Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
An only child with schizophrenia changes the math of caregiving. There are no siblings to share the load — but there is a path through, planned for the long horizon.
WorkplaceRemote work can be a genuine accommodation for people with schizophrenia — or it can erode the structure that holds recovery together. Here is how to think about it.
LifestyleSmoking rates in schizophrenia are roughly three times higher than the general population, and the resulting health gap is enormous. Quitting is hard but possible — and it is safer than most people think.
TherapyLong before Open Dialogue, Finnish psychiatrist Yrjö Alanen built Need-Adapted Treatment — a flexible model that treats every first episode of psychosis as unique.
Side EffectStopping antipsychotic medication is rarely simple. This guide covers discontinuation symptoms, supersensitivity, relapse risk, and how to taper safely with a clinician.
MedicationLoxapine is one of the few antipsychotics that exists as both a daily oral tablet and an inhaled rescue medication for acute agitation. Here is how it works and where it fits.
MedicationZiprasidone is one of the most weight-friendly antipsychotics — but it requires food with every dose, modest QT monitoring, and patience with akathisia.
MedicationPaliperidone is the active metabolite of risperidone, sold as a once-daily extended-release pill and as long-acting injections lasting from a month to six months.
NeuroscienceSchizophrenia increasingly looks like a disorder with an immune component. Microglia, complement proteins, and cytokines are now central to research — though many questions remain.
DiagnosisThe PANSS is the rating scale you will see in nearly every schizophrenia drug trial. Here is what each of its 30 items measures and how to read PANSS results in research papers.
StoryMy sister died when her daughter was four. I was the only family member who could take her in. I was also living with schizophrenia. Five years later, we are doing okay.
Rating scalesSixty years after it was first published, the BPRS is still in use because it is short, broad, and easy to teach. It is the rating scale equivalent of the screwdriver in the toolbox.
Thought disorderCircumstantial speech eventually arrives at the point but only after a long, detail-heavy detour. It is the gentlest of the disorganised speech patterns and easily mistaken for ordinary verbosity.
Women's healthAntipsychotics can affect fertility — most often through prolactin. Most fertility issues are reversible with the right medication adjustment and time.
StoryI left Brooklyn for a town of 1,800 people in upstate New York. The quiet was the medicine. Access to care was the cost.
Culture and faithJewish communities range from secular to ultra-Orthodox and bring distinct strengths and challenges to schizophrenia care. This is a guide to resources, ritual considerations, and where to find help.
VocationalSchizophrenia frequently emerges during the college years. Supported education programs are designed to help young people stay in school — or return to it — when symptoms have interrupted study.
How-toSSDI is a federal disability program for workers who have paid into Social Security. Schizophrenia is one of the conditions for which SSA has a clear listing — here is how to apply.
NutritionZinc deficiency is more common in schizophrenia than in the general population. Whether supplementation helps remains an open question worth taking seriously.
SleepMany people on antipsychotics struggle with the opposite of insomnia — sleeping 12 hours and still being tired. Hypersomnia has causes worth understanding and options worth trying.
RecoveryIndividual Placement and Support — IPS — is the most studied employment intervention in serious mental illness. Across more than 25 randomised trials, it consistently doubles competitive employment rates.
LAIZyprexa Relprevv is the long-acting injectable form of olanzapine — and the only LAI that requires three hours of in-clinic observation after every injection. Here's why.
MedicationQuetiapine and olanzapine are two of the most-prescribed atypicals — both sedating, both metabolically heavy, but with different efficacy and very different roles in practice.
PreventionA 2010 fish-oil trial suggested omega-3s could prevent psychosis in at-risk young people. A larger replication failed. Here is what the science actually shows now.
Differential diagnosisTrauma is common in people with schizophrenia, and PTSD symptoms can mimic — or amplify — psychotic ones. The two conditions need to be addressed together.
GeriatricAntipsychotics in older adults work — but dosing, monitoring, and indication all have to change. The Beers Criteria and FDA boxed warning shape every prescribing decision.
MythsThe blanket idea that people with schizophrenia shouldn't have children carries echoes of eugenics and is not supported by modern evidence on parenting or genetics.
State guidesPennsylvania uses HealthChoices behavioural-health Medicaid managed care alongside a county-administered system overseen by OMHSAS. This guide walks through the structure and the 302 commitment process.
FitnessTai chi is gentle, low-impact, and accessible to people with limited fitness. A growing body of trials suggests it can help with negative symptoms, balance, and stress in schizophrenia.
DisparitiesAsian American adults use mental health services at the lowest rate of any major US racial group. The gap is not about lower need — it is about stigma, family expectation, and a workforce that rarely matches the patient.