind.

The patient often goes through life with the disorder and when they reach a certain age they have no chance of coping. This is when integration of the personalities needs to occur.

Integration places the alter personalities in an area of the mind to stay permanently. Once the integration is complete, these individuals may have a hard time going back to normal life as they have lived most of their life with their “family” in their mind.

These individuals have a sense of loss because they don’t know how to cope in the world without their personalities.

It is possible for the personalities to communicate with each other after integration, but it is never the same. Many individuals have a difficult time going through life because they are used to the daily stress of work and life being shared by their other personalities and now they only have themselves to depend on.

Click here to read Part 4

Tagged Impulsive Behavior, Multiple Personality Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress, Schizophrenia