Amanda Bynes Schizophrenia Symptoms Possible: What is Schizophrenia?

Troubled Starlet Amanda Bynes has displayed increasingly erratic behavior that has attracted a lot of attention.  Bynes was recently put on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold for an incident in which she allegedly tried to light gasoline in someone's driveway. Perez Hilton has said that these symptoms are evidence of possible schizophrenia.

Amanda Bynes appearance has changed a lot lately with wigs and plastic surgery.  Amanda Bynes' plastic surgery includes a nose job and the removal of breast implants.

Other concerning behavior includes her twitter accounts.  Perez Hilton speculated that the Twitter handle Persiannyc27 could be an alternate Amanda Bynes twitter account, as they are mutual following each other.  Tweets on the Persiannyc27 account sound similar in tone to Amanda Bynes' Twitter and are very disturbing in nature.  One tweet says that "The voices in my head are driving me crazy".

Amanda Bynes' Twitter account also has concerning tweets, such as "I Want A Million Dollars A Year For Illegally Having My Mind Read and Privacy Stolen."

The experience of voices is one symptom of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.  Delusions are also a symptom of schizophrenia.  Delusions and voices can make it difficult to understand people with schizophrenia, but some psychologists say that delusions can reflect aspects of a person's reality.  Amanda Bynes has certainly lived in an alternate reality due to Hollywood.  The feeling of having ones' mind read may seem less crazy when you consider the world is watching Amanda Bynes' behavior.

People with schizophrenia symptoms often have trouble with normal tasks of daily living.  They tend to withdraw from social life and often have difficult relationships with family.  They may have blunted and inappropriate seeming emotional responses.  They deal with an enormous stigma related to their diagnosis, which can prevent them from integration with society.

How Do You Deal With Schizophrenia Symptoms?

People with schizophrenia are given drugs called antipsychotics.  Antipsychotics act on dopamine and can quickly end a psychotic crisis.  However, according to journalist Robert Whittaker, a twenty year longitudinal study of schizophrenia patient outcomes found that people who did not continue antipsychotic treatment after acute hospitalization crisis did better and had fewer psychotic relapses than those who took medication.  Anti-psychotic medications can cause the body to upregulate neurotransmitter receptor sites, causing even greater sensitivity to relapse. 

Many complain of the side effects of these drugs, which can include involuntary tremors (tardive dyskensia) and metabolic syndrome. 

Schizophrenia patients were once thought not to benefit from therapy.  However, according to the New York Times, a recent studies has shown that not to be the case. Both talk therapy and structured therapy can be beneficial.

Schizophrenia treatment has seen a new breathrough with the use of avatar therapy, as reported in the Daily Mail.  In avatar therapy, patients are encouraged to create a virtual image of the voices in their heads.  A therapist monitors the work.  Making a mental image can diffuse the voices of their power, allowing a patient to reason with them.

It remains to be seen what is causing Amanda Bynes' erratic behavior.  Hopefully her hospitalization will be helpful to her health.

Watch Amanda Bynes Twitter Video Here:

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