Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
Assisted living can be a good fit for adults with schizophrenia who need help with daily tasks and medical oversight without round-the-clock nursing care.
ResearchRoughly one in four people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome develops schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder. The condition is the strongest single genetic risk factor for schizophrenia known.
Medical comorbidityChronic obstructive pulmonary disease is several times more common in people with schizophrenia than in the general population — and almost all of it is driven by tobacco smoking.
MedicationIloperidone has one of the lowest EPS profiles among second-generation antipsychotics — but it requires patient titration to manage blood pressure drops. The trade-off defines who it fits.
StoryAfter my episode I could not walk into a church for three years. The thought of God was tangled up with the worst weeks of my life. Here is how I slowly came back to faith without going back to the delusions.
TherapyAcceptance and Commitment Therapy does not try to silence voices or correct delusions. It teaches the person how to live a values-based life with whatever the mind delivers.
TechnologySmartwatches, Fitbits and rings now produce huge volumes of data. Here's what's genuinely useful for schizophrenia, what's still research, and what to ignore.
Practical lifeDental visits are skipped at high rates by people with schizophrenia. Here is how to make the appointment, get through it, and protect your teeth between visits.
StoryMy grandmother taught me to pray before she taught me to read. When I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 30, my church did not save me. But it held me while medication and therapy did the saving.
Side effectsNMS is rare — but when it happens, hours matter. The full clinical picture, the differential, and what re-introduction of antipsychotics looks like afterward.
StoryI was diagnosed at 20. I am 47. The first twenty years were chaos. The last seven have been a life. Both belong to me.
HallucinationsExtracampine hallucinations occur outside the normal sensory field — the sense that someone is behind you when you cannot see them. They are reported in psychosis and in several neurological conditions.
Drug interactionsCigarette smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that strongly induce the liver enzyme CYP1A2. The result: smokers often need higher doses of clozapine and olanzapine — and quitting can dangerously raise levels.
WorkplaceFMLA gives many U.S. workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave each year for a serious health condition — including schizophrenia. Here is a closer look at how it works.
SleepInsomnia in schizophrenia is not just an inconvenience — it predicts relapse, worsens cognition, and lowers quality of life. Here is what actually works to treat it, in order of evidence and safety.
DelusionsWhen a person becomes convinced that the people around them can read their thoughts, every conversation becomes a kind of nakedness. Mind-reading delusions are a closely related cousin to thought broadcasting.
Crisis modelsCAHOOTS — Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets — has been answering Eugene's mental-health calls without police involvement since 1989. It has become the model for non-police crisis response across the US.
Caregiver scenariosWithout a sibling to share the work or check your judgment, the caregiving role can feel both larger and lonelier. The fix is not to do more — it is to build a team that is not made of family.
Lab monitoringClozapine remains the most effective antipsychotic for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but it requires routine blood counts because of a small risk of dangerously low neutrophils. Here is exactly how the monitoring works.
MedicationThiothixene, sold as Navane, is a high-potency thioxanthene antipsychotic with effects similar to haloperidol but a slightly different chemical backbone.
StoryMy first psychiatrist made me feel small. My new one took two years to earn my trust. This is what made the difference.
SeasonsChristmas stretches stressors over weeks, not one day. The goal is not a perfect holiday — it is a sturdy one. Here is how to plan for it.
DisparitiesReligious belief is woven through how many patients with schizophrenia experience and explain their illness. For minority faith communities, mainstream psychiatry often misses both the strength and the specificity.
TherapyFamily psychoeducation cuts relapse rates by 20 to 50 percent — yet only a fraction of families ever receive it. This is a closer look at what it is, why it works, and how to find it.
StoryA composite story about being held involuntarily in a psychiatric hospital — the anger, the loss of trust, and the slow practical work of coming back.
CaregiverCaregiver burnout is not weakness — it is what happens when too much weight rests on too few people for too long. Recognising it is the first step in carrying less of it.
HospitalRehospitalisations rarely come out of nowhere. Most follow a recognisable run-up of sleep changes, missed doses, and rising symptoms. Catching it early is the entire game.
MedicationPerseris delivers a month of risperidone with a single subcutaneous injection in the abdomen — and skips the long oral overlap required by older risperidone LAIs.
DifferentialParanoid personality disorder and paranoid schizophrenia share a word but not much else. One is a personality pattern; the other is a psychotic illness.
Side effectsBlurred vision on antipsychotics is usually a temporary anticholinergic effect on the eye's focusing muscle — but a small number of vision changes need urgent evaluation.