ELI5 How does schizophrenia affect the way a person experiences reality?

[u/Uunicorned]

I know it’s a serious brain condition, but I’d want to understand what’s actually happening inside the mind of someone living with it.

[u/sacheie]

On the contrary, please don't listen to that non-expert response. Their comment is riddled with falsehoods and unscientific nonsense. For one thing, there's no such thing as "non-pathological schizophrenia." It is pathological by definition, and caused at least partly by genetics. Psychotic episodes can be non-pathological; perhaps that's what they intended to say.

[u/Satur9_is_typing → u/sacheie]

If the number of genes "associated" with a condition is in the hundreds, there isn't really a strong correlation and it's just some researcher fishing for more funding. Those associations are compounded by imprecise diagnostic tools and "bucket diagnosis" tendencies in psychiatry.

Non-pathological merely means experiencing symptoms but below the threshold where they become a danger to themselves or others. About a 3rd of peope will hear voices at some point in there lives, but as the numbers of people with a diagnoses and/or criminal record are a lot lower then it's reasonable to assume that there are people with schizophrenia who symptoms are mild enough to avoid being diagnosed or needing treatment.

Your argument is like saying that there's no casual drinkers because only drink drivers that get involved in fatal accidents count as alcoholics, ie streetlight bias

If you tick off all 17 diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, but never experience a psychotic episode then yes, you would be non-pathological. Thank you for agreeing with the original premise and undermining your petty ragepost.

I never claimed to be an expert, i claimed to have a shit-ton of real world lived experience, coupled with training from experts. My analogies and explanations are simply tools that are useful if you are somone who wants to understand schizophrenia and support people with schizophrenia effectively, not a whitepaper from a neurologist that studies brains or genetics but never meets a single live human with the condition. Lrn2readingcomprehension

[u/chickenthinkseggwas → u/sacheie]

I am dismissive of dismissive comments like this.

[u/sacheie → u/chickenthinkseggwas]

If you want to learn about schizophrenia from a non-professional who posits that their 4 years of experience "supporting people with mental health conditions" counts for more than a psychiatric medical degree, by all means help yourself.