Psychosis and schizophrenia are not the same thing. With Psychosis your self control and self awareness will be lower than that of a person with Schizophrenia. The duration for psychosis is between days and weeks and Schizophrenia occurs for lifetime. From a psychic’s standpoint you can think of it this way: Schizophrenia is an ego so out of control it is creating its own reality. Psychosis is the loss of the protective ego.
Psychics do not get schizophrenia, but they can become psychotic. So how does one determine where they fall between the two?
First of all, schizophrenia has many symptoms and hearing voices is just one of them. There are three types of schizophrenia (catatonic, paranoid and disorganized). With the catatonic type, the person will experiences symptoms such as agitation, decreased sensitivity to pain, suffering constant negativity, rigid muscles and a lack of desire to take care of their own personal needs. They will also have some speech issues. With the paranoid type, they are very angry, full of anxiety, argue a lot and have fantasies of grandeur or feel that everyone is after them (persecution). With the disorganized type, they can take on child-like regressive behavior, suffer the same delusions as the paranoid type, lack any highs or lows of emotion (more flat than anything), laugh at inappropriate times and hysterically and will sometimes speak gibberish. The disorganized type will also do the same thing over and over and become socially withdrawn.
So as you can see, hearing voices is actually a small percentage of what a typical schizophrenic suffers. A normal psychic or medium will be a balanced individual who lives a life where he or she does well in the community, doesn’t have anger issues that have no foundation (we can all be angry about something if it’s justified). They will be able to speak and communicate clearly, don’t suffer physical symptoms like rigidity and their personality will reflect a healthy attitude with normal fluxes of highs and lows such as good days and bad days (not flat). While a schizophrenic will stand out by his aggressive and unnatural behavior, you will not be able to peg a psychic or medium by their appearance or day-to-day behavior alone. In other words, they will need to share with you this personal information.
A psychic can have one of the more common symptoms or two of what a schizophrenic may have but that can be said of all humans. All humans experience anger at some point. All humans may raise their voice at a peak moment of frustration. A single symptom of a common nature alone is not enough. It has to be a culmination of numerous factors, including the more extreme ones such as total fantasy, yelling for no reason, blabbering without reason and so on.
Another very strong difference, especially with a medium, is that the medium can bring forth information that a client can confirm. Watch any good medium and much of their information from the other side is amazing like knowing specific nick-names a person was called or a conversation or the knowing of a set of facts only held with one other living individual. Same things with psychics; they may say something that would by all first assumptions is outlandish (saying in 1999 that the World Trade Towers are going to be hit by a plane) but be justified when what they predict comes true. Or like when I tell people time travel can occur (sounds crazy, right?) That is until I psychically see the future and play the lottery and win. Facts are facts. The schizophrenic does not have this ability and cannot back up their “invisible friends” or fantasies with facts.
Part of being a schizophrenic is not knowing that you are. It’s like when non crazy people ask if they are crazy. You don’t ask that question if you are because part of being crazy or schizophrenic is believing you are absolutely capable of whatever fantasy you’re living in. So I think most people who ask this question can rest easy that they are not. Where this whole wondering even stems from is because there is such a stigma around psychics that people are terrified as being labeled as such so when they have something paranormal happen to them, they want to have (literally) a sanity check!
Everyone to some degree has psychic tendencies because that’s our soul’s birthright. We are more than our physical body and there are abilities that come with that.
Hopefully reading about what is and is not a schizophrenic will help alleviate these fears.
The article highlights the nuanced differences between being a psychic or medium and suffering from schizophrenia. It’s important to approach such discussions with both scientific rigor and empathy towards those who experience these conditions.
This piece does a good job of clarifying misconceptions about psychics and schizophrenics. The explanation about the role of ego in both conditions is thought-provoking and provides a new perspective on these mental health issues.
The distinction between psychosis and schizophrenia is elucidated quite well in this article. It’s important for the general public to understand these differences. The detailed description of the symptoms associated with different types of schizophrenia is particularly useful.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the differences between psychosis, schizophrenia, and psychic abilities. Understanding that hearing voices is just one of many symptoms associated with schizophrenia is crucial for better mental health awareness.
I appreciate the in-depth analysis of schizophrenia symptoms and how they differ from common psychic experiences. The section on how mediums can bring forth verifiable information was particularly intriguing.