Plain-language, educational articles on schizophrenia, psychosis, antipsychotic medications, and lived experience — by ColdAI.
MCT is a free, manualised group programme that teaches people with psychosis how cognitive biases — jumping to conclusions, mind-reading, overconfidence in errors — shape what they believe. The eight modules add up to one of the most accessible therapies in the field.
Special populationsSchizophrenia in Deaf and hard-of-hearing people raises questions that hearing-centred psychiatry rarely asks — including what hallucinations look like in someone who has never heard sound.
Medication managementStopping or reducing an antipsychotic can produce three distinct things — discontinuation symptoms, rebound psychosis, and withdrawal dyskinesia. Telling them apart matters.
Levels of careResidential treatment provides round-the-clock psychiatric support without the locked-unit feel of a hospital. For some people with schizophrenia, it is the right level of care between inpatient and home.
Brain circuitsThe prefrontal cortex underlies the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Reduced volume, lower activation during effortful tasks, and altered GABA interneuron function are among the most consistent findings.
Expressive therapiesDrama therapy and psychodrama are not theatre classes. They are structured psychological therapies that use embodied story to work with experiences that are hard to address through talk alone.
HousingAssisted living can be a good fit for adults with schizophrenia who need help with daily tasks and medical oversight without round-the-clock nursing care.
ResearchRoughly one in four people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome develops schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder. The condition is the strongest single genetic risk factor for schizophrenia known.
Medical comorbidityChronic obstructive pulmonary disease is several times more common in people with schizophrenia than in the general population — and almost all of it is driven by tobacco smoking.
MedicationIloperidone has one of the lowest EPS profiles among second-generation antipsychotics — but it requires patient titration to manage blood pressure drops. The trade-off defines who it fits.
StoryAfter my episode I could not walk into a church for three years. The thought of God was tangled up with the worst weeks of my life. Here is how I slowly came back to faith without going back to the delusions.
TherapyAcceptance and Commitment Therapy does not try to silence voices or correct delusions. It teaches the person how to live a values-based life with whatever the mind delivers.
TechnologySmartwatches, Fitbits and rings now produce huge volumes of data. Here's what's genuinely useful for schizophrenia, what's still research, and what to ignore.
Practical lifeDental visits are skipped at high rates by people with schizophrenia. Here is how to make the appointment, get through it, and protect your teeth between visits.
StoryMy grandmother taught me to pray before she taught me to read. When I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 30, my church did not save me. But it held me while medication and therapy did the saving.
Side effectsNMS is rare — but when it happens, hours matter. The full clinical picture, the differential, and what re-introduction of antipsychotics looks like afterward.
StoryI was diagnosed at 20. I am 47. The first twenty years were chaos. The last seven have been a life. Both belong to me.
HallucinationsExtracampine hallucinations occur outside the normal sensory field — the sense that someone is behind you when you cannot see them. They are reported in psychosis and in several neurological conditions.
Drug interactionsCigarette smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that strongly induce the liver enzyme CYP1A2. The result: smokers often need higher doses of clozapine and olanzapine — and quitting can dangerously raise levels.
WorkplaceFMLA gives many U.S. workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave each year for a serious health condition — including schizophrenia. Here is a closer look at how it works.
MindfulnessCompassion-focused therapy (CFT) targets the harsh inner critic that often sits inside schizophrenia. The evidence base is small but encouraging — and the framing alone helps many people.
SleepInsomnia in schizophrenia is not just an inconvenience — it predicts relapse, worsens cognition, and lowers quality of life. Here is what actually works to treat it, in order of evidence and safety.
DelusionsWhen a person becomes convinced that the people around them can read their thoughts, every conversation becomes a kind of nakedness. Mind-reading delusions are a closely related cousin to thought broadcasting.
Crisis modelsCAHOOTS — Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets — has been answering Eugene's mental-health calls without police involvement since 1989. It has become the model for non-police crisis response across the US.
Caregiver scenariosWithout a sibling to share the work or check your judgment, the caregiving role can feel both larger and lonelier. The fix is not to do more — it is to build a team that is not made of family.
Lab monitoringClozapine remains the most effective antipsychotic for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but it requires routine blood counts because of a small risk of dangerously low neutrophils. Here is exactly how the monitoring works.
MedicationThiothixene, sold as Navane, is a high-potency thioxanthene antipsychotic with effects similar to haloperidol but a slightly different chemical backbone.
StoryMy first psychiatrist made me feel small. My new one took two years to earn my trust. This is what made the difference.
SeasonsChristmas stretches stressors over weeks, not one day. The goal is not a perfect holiday — it is a sturdy one. Here is how to plan for it.
DisparitiesReligious belief is woven through how many patients with schizophrenia experience and explain their illness. For minority faith communities, mainstream psychiatry often misses both the strength and the specificity.