Schizophrenia in England

[Udayana]

I'm sure the BBC are reliable, they do state at the end of the report:

"These changes do not have a strong association with lifestyle types, so it's more likely to be due to differences in policies and practices in the way mental health services are commissioned across the country."

Whereas Sriram's interest is usually in the effect of lifestyle choices on health. Especially "traditional" vs "western or liberal".

[Nearly Sane]

To pick up Udayana's point, as already covered, the numbers are for prescriptions per 1000 people. It tells you nothing about the actual rate. One health authority, or medical practice, may prescribe all medications separately I.e. if there are three different medicines, they would issue 3 prescription, whereas a different authority may just issue 1 prescription for all 3 medicines.
Also one authority may issue prescriptions that are enough for three months treatment, whereas  may only issue enough for 1 months treatment.


Nothing in the figures gives you any information on the rate of prevalence of schizophrenia in people in England. Nor are they any real use in telling you clearly if the rate of schizophrenia are higher or lower in the different areas.

[Jack Knave]

J.K.....Are you suggesting that I have slipped into the schizophrenia group?!!

And.... I don't think I need to explain myself as to why I start any thread (within the rules of the forum). Whether anyone wants to discuss it or not is their problem.

I was not, but if you want to tell me "I'm listening". Or perhaps some other person intrapersonal to you would like to do it instead? 

[Jack Knave]

Domestic cats can cause schizophrenia.......

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cat-parasite-toxoplasma-gondii-linked-to-mental-illness-schizophrenia/

They do have nine lives!!! 

[Jack Knave]

That doesn't surprise me. They are psychopathic bastards. My one ambushes me every time I go through the lounge door.

If you know it is going to do it then it isn't an ambush. They're probably just being playful, no doubt due to boredom. Play the string game with it.

[Rhiannon]

If you know it is going to do it then it isn't an ambush. They're probably just being playful, no doubt due to boredom. Play the string game with it.

You don't know my cat.

[Jack Knave]

You don't know my cat.

Sounds like the kind of pussy that Trump wouldn't touch! 

[Stranger]

Further reinforces the issue of infections affecting the mind and causing schizophrenia, depression etc. I am surprised that some people here still resist the idea of infections causing or aggravating mental illness. It seems to be obvious.

"It seems to be obvious" is the just sloppy thinking - the kind that leads to all sorts of nonsense (anti-vaccination, homoeopathy, etc.) being accepted.

When you read things about science on the web, in mainstream media, or popular science, it could be anything from established and tested theories through to pure speculation or even outright pseudoscience. It is important to find out what it actually is before jumping to a conclusion.

In this instance, the abstract of the study says (my emphasis),

Two previous studies suggested that childhood cat ownership is a possible risk factor for later developing schizophrenia or other serious mental illness. We therefore used an earlier, large NAMI questionnaire to try and replicate this finding. The results were the same, suggesting that cat ownership in childhood is significantly more common in families in which the child later becomes seriously mentally ill. If true, an explanatory mechanism may be Toxoplasma gondii. We urge our colleagues to try and replicate these findings to clarify whether childhood cat ownership is truly a risk factor for later schizophrenia.

so its status is ongoing research...