Hi all! Its been months since I’ve been on here - just life crud and stuff with my son. Dr. Phil’s show is on right now and it has all the initial earmarks of schizophrenia but I have this nagging feeling that its gonna go the wrong way. Maybe not. Maybe you can check it out. So far he’s saying there’s just a few things he needs him (the young man who had a previous brain injury) to do to get back on track with his life. If you can catch it, please watch. Maybe we can discuss later…
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Well, @Pookey52 , do tell! How was Dr P?
I didn’t know he was still on air and was too confused whether to find him on AppleTV, streaming HULU to watch, or through Spectrum OnDemand via our WiFi subscription of Paramount, or through Peacock which comes thru Amazon Prime, but is also extra $$.
So I’m waiting for your review…
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I should’ve known not to expect much - so much was generic and most of the “explanation” came from the fact that the kid took a form of marijuana while in college. I felt that he could have explained that the drugs could have been a trigger but nooooooo. He even had a doctor who said he agreed with what Dr. Phil said but…he hadn’t said much. The kid was on a virtual camera and his sentences made no sense. He had suffered TBIs in school football and that was tied in to subsequent hazing in college. I think the closest he came to mentioning the possibility of schizophrenia was his use of “psychotic episode”. Her son’s actions reminded me so much of my son but her son was 25 and mine is 41. I know he had shows in the past on schizophrenia but this one wasn’t one of those. Disappointing.
I read an article yesterday that I’m trying to find where a woman had a 3-D MRI and found that she is suffering from brain atrophy. I’m going to see if there is something here in our area - if I could get my son to go through one. Might explain a few things.
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Thanks for sharing.
Heavy HEAVY marijuana use preceded my son’s initial major episode which led to his hospitalization and eventual diagnosis of SZ at age 20 (confirmed multiple times since). He’d surely been a challenging kid to raise but this new phase was (is!) scary. (Meaning he wasn’t a perfect kid that smoked a ton of weed in a short period and derailed).
Still, I’ve often wondered if weed caused this initial break, or perhaps was laced with something stronger which created the problem. Everything I read says ‘definitely marijuana doesn’t help, and likely contributes to SZ’. A very rare few sources believe marijuana CAUSES the SZ.
I tend to believe that our son has always had learning and behavioral issues that led to police and treatment facilities. And those early diagnosis pointed towards probable personality disorders. Weed didn’t cause it. But neither did it help.
I believe smoking weed was a way for him to self-Medicate his pain. It’s a non-starter now. A very negative trigger for going off meds and off rail!
But who knows… clearly not Dr Phil!! 
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Sorry for reviving this topic. I didn’t see that episode, but I remember seeing a Dr. Phil episode which featured a young man who thought he had SCZ because he heard voices, but Dr. Phil said “not really.”
You know, I think I get it now. Positive symptoms indicate Psychosis; negative (including cognitive) symptoms indicate Schizophrenia. Hence, the +/-
Plus, meaning too many neurotransmitters (or too much brain activity). Minus, meaning not enough neurotransmitters (lack of brain activity).
I think doctors or mental health professionals know this but try to conceal its simplicity so that there’s no confusion if a patient pretends or fakes having Plus or Minus. Easier to diagnose.
I have not watched TV for many years, I have an idea who Dr Phil is but regarding mariguana users I’ve observed that just like the question: what came first: the egg or the chicken? As you said, many drug users use it as self-medication; in a NAMI support group one of the attendees told us about her teenage son who was using mariguana and one day he tried to kill her and he landed in jail, one of the guards told her that he thought he had a SMI and he was put on mental health care, so being on medication was a great turn. It worked for everyone involved. A few passengers I had the opportunity to meet ditch their meds and were drug users or alcohol dependants. Ha! Those reps from the dispensary came one day to our local library to give a presentation on how to get the stuff: gummies, weed for calmness and else so they had to get a card for a fee ($250 at that time and a ‘dr’ 2hours away from here). Right here we have 2 dispensaries, one very close to the High School!!!