THC is known to cause few symptoms that occur in shizophrenia. I think this is why its been believed so long that weed causes it.
It can make you accept conspiracy theories openly.
It can make you paranoid.
It can derail your thoughts.
(CBD is good at calming these "psychotic" effects of THC. MAybe this is why it's being studied as a new potential antipsychotic)
All of this is very common in schizophrenia, but having only these symptoms is not enough to label one shizo at all.
Conspiracy theories? Yeah, so easy to label someone psychotic so nobody will believe them.
I also believe a lot of conspiracy theories, just like most of stoners.
Paranoid? Every healthy person can be paranoid sometimes and even extreme paranoia alone is not a proof of schizophrenia.
Thought disorder? This is one of the key symptoms of shizophrenia. Ranging from frequent derailing to incomprehensible word salad.
People experience thought disorder on weed normally and a lot of people have very mild case of this when they're otherwise healthy.
Does your paranoia make no sense? Nope, if you connect the dots, it makes sense, it's not illogical, just paranoid.
Is your train of thought fucked up? For me it seems you have it under control.
Are you hallucinating? You say no.
What about your emotions? Schizo emotions are either flat or almost flat (this can also be depression etc). Or very inappropriate.
Are you experiencing any weird involuntary movements?
If nothing above is true for you I doubt you are shizophrenic. Maybe I'm not any doctor, but that above is basically the definition of schizo...
Emotions are in check when in public. No weird movements.
When I was going through this, before the 'schizo', I went in there for suicidal thoughts initially. I was so depressed with how I managed my current life circumstances, that I constantly had thoughts running in my head about suicide.
Once I checked into therapy (kaiser), they started giving me the "well, you might have major depressive disorder. And PSTD from your childhood abuse 'incident' and random acts of violence."
This is where I began to self diagnose myself, reading DSM's and symtom websites and people discussing their "psycho/sociopath/narcissist/bi-polar/aspergers/autistic/etc.. boyfriends/friends/co-workers. I began to identify with a lot of the symptoms and behaviors in all of them, which freaked me out into 'panic attacks'...or as I call them "They want me dead...society wants ppl like me dead or in prison". (Note: don't smoke weed and self diagnose on the internet)
I would return to my therapy sessions confessing all my 'discoveries' about myself somehow thinking if I had admitted it, I would be patted on the back for being a 'good honest' person. Little did I know, this was the beginning to a nightmare. The therapist became VERY interested in what I had to say, in my family's behaviors, and our relationships. I became paranoid here because I thought I had done something terribly wrong; I turned in my family to the "system". If I was truly all those things, I would be a 'psychopath' (a learned psychopath; through social intelligence "how to attract women" websites, kinda like
"How to win friends and influence people').
The paranoia came rushing in, feeling like an enemy of the state. Feeling like I just ignorantly "tagged" myself and family as undesirable personalities to the society, therefore the 'system' would put us through tests/slander in other to lose our jobs/credibility/etc. I started connecting theories on autism behavior, the MMR vaccine, and social control. Apparently autistic/Aspergers children, if not taught empathy, are at higher risk of "psychopathy". I became suspicious when the newer DSM volumes kept changing the labels for Psychopathy/sociopath into more friendly terms such as "Anti-social personality disorder". I assumed it was because its more appealing for people to request help for someone who is 'anti-social' rather than accusing them of being a psychopath. The appealing changes in labels for 'disorders' didn't seem right. I mean, how many kids did you know in highschool who kept to themselves? Nothing wrong with that.
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On Autism. Autistic children are known to exhibit "mimicking" behavior. In my theory of the MMR vaccine bring true, they poisoned us all in 1993-1994 causing an inflation of autism. The mimicking behavior was used as a strength for social control. Use the celebrities/idols to give the people something to mimic. This was the key in the further discussion bellow on the media. The vaccine also impaired peoples social skills, further increasing the strength of control within the masses. Some may repute the MMR claims saying the man blowing the whistle was a liar, but think about this. Who's easier to blame, an individual blowing the whistle (slander), or the medical field? Who has more influence/control? Who has more money?
