Anyone have any advice on Schizoprenia?

mabella

There is an expectant mother that we are hoping to learn more about, but we recently learned she has been diagnosed with Schizoprenia and on meds. I have done some research (just prliminary this am) and am still a bit confused. Thought I would ask all of you ladies.

 

TIA

Michelle

silliestbunny

I took advice from a friend who is a psychiatrist.  She said science does show a hereditary link and advised us to only consider situations if we were open to raising a child that developed Schizophrenia.  We chose not to be shown.

 As a side, my husband is a teacher and one of his favorite and truly most brilliant, shining students was diagnosed with schizophernia as a sophomore in college.  What a blow .... this boy is fantastic.  His parents have done a great job of helping support him with the disease and he is back at school but living at home.  It's a tough disease/

JOEBunny

My cousins wife is one of 10 kids.  The oldest has Schizophrenia.  The other 9 are all fine (she is a doctor).  Her brother is very debilitated by it and lives in a group home.  There is not a 1 to 1 link by any stretch.  This article specifically addresses adoption that you may find comforting.

Any child bio or adopted can have issues, you just know this one has one risk factor.  My brother has diabetes, my father heart problems, my mother breast cancer, it doesn't mean that I will get them or that my children will, it is just one of many risk factors.  

The bigger issue is if she is getting the care she needs to have a healthy pregnancy and maintain her meds.  

DavezWife

I am a nurse, and worked quite a while on inpatient (medical) psych, and there were a huge number of schizo-affective patients varying degrees of illness. Not sure what you specifically want to know, but pick my brain if you want. (I'm at the GTG friday, if you're part of that group?) or here/email.

bottom line - medicated? it's quite manageable. But med-compliance? whoa. man, is that TOUGH with that population. (keep in mind I saw the worst of the worst, though)

Go_Dawgs

I think with mental illness, especially schizophrenia and bipolar which have a strong hereditary link, one needs to feel prepared to raise a child with the disorder if adopting from a bio parent with the disorder.  More likely than not the child will not have it, but there is still a strong chance.  I don't know the odds with schizophrenia, but with bipolar it is a 1 in 4 chance.  

While there is never any way to predict all of the obstacles your child may have in life, DH and I personally decided to not consider situations where a bio parent had any mental illness other than mild depression or anxiety.  I've personally seen how difficult it is on friends and family when a person has a serious mental illness.  We weren't willing to knowingly take a 25% chance of having a child with such challenges.

noonecarewhoiam

Of all mental illnesses, there is the strongest genetic link for schizophrenia (and there is a school of thought that bipolard disorder--especialy with psychosis--is a "less severe" form of schizophrenia).

Have seen the disease ravage a young man I grew up with and watching his family struggle with his illness, I would not be comfortable parenting the child of a schizophrenic.

come*on*baby

My grandfather was bipolar (it was called manic depression at the time) - he had 7 children, none of been diagnosed as bipolar. He also has 18+ grandchildren, only 1 that I know of has a mental illness - my brother. He's schizophrenic, but not dibilitating and he's also Type 1 diabetic. He's actually quite a smart man, lives on his own, but doesn't sleep a lot because of the schizophrenia so he's somewhat dependent on my parents financially a lot due to his illnesses (mainly his diabetes). He sought out the use of illegal drugs to help him cope with his illness before finally admitting he needed help. Do I love him any less? Absolutely not!

My DSs biologically maternal grandmother is diagnose schizophrenic and is medicated. This did not stop us from adopting them because I realized that if we had biological children, they had the possibility to be bipolar or schizophrenic as well. 

 

Childhood schizophrenia is quite rare. If the child were to develop it, it would be once they were an adult, on the off chance, late teens.

DavezWife

not to argue (really) but from what we saw.... age 18-22, and male, was the most common onset of symptoms. They were often ignored until later 20's when life stressors and jobs, etcs got in the way (no longer was "oh he's just being a goofy kid" could be the reason) but late teens was a common age of onset.

none of this matters to the OP, but having seens a ton of cases and read thru too many H&P's, that's what I saw.

forensicmama

Hi. I'm a lurker and a psychology major. Not a psychologist, but I might be able to help a bit. The chances of this child getting Schizophrenia are just 13%. I actually know a young woman (she's a classmate of mine here at University) who has Schizophrenia and you wouldn't know it if she didn't tell you - she's on her meds and she has therapy sessions. Just remember that what's portrayed in the media (just as in just about anything) is usually the most dramatic and sensationalized case they can find, to get ratings and viewers for their program. I think that if I was looking to adopt and I was financially stable enough to provide medication and/or therapy in the small chance that the child has Schizophrenia, then I wouldn't blink in making the decision to adopt. I'd also do some reading on it. Hallucinations are actually a very rare symptom of Schizophrenia and if they do come, they're usually auditory and can be controlled with medication. My point in bringing that up is that usually Schizophrenia is misconstrued by the general public as being Multiple Personality Disorder (which is a totally different and unrelated disorder). So, there's a lot to be learned and understood about people with this disorder... just as in many other things (AIDS, diabetes, conjoined twins.. you name it).

jehnm

I'm a clinical social worker and have worked with many individuals suffering from schizophrenia.  I have seen the worst of the worst and then those who are fairly controlled on meds.  I have never seen anyone who is so controlled that they are able to live a completely "normal" life.   And just about every person I've ever worked with has had some form of auditory or visual hallucinations or paranoia. 

I've always read that there is a risk of 15-20% for this child to develop this illness.  I would definitely ask if there is anyone else in the family diagnosed with it.  We were approached by a situation where the birthmom, her mom and an aunt all were diagnosed with it.  We said no.  If there are multiple family members with the disease it is a higher risk. 

Schizophrenia is one disease we are not comfortable with considering.  I've seen too many parents dedicate their entire lives to trying to keep their children somewhat stable and Davezwife is spot on with the prevalence and onset stats.  My heart goes out to these invdividuals because their lives are not easy.  This isn't to scare you, but to be honest and if you have any specific questions, please ask. 

come*on*baby

DavezWife:

not to argue (really) but from what we saw.... age 18-22, and male, was the most common onset of symptoms. They were often ignored until later 20's when life stressors and jobs, etcs got in the way (no longer was "oh he's just being a goofy kid" could be the reason) but late teens was a common age of onset.

none of this matters to the OP, but having seens a ton of cases and read thru too many H&P's, that's what I saw.

 

agreed completely 21-22 was when my brother was diagnosed. He has auditory hallucinations. (I'm sure he'd be ecstatic to know that I've shared all this information!)

Nature Lover

I work with people with disabilites - all kinds of disabilities - including some with schizophrenia. This is the most challenging popualtion to work with because there is so little that can be done to help them live an indpendent life. Yes there are meds and they can do wonders but as someone else said trying to get them to take them is nearly impossible (under 18 you can kind of force the issue but they will be your "child" long after 18).  Its not a matter of just being stubborn, its a reuslt of the disability (can you imagine thinking the world is out to get you and then being asked to take these little pills from "the wrold"?).

Yes the more extreme cases are what is portrayed in the media but I would be heartbroken to parent a child/adult with even the most mild case of schizophrenia because even those can be debilitating (haven't even touched on teh side effects of the meds to control the symptoms of schizophrenia).  I don't know exact chance/risk level but even if its 13% which is the lowest anyone has thrown out, that is NOT a small number. I say move forward if you are prepared to parent a  child with schizophrenia, but do your research first and know what that entails.