Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
Friedrich Nietzsche collapsed on a Turin street in January 1889 and lived the next eleven years in profound mental disability. The diagnosis is one of the longest-running debates in clinical history.
Practical lifeA haircut should not be a major event, but for people with schizophrenia it sometimes is. Here is how to make the appointment manageable — or skip the salon altogether.
StoryMy kids had figured out something was wrong long before I told them anything. The day I finally explained it, I learned how much they had been carrying alone.
City guidesDallas's mental-health system runs through Metrocare Services as the LMHA, UT Southwestern as the academic anchor, and Parkland as the safety-net hospital. Here is a practical map.
Women's healthPostpartum psychosis affects roughly 1 to 2 in 1,000 births and is a true psychiatric emergency. Recognising it early changes outcomes for the parent and the baby.
DelusionsThought broadcasting is a particular kind of delusion in which thoughts feel as if they are leaving one's head and being heard by everyone in earshot. It is unusual, distressing, and treatable.
Caregiver scenariosYou can do meaningful caregiving from a thousand miles away — but only if you build the right tools, the right local team, and the right rhythms.
MediaA curated reading list for patients, families, clinicians, and curious readers — with notes on what each book offers and where to start depending on what you are looking for.
MedicationTrifluoperazine, sold as Stelazine, is a piperazine phenothiazine — chemically a cousin of fluphenazine, with similar high-potency D2 blockade and a long clinical track record.
MedicationPimavanserin is unique: it acts only on serotonin receptors, with no dopamine blockade at all. FDA-approved for Parkinson's psychosis, its role in schizophrenia-spectrum care is more limited and worth understanding clearly.
Physical healthHearing loss is twice as common in people with schizophrenia and may even worsen voices. A simple audiogram can change the trajectory.
StoryMy kids were six and nine when I sat them down at the kitchen table and told them what schizophrenia was. Here is exactly what I said, and what I would change.
StoryI started a small online community for people with schizophrenia after a particularly isolating year. Five years later it has thousands of members — and has changed how I understand my own illness.
CaregiverThe legal tools available to families range from a simple healthcare proxy to a full conservatorship. Picking the right one — and not over-reaching — matters more than most families realise.
LifestyleRegular exercise has measurable effects on psychotic symptoms, cognition, mood, and the metabolic damage caused by antipsychotics. It's underused as a treatment.
MedicationTrihexyphenidyl is a centrally acting anticholinergic introduced in the late 1940s. It can be very useful for movement side effects, but the long-term cognitive cost matters.
DiagnosisNeuropsychological testing measures the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of schizophrenia in detail — useful for treatment planning, school accommodations, and tracking change.
DifferentialPsychosis can occur as part of severe depression as well as in schizophrenia. The differences in mood, content, course, and treatment matter for getting better.
Side effectsUrinary hesitancy and incomplete emptying can be a quiet but important side effect of antipsychotics, especially those with anticholinergic activity. Here is what to know.
LifestyleFirst-episode psychosis often coincides with college years. Disability services and formal accommodations make staying — or returning — possible. Here is how they actually work.
LifestyleThe link between cannabis and psychosis is one of the most replicated findings in psychiatric epidemiology — and the most often dismissed. Here's an honest summary.
Side EffectSedation is so common with antipsychotics that it is often confused with the illness itself. Knowing which drugs sedate most — and how to manage it — can transform daily life.
MedicationAsenapine's distinctive sublingual delivery brings its signature side effect: a numb mouth that some patients tolerate easily and others can't. Here's what else to expect.
Crisis & safetyRestraints and seclusion are supposed to be last resorts under federal law — but in practice, knowing your rights makes a real difference in how they are used.
Therapy modalitiesMCT is a free, manualised group programme that teaches people with psychosis how cognitive biases — jumping to conclusions, mind-reading, overconfidence in errors — shape what they believe. The eight modules add up to one of the most accessible therapies in the field.
Special populationsSchizophrenia in Deaf and hard-of-hearing people raises questions that hearing-centred psychiatry rarely asks — including what hallucinations look like in someone who has never heard sound.
Medication managementStopping or reducing an antipsychotic can produce three distinct things — discontinuation symptoms, rebound psychosis, and withdrawal dyskinesia. Telling them apart matters.
Levels of careResidential treatment provides round-the-clock psychiatric support without the locked-unit feel of a hospital. For some people with schizophrenia, it is the right level of care between inpatient and home.
Brain circuitsThe prefrontal cortex underlies the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Reduced volume, lower activation during effortful tasks, and altered GABA interneuron function are among the most consistent findings.
Expressive therapiesDrama therapy and psychodrama are not theatre classes. They are structured psychological therapies that use embodied story to work with experiences that are hard to address through talk alone.