Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
There is a growing body of work linking schizophrenia with autoimmune disease. In rare cases, what looks like psychosis is actually autoimmune brain inflammation — and treatable.
BehaviorsSelf-injury in schizophrenia spans many causes — from coping with overwhelming feeling to acting on a command voice. Each one calls for a different response.
InteractionsOlanzapine plus alcohol is one of the most common antipsychotic combinations clinicians actually see. The pharmacology is less dramatic than clozapine, but it isn't trivial.
CopingThe 5-4-3-2-1 technique is one of the most widely taught grounding skills. Here is how to adapt it for schizophrenia, including which steps to modify if a step backfires.
StorySix years stable on clozapine, I asked my psychiatrist if I could try something with fewer side effects. Here is the year that taught me why clozapine is sometimes the right answer twice.
StoryAfter my second hospitalisation, my driver's licence was suspended. Getting it back took eighteen months, three doctors' letters, and a small, important fight to be seen as competent again.
StoryA psychotic episode does more than scare the people around you. It scares you out of trusting your own perceptions for a long time afterwards. Here is what slowly bringing that trust back looked like.
Special populationsLGBTQ+ people with schizophrenia carry two stigmas at once. Care that ignores either one is not really care.
Co-occurringPeople with schizophrenia die 10 to 20 years earlier than the general population, and cardiovascular disease is the largest single reason. The drivers — and the levers — are concrete.
CrisisWhen someone is in psychiatric crisis, the responder who shows up shapes the outcome. Mobile crisis teams send clinicians instead of police — and the data on outcomes is striking.
TreatmentTMS is non-invasive and FDA-cleared for several conditions, but for schizophrenia it remains experimental. The most promising signals are in persistent voices and negative symptoms.
LAIFluphenazine decanoate is one of the oldest long-acting injectables in continuous use — cheap, effective, and still a reasonable choice for the right patient.
MedicationInvega Sustenna delivers a month of paliperidone in a single intramuscular injection — designed for people who struggle with daily oral dosing and for whom adherence is a major challenge.
ProfileEleanor Longden was a young university student when she first started hearing a voice narrating her actions. Her recovery — and her TED talk — helped change global conversations about psychosis.
SymptomsNegative symptoms — apathy, flat emotion, social withdrawal — drive much of the long-term disability in schizophrenia. They also respond poorly to most antipsychotics.
OverviewSchizophrenia is rarer than most people assume but more universal in its global distribution than almost any other illness. The numbers worth knowing — and what they actually mean.
FAQSchizophrenia cannot be cured in the way an infection can be cured, but it can be treated effectively, and a substantial proportion of people achieve long-term recovery.
StoryDivorce is one of the most destabilising life events any adult can face. I went through one at 45 with schizophrenia, and stayed stable. Here is how.
StoryI made a six-figure salary in tech sales. I was in the hospital twice in two years. The math, when I finally did it, was not actually close.
Differential diagnosisAround a quarter of people with schizophrenia also meet criteria for OCD. The line between an obsession and a delusion can be subtle but matters for treatment.
MythsThe idea that parents — especially mothers — cause schizophrenia did enormous harm to families for decades. Modern research tells a very different story.
CaregiverCRAFT is a research-backed alternative to confrontational interventions — designed to help families guide a resistant loved one toward treatment.
WorkplaceAsking for a workplace accommodation feels intimidating, but the legal process is more flexible than most people realise. Here is a step-by-step script you can adapt.
TherapyDBT was built for borderline personality disorder, but its concrete skills — mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation — are increasingly adapted for psychosis.
MedicationQuetiapine is one of the most widely used antipsychotics — heavily sedating, broadly licensed, and often prescribed off-label for sleep. The latter raises important issues.
PsychosisA first episode of psychosis is one of the most consequential moments in mental health care. What happens in the first weeks shapes outcomes for years.
NeuroscienceAdding serotonin 5-HT2A blockade to dopamine blockade gave us the 'atypical' antipsychotics. Here is what serotonin actually does in this story.
DiagnosisThe DSM-5-TR criteria for schizophrenia are precise but readable. Here is what each one actually means, in plain language, with the clinical reasoning behind it.
StoryFor two years I was certain the FBI had been watching me since college. The night I realized they had not was not dramatic. It was a Tuesday in March.
Thought disorderClang associations are sentences linked by rhyme, alliteration, or pun rather than meaning. They are most associated with mania but appear in schizophrenia too.