Condition Spotlight: Schizophrenia
I don’t believe that all delusions are “in your head”. I don’t believe that all hallucinations are make-believe. I believe that many of the things people with schizophrenia see and think are in fact real. Probably more real than what “normal” people see and believe.
There is a realm beyond our limited vision. There are things out there that actually exist, but that we can’t see in our day to day lives. Call it an alternate universe. Call it another dimension. Call it alien intelligence. Whatever it is, it’s right there in front of us. But seeing it all the time would be a huge inconvenience. So our brain’s have figured out how to close most of it out.
Sensory gating is the ability to filter out information that you don’t need in that moment. There’s tons of information coming at us all the time. If you’re reading this right now from your phone, you’re likely filtering out all the stuff going on in your peripheral vision. You’re also filtering out any background noises. You’re likely reading this, as if it were me talking directly to you, and hearing the sound of my voice.
Our brains are able to filter out stuff that we don’t deem as necessary, in order to focus on the important stuff. This survival mechanism starts when we’re really young. It gets stronger as we get older. But for some people, it gets looser. The sensory gating actually gets weaker. Some of these people get diagnosed with schizophrenia.
People diagnosed with schizophrenia have very widely open sensory gating channels. They will often know things about you that you never shared with anybody. Perhaps things you don’t even realize about yourself. Deep things.
Conventional treatment is to prescribe potent antipsychotics, to effectively turn off all sensory stimuli. The side effect is that patients describe feeling like zombies, and a shadow of their former selves. The reason is that these potent drugs don’t pick and choose what stimuli they tone down. It is like a giant sledgehammer trying to hit a small thumbtack. It certainly hits it, but it also makes a giant hole in the wall. Same thing can be said of antipsychotics.
Modern culture has no use for healing schizophrenia. Similar to its view on the dangers of hallucinogenic drugs. Could you imagine a bunch of people walking around with expanded sensory gating capacities, tapping into the metaphysical aspects of our universe? It sounds awesome to me, but dangerous to the status quo.
Healing schizophrenia is a complex process that involves not only natural medicines, but also therapy. I work on a biochemical level to induce healing in specific parts of the brain using natural medicines. I don’t do therapy. But to fully heal, a therapist needs to be involved in remapping an entire belief system. It’s a layered process, one that involves varied consciousnesses throughout an individual’s entire life span.
Folks with schizophrenia have been sensing metaphysical things their entire lives. But society tells them those things aren’t real. However, to folks with schizophrenia, they are very real. In fact, they are more real than the reality “normal” people are experiencing. It is a deeper real. But they are told that they are wrong, that it doesn’t exist, that their beliefs are inaccurate. This creates a confusion. They start to question reality. They start to wonder what is real and what isn’t real. Over time, it becomes too overwhelming for the brain to handle. Finally, as adolescents, the brain starts firing a lot. The disease process has finally set in.
In healing schizophrenia, a therapist needs to navigate these muddy waters of reality and confusion. The therapist needs to literally rewire their own brain, and examine their own beliefs around reality. And then be honest and truthful with their patient. Any amount of deceit at the hands of the therapist, and the relationship is toast. The entire disease process came into existence around deceit. There needs to be trust in order to remap.
The beauty of the natural medicines I use are their targeted approach. Not everybody with schizophrenia hears voices. Not everybody with schizophrenia sees beings. But these differences help to pinpoint which sensory gates need switched on. Through determining which sensory gates are wide open, treatment can pinpoint which gates to close up. And this targeted approach allows the other senses to function and stay alert.
I had a patient that told me I had said one of the most empowering statements they ever heard. I told them that their experience was very real. That their hallucinations existed. Perhaps there really are supernatural beings speaking to them. But what I am helping them do, is to be able to bring an awareness into which realm they are focusing on, one universe at a time. Without drugging them beyond comprehension.
