Schizophrenia and Optical Illusion Perception

I have read numerous articles about visual tests that psychologists and psychiatrists have devised to help determine schizophrenia or tendendencies.

Link to visual tests

Very interesting stuff. They found that in some optical tests, those with schizophrenia were able to see past the illusion. For example, in the tests linked above, those with schizophrenia saw two flashes when the two flashes were milliseconds apart, whereas those without schizophrenia saw one flash.

In other instances, those with schizophrenia were less likely to detect the illusion.

The human mind is a fascinating thing.

a reply to: CreationBro

Well Damm' I guess Im schizophrenic.

It explains alot.

For example, in the tests linked above, those with schizophrenia saw two flashes when the two flashes were milliseconds apart, whereas those without schizophrenia saw one flash.

Dang, I always knowed us certified lunatics got some crazy superpowers.

And here I was, all these years, thinking it was just my imagination!

a reply to: Namdru

I'm afraid to watch lol

Yah,looks like I'm schizophrenic!
I wonder if there's any welfare benefits I can get for that?
They can keep the meds though.

originally posted by: glen200376
Yah,looks like I'm schizophrenic!
I wonder if there's any welfare benefits I can get for that?
They can keep the meds though.

Thats the thing. Many many people will or have experienced at some point in their life "schizophrenic" symptoms to a degree, usually after very traumatic events.

Diagnoses usually come into play if the person experiences the symptoms frequently and the symptoms greatly hinder their livelihood.

To be completely honest with you fine people, I am very familiar with the disease. In 2007, after the death of one of my best friends, I began to experience a lot of bizarre stuff, some would say paranormal, others said I was crazy.

In 2012 I began seeing a great psychiatrist and in 2015 I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I lost my beloved girlfriend around the same time I received my diagnosis and it lightweight shattered my world. I just went numb.

However, and I cannot stress the importance of this point enough, I was using a certain herb that is now recreationally legal in many U.S. states on a daily basis...

A lot of people claim that this herb is harmless. It is NOT always harmless and can ABSOLUTELY trigger dormant predispositions, in this case, psychotic features.

I actually quit cold turkey in January 2017, and every month that has gone by, I have regained elements of my "old" self with a massive decrease in psychotic features. Almost no hallucinations, hardly any delusory thoughts (and who doesnt have an imagination), and this trend is continuing for me in a sincerely positive way.

I couldn't be happier, because my life had become a living nightmare, or worse. I have many unbelievably loving and wise people people to thank for my return to tranquility.

Now, I am not saying everything I experienced was a delusion or hallucination. Many of the events were witnessed by others with me, who were sober, and I was sober for many of the occurrences too. This I cannot emphasize enough, the fact that what someone may perceive and the causation behind the perception is not always as simple as a causally unrelated chemical imbalance.

Sometimes what we witness is truly unknown and out of this world.

To anyone struggling with mental illness, if you are using drugs, especially psychoactive or hard drugs like cannabis or the other seriously scheduled drugs, I urge you to try at least a month or two off of it, and see what it does for you. I can say with a 99.9% certainty that if you are suffering or struggling, sobriety and at the very least, serious moderation will help you and improve your well being so much so that you will wonder why you hadnt done it sooner.

I was fast tracking myself to losing my psyche to the ether until i quit. Now, I count my blessings every day.

Godspeed folks.

I watched the video, I can see what way it is rotating and the difference in the back and front. If I close my eyes at the right point for maybe half a second I can make the back look like the front and rotate backward but that is an illusion that is so easy to see. Now what has that got to do with genius or skitzo?

I can even see the color blind images along with normal vision image in a picture at the veterans facility here, which one do they want me to see is my question.

I guess I am either a skitzo or a genius, can I choose skitzo, it sounds so much more fun.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I watched the video, I can see what way it is rotating and the difference in the back and front. If I close my eyes at the right point for maybe half a second I can make the back look like the front and rotate backward but that is an illusion that is so easy to see. Now what has that got to do with genius or skitzo?

I can even see the color blind images along with normal vision image in a picture at the veterans facility here, which one do they want me to see is my question.

I guess I am either a skitzo or a genius, can I choose skitzo, it sounds so much more fun.

In the video they describe people that can "think" their way into seeing either way as genius...so guess what ricky...youre a friggin genius bro!!

