The Road to Mental Wellness with Desert Rose

February 15, 2025

Hello all! I hope everyone has had a good week. I keep hearing my late cat (Mister

Puss) playing in his room and even a meow on occasion. I understand that I’m only

hearing what I’m used to hearing and that the sounds are not real. This in itself

reminded me of folks fighting a battle with schizophrenia. Let’s discuss, shall we? Let’s

begin with what schizophrenia is and isn’t. Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that

causes people to interpret reality abnormally. They don’t know what sights, sounds, and

experiences are real or what they are imagining. Schizophrenia isn’t curable, but it’s

often treatable. In a small percentage of cases, people can (in a sense) recover from

schizophrenia entirely. But this isn’t a cure because there’s no way of knowing who will

relapse and who won’t. Because of that, experts consider those who recover from this

condition “in remission.” Treating schizophrenia usually involves a combination of

medication, therapy and self management techniques. There is another mental health

disorder similar to schizophrenia but is a combination of schizophrenia and a personality

disorder such as Bipolar-Disorder. To be more specific schizoaffective disorder is a

chronic mental illness that causes a person to experience dramatic changes in their

thoughts, moods, and behaviors. It often endures throughout a person’s lifetime. The

condition arises when a person has both schizophrenia, a brain disorder that changes

the way a person thinks, acts, and perceives reality, and a mood disorder, which causes

severe changes in mood or behavior. The symptoms of schizoaffective disorder can be

life-altering, causing affected individuals to have hallucinations, embrace false beliefs,

and experience depression or mania. Cycles of severe symptoms are often followed by

periods of improvement, during which there are no symptoms. Because it is so

uncommon, schizoaffective disorder isn’t always correctly diagnosed at first. Some

people instead receive a diagnosis of either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and

sometimes both without realizing it’s a case of schizoaffective disorder. There is no cure

for schizoaffective disorder, but when it is correctly identified, medication &

psychotherapy may help people manage their symptoms. Some people may only

experience depression, while others may cycle between depression and mania. People

with schizoaffective disorder may have difficulty identifying and expressing emotions.

They may also have lower empathy levels than healthy people. Other symptoms of

schizoaffective disorder include:

Strange speech patterns

Hostility and suspicion

Angry outbursts

Inappropriate laughter

Self-harming behaviors

Social isolation

That is all for this week. I have not settled on next week’s subject yet so it’ll be a

surprise to us all. Until next week, I wish you all good mental health.