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I also connected Maslows hierarchy of needs to be manipulated through society. Each block being controlled, from the bottom up, by; Pharmaceutical field, Banks, Workplace, and Media. Each having an impact on the needs of a person, suppressing development into self-actualization. Basically, keeping people down on a primitive larva level of existence. (mainly minorities; the used)
So I kept going on and on with 'research', connecting dots, and finding psychological studies on how when animals are stressed (and level of security; survival), their levels of anxiety rises. Which in turn causes them to eat more, fuck more, and fight.
I connected these findings to how humans (also from the animal family) are being manipulated by societies rulers/law makers/rich (influential) to feel insecure, unsafe, and majority kept poor in order to keep them busy with "surviving" instead of thriving into higher levels of consciousness (See
8 levels of consciousness) Also, how "arts" are being eliminated from public schools in attempt to suppress creativity and focus on institutionalizing minorities (whom are the majority) into willing servitude to authority (teachers; in the form of pleasing them with the work they demand) and competition (through competing with your peers for 'better' grades/property/spouses/etc, encouraging the 'dog-eat-dog' lifestyle, which in turn, turns people against each other, promotes civil hostility/rejection to those 'different' than the individual, and prevents people from uniting as a collective force which keeps the majority divided and conquered by the ruling classes.
The Media affects self-esteem. News channels promote fear, distrust, and paranoia. Magazines/film/mainstream (manufactured) artist are constantly convincing young people they are 'not good enough' through bombardment of sex appeal and social status that the average individual most likely "won't" be able to achieve. In turn, attacking the self esteem of the individual through their own self worth, as people are naturally inclined to compare themselves to others; think in school when your friends compared test grades to see how they stood against their peers. (IMPORTANT: everything is done through one's own will; self defeat, as it leaves no trace/blame but to the individual). Media also promotes worship of "idols", instead of one's self. Celebrities, athletes, etc used as methods of individual self-defeat through conditioning beliefs that a person is "BORN" with gifts, instead of the reality that one can too master skills through self-discipline and work ethic. Idols are used as means of 'living bi-curiously', defeating ones motivation to strive for greatness themselves.
People are also manipulated to believe that one must 1)find a spouse/mate in order to feel complete, 2)create a family, and 3) have children/get married by a certain age...increasing one's anxiety the older one gets and increasing the chance of a desperation to 'catch' a partner and him/her not being a suitable match...perpetuation the failing marriage trends of societies adult-youth.
In the work place, people are given a choice; Do as I say, or find another job. We are quickly shown that 1) YOU are replaceable by someone(usually younger and proportionally ignorant to life experience) willing to do what the employer demands and 2)If your job conflicts or with your core beliefs/values, a)you're either going to stand for them and suffer consequences or b)relinquish them in exchange for your means of survival/security/money...aka...selling your soul. It is made clear that in order to get ahead, you must please the boss (authority;think back to the conditioning of the teacher(authority) in schools aka. 'institutions'). And how pleasing the boss, instead of work ethnic/quality, promotes alternative methods of coercion, flattery, loyalty, validation, etc.
There's more but i'm becoming quite drained/tired.
To sum this part up, we're being lied to, forced to do things against our beliefs that covertly taxes our spirituality(same as situations and people that can tax/drain our emotional/physiological energy), and are given unhealthy short-term 'solutions' to relieve our anxieties instead of promoting the wellness and emotional/physiological/spiritual growth of the masses. Why? Money. If they can make you Hungry, horny, and angry...they can provide temporary relief...and then it repeats every Monday Morning. A Vicious cycle that flows the money up the pyramid.
Feel free to ask question regarding holes in my 'theory'. Im sure there are plenty as I wrote all this off from memory.