I can switch them as well. Ive noticed this about my perceptual abilities, mainly sight and hearing. Except Im clinically insane...so I guess mainstream society has decided that whether Im a genius or not, im not

But like you said, skitzo does sound kind of kinky

a reply to: CreationBro

I guess that the narrow minded people who can only see things one way, they way they believe is right....are normal and the rest of us are nuts. Genius is just one step away from insanity.

a reply to: rickymouse

Indeed. Not that it means anything (or maybe it does) one of Albert Einstein's sons Edward was a diagnosed schizophrenic.

There's no way to tell if I am Schizophrenic or not. Having read about the illusion before I saw it definitely tainted the experiment.

That double face test was CGI.
It appears to me that some tricks of lighting were used.
I suspect that if a more natural light-source was used the illusion would be less effective.

originally posted by: CreationBro

originally posted by: glen200376
Yah,looks like I'm schizophrenic!
I wonder if there's any welfare benefits I can get for that?
They can keep the meds though.

Thats the thing. Many many people will or have experienced at some point in their life "schizophrenic" symptoms to a degree, usually after very traumatic events.

Diagnoses usually come into play if the person experiences the symptoms frequently and the symptoms greatly hinder their livelihood.

To be completely honest with you fine people, I am very familiar with the disease. In 2007, after the death of one of my best friends, I began to experience a lot of bizarre stuff, some would say paranormal, others said I was crazy.

In 2012 I began seeing a great psychiatrist and in 2015 I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I lost my beloved girlfriend around the same time I received my diagnosis and it lightweight shattered my world. I just went numb.

However, and I cannot stress the importance of this point enough, I was using a certain herb that is now recreationally legal in many U.S. states on a daily basis...

A lot of people claim that this herb is harmless. It is NOT always harmless and can ABSOLUTELY trigger dormant predispositions, in this case, psychotic features.

I actually quit cold turkey in January 2017, and every month that has gone by, I have regained elements of my "old" self with a massive decrease in psychotic features. Almost no hallucinations, hardly any delusory thoughts (and who doesnt have an imagination), and this trend is continuing for me in a sincerely positive way.

I couldn't be happier, because my life had become a living nightmare, or worse. I have many unbelievably loving and wise people people to thank for my return to tranquility.

Now, I am not saying everything I experienced was a delusion or hallucination. Many of the events were witnessed by others with me, who were sober, and I was sober for many of the occurrences too. This I cannot emphasize enough, the fact that what someone may perceive and the causation behind the perception is not always as simple as a causally unrelated chemical imbalance.

Sometimes what we witness is truly unknown and out of this world.

To anyone struggling with mental illness, if you are using drugs, especially psychoactive or hard drugs like cannabis or the other seriously scheduled drugs, I urge you to try at least a month or two off of it, and see what it does for you. I can say with a 99.9% certainty that if you are suffering or struggling, sobriety and at the very least, serious moderation will help you and improve your well being so much so that you will wonder why you hadnt done it sooner.

I was fast tracking myself to losing my psyche to the ether until i quit. Now, I count my blessings every day.

Godspeed folks.

What an honest, helpful and wise post.. thank you for taking the time and effort to compose it.

a reply to: CreationBro

Yet I have seen several who used alchohol who have switched over,have eleviated about 80% of meds Dr prescribed,some people can't use drugs or liquor,they aren't in control of themselves,some shouldn't be without a caretaker,thats why people are different

How to really freak out a schizophrenic.

And I've made on of these.. Oh I want to make a giant one !!



PS, the only one I got right was the 6 oclock shadow one.. when I read most people get the 10:30 shade, I ... in that link

a reply to: CreationBro

Sometimes, it takes just that, a hint to knock us into it. that herb can be it for many. But I will not demonise it. As you havent. It is just that nudge into somewhere else that can grab us, when we're not well. I know this. in my 40+ years I've never experienced the absolute insanity that the mind can take us to. ever. And I grew up on everything out there, psychedelics of every kind, dissociatives, everything.. but for more than a decade I remained 'sane'..

one thing, alcohol, always left me in the midst of a hangover, almost insane. I'd just not be right. but hangovers are hangovers, yeah.

