I help people who experience schizophrenia with hypnosis. Many who have a diagnosis have contacted me to help with their problems.
As a clinical hypnotherapist (AHA), psychotherapist and mental health professional (PACFA register) I can give you the support you need. As a naturopath I look at the physical changes you can make to improve your health and daily experiences.
In some cases, you may even get some health fund rebates or financial assistance from different agencies.
Like everyone else there are times when you need mental health support to help you with your everyday life and health.
What is schizophrenia?
It’s an interesting question because there can be no absolute answer that applies to everyone, and classification can be very controversial at times.
There are also different forms of schizophrenia, and some are diagnosed as having physiological causes and others as being of a psychological nature.
These are some subtypes that have been previously used over the years:
- Paranoid schizophrenia – hallucinations, disorganised thoughts, fear you are not safe, changes of personality, large mood swings
- Hebephrenic schizophrenia – disorganised thoughts, behavioural difficulties, distorted perception of reality
- Catatonic schizophrenia – unable to respond to your surroundings, swings to becoming highly agitated and violent
- Undifferentiated schizophrenia – delusions, hallucinations, disorganised behaviour
- Residual schizophrenia – where someone’s symptoms have subsided either for a long time or permanently
- Simple schizophrenia – not engaging in goal-directed behaviour, depression, inability to have expectations of pleasure, unable to be joyful
- Unspecified schizophrenia – the symptoms do not fit one definition
What causes schizophrenia?
For different people there may be different or multiple contributory factors that cause problems with thinking and emotional regulation. Often the cause of the symptoms cannot be differentiated.
Certainly, for many people it’s a chemical neurotransmitter disorder in the brain that causes the neurons to misfire and some not to fire at all (1).
It has been proposed that there is an inherited genetic link in some families. This means that you inherit a dysfunctional gene map that leads to the chemical imbalance in the brain (2).
Those who experience early childhood trauma are more likely to develop schizophrenia personalities because the brain begins to form in a dysfunctional way (3).
Blunt force trauma due to physical injury can change the structure of the brain and the dysregulation of neurotransmitters, giving rise to schizophrenia-like symptoms. This can happen at any age (4).
How does diagnosis work?
Really, it’s a case of observation of the patients and recording their signs and symptoms. In some patients it’s obvious what is happening. In others we have to rely on third-party reporting of what you have been experiencing to get the complete picture (5).
In diagnosing there is a general rule that acuteness is for a period of three months and thereafter the diagnosis of chronic illness is made.
Since generally in schizophrenia, we cannot tell what causes those symptoms, we cannot initiate any physical tests. So, it generally takes a team of people reporting what they observe to achieve a diagnosis. That problem is though it is often one clinician who makes the diagnosis on a restricted amount of information.
A recent study, however, of brain scans found that some patients who experience the symptoms had a lower distribution of grey matter in their brain (6).
Is schizophrenia permanent?
For some people, but not everyone, schizophrenia is a permanently disabling mental illness or disorder. In such cases medication is used to try to suppress the symptoms and give you greater mental stability (7).
You might not like the feeling and side effects of these medications but for some people it is a way to give you some kind of normal life. Sometimes you may have stopped taking your medication and have relapsed.
Some people do seem to have symptoms subside and fully recover. It could be from a misdiagnosis in the first place, which is common. Many psychiatrists over-diagnose and misdiagnose temporary psychosis as schizophrenia.
Certainly, there can be a big difference when people begin to change the way they are living, diet, and surroundings. There is lots of evidence this can make a huge difference (8).
How can hypnosis help?
Since most psychiatrists do not understand or have minimal skills in hypnosis and hypnotherapy, they steer their patients away from it for fear it may destabilise you. That is not true.
There is a high level of addiction, disorganised thoughts, emotional instability and damage to your self-image and confidence with schizophrenia. Psychotherapy and hypnosis together can help you change these as long as you are stabilised and remain in therapy.
Even when you still have some delusions, long-term therapy can help you manage these in many cases, when psychopharmacology has failed (9).
In working with me we change so much for you: the way you eat, stand, breathe, move, think, believe, act and interact with the world. And hypnosis can help that change go faster.
Book your appointment for hypnotherapy for mental illness with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, BHSc, ND, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist, Naturopath & Medical Nutritionist and Orthomolecular Practitioner, PACFA Registered Mental Health Professional. You can visit the clinic or connect by Zoom anywhere in the world. Telephone 0403 398 808.
References
1) Luvsannyam, E., Jain, M. S., Pormento, M. K. L., Siddiqui, H., Balagtas, A. R. A., Emuze, B. O., & Poprawski, T. (2022). Neurobiology of schizophrenia: A comprehensive review. Cureus. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9080788/
2) Henriksen, M. G., Nordgaard, J., & Jansson, L. B. (2019). Genetics of schizophrenia: Overview of methods, findings, and limitations. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, Article 274. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00274
3) Popovic, D., Schmitt, A., Kaurani, L., Senner, F., Papiol, S., Malchow, B., Fischer, A., Schulze, T. G., Koutsouleris, N., & Falkai, P. (2019). Childhood trauma in schizophrenia: Current findings and research perspectives. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, Article 274. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6448042/
4) Orlovska, S., Pedersen, M. S., Benros, M. E., Mortensen, P. B., Agerbo, E., & Nordentoft, M. (2014). Head injury as risk factor for psychiatric disorders: A nationwide register-based follow-up study of 113,906 persons with head injury. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(4), 463–469. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13020190
5) Hany, M., Rehman, B., Rizvi, A., & Chapman, J. (2024). Schizophrenia. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5794244/ & https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539864/
6) Penn Medicine. (2020, February 27). Researchers discover second type of schizophrenia. Penn Medicine News. https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/february/researchers-discover-second-type-of-schizophrenia
7) Stępnicki, P., Kondej, M., & Kaczor, A. A. (2018). Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9, Article 702. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6222385/
8) Hoenders, H. J. R., Bartels-Velthuis, A. A., Vollbehr, N. K., Bruggeman, R., Knegtering, H., & de Jong, J. T. V. M. (2018). Natural medicines for psychotic disorders: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 79(5), 18r12121. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.18r12121
9) Pyun, Y. D. (2013). The effective use of hypnosis in schizophrenia: Structure and strategy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 56(2), 182–191. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23957260/
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