Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
My brother got sick when I was nine. I am 34 now. I am still figuring out what that did to me, and what I want to do with it.
State guidesGeorgia delivers schizophrenia care through DBHDD, a network of Community Service Boards, the well-known Georgia Crisis and Access Line, and ACT and Intensive Case Management teams.
FitnessSwimming is gentle on joints, suits a wide range of fitness levels, and provides full-body aerobic conditioning. For many people with schizophrenia it is the most sustainable cardio option.
Legal & FinancialFull guardianship is the most restrictive legal tool available. For people with schizophrenia, less restrictive alternatives often achieve the same goals while preserving rights and dignity.
Side effectsAntipsychotics impair sweating and the brain's temperature regulation, raising heat-stroke risk in hot weather. Here is the practical playbook for staying safe in summer.
TherapyCognitive symptoms — attention, memory, problem-solving — are often the most disabling part of schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation therapy is the most evidence-based way to address them.
MedicationThioridazine was a top-selling antipsychotic for decades before cardiac safety findings pushed it to the margins. Understanding what happened explains a lot about how psychiatry weighs benefits against risks.
MedicationLithium has been studied as an add-on for schizophrenia for half a century. The evidence is most convincing for schizoaffective disorder and for patients with mood symptoms, aggression, or persistent suicidal thinking.
MedicationIloperidone is an atypical antipsychotic with a favourable EPS profile but a slow titration requirement to manage blood pressure drops on standing.
MedicationOlanzapine is one of the most effective antipsychotics for both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — but it has a notable weight gain profile that needs honest discussion before starting.
Therapy modalitiesMost schizophrenia care does well at managing voices and delusions but stops short of teaching the everyday social skills that decide whether a person can hold a job, keep a friendship, or live independently. CBSST is built to fill that gap.
StoryI lived on frozen pizza for four years. The reason was not laziness. It was that my brain could not hold a recipe in working memory long enough to follow it.
Side effectsAntipsychotic weight gain is biological, predictable, and partly preventable. Here is what is happening at the receptor level and what actually works to limit it.
FAQSchizophrenia in women tends to begin later than in men, often involves more mood symptoms, and is influenced by hormonal cycles. There is also a second onset peak around menopause.
StoryI spent thirty years not asking for help. The decade I have spent learning to ask is what has kept me out of the hospital.
Rating scalesSymptoms are not the same as life. Functional scales measure the things that actually matter to most people in recovery — work, relationships, household activities, leisure, and self-care.
Levels of careA good case manager can be one of the most important relationships in a person's recovery. Here is a guide to the types of case management, what they do, and how to find one.
Thought disorderThought blocking is the sudden, abrupt interruption of a train of thought. The speaker stops mid-sentence and often cannot pick the thread back up.
HallucinationsPhantom tastes — bitter, metallic, foul — are an uncommon but recognised hallucination in schizophrenia, often appearing alongside olfactory experiences and a long differential diagnosis.
City guidesSan Antonio's Bexar County system is anchored by The Center for Health Care Services and UT Health San Antonio. This guide maps the public providers, the academic centres, and crisis numbers.
Brain circuitsThe salience network helps the brain decide what deserves attention and switches between internally and externally focused modes. In schizophrenia, both functions appear disrupted.
WorkplaceTicket to Work is a free Social Security program that lets people on SSDI or SSI try going back to work without immediately losing their benefits. Here is how it works for people with schizophrenia.
HousingHousing First puts people into housing without requiring sobriety or treatment compliance. For adults with schizophrenia experiencing homelessness, the evidence for it is among the strongest in mental health services research.
Crisis models988 is the three-digit number that replaced the old 1-800-273-TALK Lifeline in 2022. Behind that simple number is a sprawling network of local crisis centers, geo-routing technology, and follow-up systems most callers never see.
VocationalNeurocognitive Enhancement Therapy was designed around a specific question: can pairing computer-based cognitive training with paid work therapy produce gains that hold up at the job site? The trial answers were yes.
MediaPete Earley's son was hospitalised in psychiatric crisis. Earley, an investigative journalist, then spent a year inside the Miami-Dade jail's mental health unit. The result is one of the most influential family-advocacy books of the past two decades.
RecoveryDeveloped in the early 2000s and listed by SAMHSA as an evidence-based practice, IMR is a 10-module curriculum that teaches the practical skills of managing serious mental illness over the long term.
TransitionsACT teams are designed to surround you with support during the most disabled stretches of serious mental illness. Stepping down — to less-intensive care — is a sign of recovery and a real transition that needs planning.
MedicationPipotiazine palmitate is a long-acting injectable phenothiazine antipsychotic used in many parts of the world but never approved in the United States. Here is what it does and where it is used.
MythsSchizophrenia is often described as 'rare,' but the WHO estimates roughly 24 million people worldwide live with it — a public health issue of substantial scale.