For a year, I had heard about gaba agonists. similar to benzodiazepines in action, but different. You've heard of GHB? Gamma hydroxy butrylacone? that thing they call the date rape drug? It is one of the types of drugs that affect the gaba-b receptor, and I've never used it, but had heard of it.

It is illegal for how it makes people react... but phenibut is different. it is also a gaba agonist. also affecting the gaba-b receptor. it is legal. the anciolytic effects I got from that were amazing, calm, no 'out of the box' thoughts. but still, not in a medicated way... where I live, all good things come to a nanny state. cost prohibitive, and tolerance building.

but I knew it had potential to stop me drinking. alas I gave up. too hard to fight the system.

2 years ago I ended up in hospital. AWS. severe. to the point I could not even stand up. they kept me there, and did nothing. absolutely nothing, but a saline drip. so as I was leaving, a doctor who had heard of me, gave me information on baclofen. a drug usually administered to people with multiple sclerosis, as it is a muscle relaxant. but guess what... it is a gaba-b agonist, that is effective in smaller doses. the exact same chemical as phenibut, but different.

I knew doctors here would be reluctant to prescribe it, off label.. but I eventually found one.

and for 9 weeks, I was sober. not even a hint of wanting to.. but at a cost. my mental state deteriorated. at the doses you need to take this, it is like opening a doorway to hell. And that is just me. others have had little side effects, but they are them. everyone is different, and everyone has a different 'maintenance dose'.. i was at 150mg a day, and at first it was not too bad. but over that time, it was too much.

Problem with it, is you cannot cease it.. I've stopped almost every ssri, snri, mao, tricyclic you can imagine, cold turkey, and never ever in my entire life, opened that door to the point of no return. only now, slowly back on it, and slowly going back up, am I able to feel normal.

And when I say open a door, I mean, jesus christ.. talk about an existential cirsis. every thing was all at once, and everything was hell, and I have never in my life experienced the only thing I can equate to schizophrenia.

walls were all I could see, around everything. voices, noises, everything had a glow about it. could hear birds in my bedroom. and underlining it all was this constant impending doom. I was lost in this fantasy. a hell of my own making. and hell has never felt so intimate

it is so hard to explain, but OP the mind is surely a thing we should always treat with respect.

I am chained to another thing, and breaking it, breaks everything, it's not so much medicine, but a whip to ensure I don't fall. and the irony is, it works the same as alcohol does in the brain on the gaba-b receptors. those hangovers you may get, where you swear you'll never drink again, every waking moment, of every single day... once you open that god damned door..

a reply to: CreationBro

Yeah, I took the blue pill. But honest, I tried the red one first -- it was boring!

a reply to: Namdru

You gotta do like my friend AJ did.

"Yo morpheus said to me red or blue so i grabbed both, popped em down together and said 'hey man thanks ill take 100 more of each, call me in the morning!' "

😂

I started coming down with schizophrenia when I was 18. It took 2 years before I got a diagnoses. It was a slow descent into madness. It started out with my mind playing tricks on me. Then I started having delusions of conspiracies where I thought people were out to get me. Then I started having visual hallucinations. After the visual hallucinations I started having auditory hallucinations. Doctors were reluctant to diagnose me with schizophrenia until I started hearing voices.

Psychosis got pretty bad and my mom had me hospitalized. I spent a month in a psyche ward drugged to the max. I was so drugged I slept 23 hours a day. The only time I got out of bed was to eat. Schizophrenia causes brain damage. When I got out of the hospital I had to relearn how to communicate with people. I couldn't follow conversations. I had a high IQ before I got sick and I had a near photographic memory. After I got out of hospital I was brain dead. It took 5 years for the hallucinations to let up. I'm 41 now and It's been 23 years since I got sick.

I've been taking medication every day for all these years. It's some pretty harsh stuff. 2 hours after I take it it knocks me out. I can't get out of bed unless I get 12 hours sleep. I'm in a daze for the first 3 hours I wake up. For all outward appearances most people would never know I have the illness. I'm good at hiding it I've become a chameleon. I don't want people to know I'm crazy I just want to be normal like everyone else. I talk about it on the internet but not in my home life.

I'm lucky I found a medication that works for me. I know other schizophrenics that have never recovered from psychosis. I'm never going to recover fully but I'm about 70%. I at least have some quality of life.