Just as Diabetes is a Sugar and Chemical Problem...

Could a chemical imbalance cause Diabetes AND Schizophrenia? The answer is a resounding, YES! Just as someone with Diabetes must monitor closely their blood sugar and sugar intake with shots of insulin, a schizophrenic must monitor their chemical imbalance of their brain with medication, sleep and good mental care.

What do I mean by "mental care?" I mean that just as a diabetic must stay away from doughnuts in their diet, a person with schizophrenia must watch out for the stimuli that they take into their minds. They must, also, manage how much stress that their daily activity causes them, their sleep patterns, and stick to their perscribed medication (perscribed by a psychiatrist). And what do I mean by the stimuli that one takes in? Just that, movies, books, and any other media be calm and non-disturbing. For a "normal" person to watch a disturbing horror movie affects the mind, to a person with an already altered sense of reality, it can be especially problematic--leading to psychotic episodes, in extreme cases.

Another very important aspect to mental care is choosing the person who is going to be your 30-mintues-per-month confidant. What I mean is, for anyone who is going through mental illness, it is important to find a psychiatrist (pdoc) that is caring above all, and who is really going to be on your side. In my experience with my pdoc, Dr. Harish Malhotra, he is someone that I actually interviewed to qualify him for the job of taking me into his care. He, himself, is a caring professional who is in my corner. When interviewing a pdoc (and I will get into those people, such as Tom Cruise from the Scientology "religion" who you should not only not listen to, but stand up against), it is important to ask the right questions. These questions are as follows:

How long have you been a practicing psychiatrist?

What experience do you have with schizophrenic patients (bipolar, major depressive as needed)?

Do you treat your patients with the respect to being a team with them in their treatment?

ETC.

Then, after you have made up your mind to see someone in the psychiatry field, check out their prices (if you do not have insurance), and then make a commitment to be a good patient. By being a good patient, I mean you must do some things for yourself--such as taking your medication as perscribed (if you cannot manage to take them yourself, find a parent, sibling, or someone to manage them for you so that you may take them as perscribed by your pdoc), monitor your sleep patterns, and do NOT self-medicate. What do I mean by self-medication? Well, some people with mental illness take it upon themselves to drink alchohol, smoke cannibus, or otherwise abuse street drugs to, what I call, self-medicate or use these chemicals to make themselves feel better. Do not, I repeat, do not do this. This will only make you feel worse in the long term and it counteracts all good judgement on the issue.