Posted by med_empowered on November 8, 2006, at 14:10:29
In reply to Amphetamines and schizophrenia: thoughts?, posted by halcyondaze on November 8, 2006, at 10:55:31
ummm...that's ridiculous.
"Schizophrenia" is a ridiculously vague, non-descriptive term. The patient pool is heterogenous, outcomes are unpredictable...its more a label than a true diagnosis (I know this sounds anti-psychiatryish; I'm just saying that schizophrenia needs to be replaced by better, more descriptive terms).
Anyway....the guy clearly had some drug-induced problems, and saying that a psychotic relapse months after discontinuing an antipsychotic (which could have made him more prone to psychosis through dopamine sensitization) is simply ridiculous. Given all the things that can contribute to psychosis, and how non-specific the term "psychosis" is, the idea that just b/c he had a psychotic episode after treatment with an atypical he must be schizophrenic is overly simplistic, especially if he has a history of substance use (and especially if he's using hallucinogens).
Sigh. Besides, the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia is pretty much crap. I mean, think about: if schizophrenics did have an excess of dopamine, and if antipsychotics did correct this, why do antipsychotics cause Parkinson's like problems? If they're "correcting imbalances," someone on an antipsychotic should function just like someone not on an antipsychotic.
poster:med_empowered
thread:701609
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061104/msgs/701661.html