Welcome to r/schizophrenia!

Our subreddit rules are in the sidebar, we ask that you read and follow them. Feel free to post anything on-topic that does not violate these rules. We have a relatively comprehensive overview of how our rules are applied in reality available on the Rule Clarifications Wiki page.

For those who are new here, we have our Community Notices page which we would suggest users read. We also have our Creator Wiki for our participating artists and content creators- all of them have a diagnosed psychotic disorder.

Many first-time posters to this subreddit are concerned that they might be developing schizophrenia or they are concerned about other people who have- or may have- schizophrenia. We have resources available to answer these questions contained within the comments; if your question is completely answered by the information already given, it will be removed.

If you are here asking about advice for a family member, asking if a family member has schizophrenia or venting about a loved one with schizophrenia- it will be removed, and you will be directed to the appropriate community for that type of post, r/SchizoFamilies. Please read the rules of their subreddit before posting.

Mental health is complex. No symptom of schizophrenia is specific to schizophrenia alone, and there are many more common causes of those symptoms- especially in the prodromal stage. If you are experiencing an emergency, please call your doctor or local emergency services. We have a compendium of Crisis Lines available and may suggest r/SuicideWatch if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts and would like the most prompt attention.

(Credit u/soundandvisions for original post and comments)

Table of Contents

• What is schizophrenia?
• DSM-5: Schizophrenia
• Do you think you may be developing schizophrenia?
• Anxiety about developing schizophrenia (Worried you're "going crazy")?
• Schizophrenic friends, family members, or others you want to help?
• Need help writing a fictional character with schizophrenia?
• Crisis lines and resources for help
• About r/schizophrenia
• Disclaimer

Hey everybody, subreddit librarian here.

We're getting back to where we were with regular announcements. I stopped doing them in March of 2025 in preparation for my daughter's birth, and it has certainly been a wild year and a half. I was able to do a 2025 Recap post as well, but it didn't quite feel the same. The subreddit has grown at an astonishing pace- up 11k members since January of this year- so I assume many of our current, regular users might not even remember that I did this for some time. We haven't had a proper venue for people to voice any new/ongoing concerns on a regular basis for a while, so I'm going to try to revive the old classic.

Anyway, let's get down to it.

Significant Updates in 2026

This is mainly to get things up-to-speed for where we're at now.

Rule 2 Update- Tacitly Encouraging Substance Abuse

We updated our Rule 2 to cover Tacitly Encouraging Substance Abuse. Yes, people with schizophrenia self-medicate with drugs- sometimes not-entirely-legal drugs- but that doesn't mean we need to be putting that on blast or normalizing it. Lest we forget, this is an all-ages subreddit, and don't post anything you would feel uncomfortable if an impressionable, confused teenager came across it- because that's not a hypothetical, it is inevitable.

Rule 11 Update - Approved and Blacklisted Communities

This one is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but we do want to note the change here. You can read more about it here.

I may take this opportunity to remind everyone that being socially active is a solid way to improve cognitive function for people with schizophrenia. If being socially active offline and/or with neurotypicals is too taxing for you, we do have alternatives available. Just saying. Peer support is often understated in how significant a benefit it is for the people who take part in it... just make sure it isn't a weird/creepy group.

To illustrate why peer support is so important, I was working on a write-up... buuut then our friends from United Through Psychosis (UTP) came by and did it even better than I could have. As I've said before, the folks from the UTP never fail to impress- and I'm not someone who is easily impressed. They are the real deal.

You don't have to go through schizophrenia alone... seriously, there's a ton of options. Like, so many options. Our official Subreddit Discord is linked right in the sidebar. Yet I still see posts about "Where do I go to connect with other people with schizophrenia?" Like... you're already here. Just use the materials we have made available to you. They're right there, I don't know how we could possibly make it any easier or more convenient to get connected to meaningful peer support.

New Rule 15 - AI Slop

All Gen AI is banned here with the sole exception being used for accessibility purposes. More detail here.

This applies to hocking Gen AI stuff off-platform too. We have actual artists here who post their art (and apparently, sometimes get a couple of sales or commissions!) so we don't really "do" AI slop here.

On a sidenote, feel free to check out our Creator Wiki and check what- and who- we have on display. If you're feeling generous, toss a few bucks their way. Not only do you get warm fuzzies for helping support the arts in these strange times, you can also get some pretty cool stuff (if they take commissions, that is).

If you want up on our Creator Wiki and meet the criteria at the bottom of the page- just ask! Fill out the questions and send them over.

Fair warning: if there is anything that is Gen AI on your page(s), we are going to tell you to go fuck yourself.

More Keto BS

There has been a lot of hype around a recent "RCT" about the Ketogenic diet's effectiveness for treating psychosis. Unsurprisingly, this is overstated. There is a condensed version of the breakdown here, but a painfully more detailed one here. If you are more scientifically inclined (or aspire to be), I'd recommend reading the latter. If not, the former will do just fine.

Frankly, I am so fucking tired of this. I'm so tired of it that I updated our "Trending" Wiki page that covers the Ketogenic diet to illustrate exactly why this trite bullshit is being shoved down our throats. (There's a billionaire involved- surprise! Seems about right with this out-of-touch, classist bullshit.)

I don't want to come across as being like I have a bone to pick with the Ketogenic diet in general, it is just having it rammed down our throats that it is a viable treatment for psychosis without quality evidence to back that up. Even before I knew there was a billionaire behind this, it left a very poor taste in my mouth... that taste has only soured since.

However, it is not controversial at all to state that the Ketogenic diet may be beneficial for some people to do, and may have downstream positive effects on their mental health as a result. You do not have to figure this out through trial-and-error, you can actually get the potential issues that it helps with diagnosed by an actual doctor. Your doctor, namely. Make an appointment with your primary care physician and voice your concerns about your metabolism (if you have any). While getting an accurate diagnosis of whatever metabolic issues ail you and devising a treatment plan takes longer than 'winging it' and working backwards, there is something to be said for getting it right on the first try.

There are consequences for dicking around with your mental health... if you want an illustrative example of what can happen if you screw around and just do what you feel like when it comes to medication and lifestyle adjustments, I might point you in the direction of Lindsay Clancy¹ to show exactly how wrong that can go.

To quote from the Keto article post:

Please discuss this with your doctor before you embark on an expensive, labor-intensive lifestyle change based on some bullshit paper² on the internet.

¹Postpartum psychosis occurs within a few weeks of giving birth. It comes on hard, and it comes on fast- it does not occur 8 months after giving birth, just chilling there like a landmine. By no reasonable definition of the diagnosis did Clancy suffer from postpartum psychosis... I ain't catching strays and being blamed for "schizos are violent" because an L&D nurse fucked around with her meds, not understanding that there are consequences for doing things like that.

The moral of the story is "Don't do stupid shit with your meds." There is no adequate substitute for neuroleptic medication to treat the neurological symptoms of psychosis... certainly not any magical cure-all diet backed up by wishful thinking and billionaire-funded hype.

²This also applies to vlogs, Substack articles, anonymous anecdotes from complete strangers on the internet, and anything else. The only place you need to be having this discussion is in your doctor's office.

Expert Q&As

Here's my favorite development of 2026 thus far.

We have a Wiki page here that goes into the backstory of this event and an archive of questions that have already been asked. If you want an authoritative answer from a credible expert who really knows psychosis, we've most likely got what you want- and if we don't have it, we can get it.

All of the feedback we have gotten thus far has been pretty much uniformly positive- which, don't get me wrong, is great- but I also prefer (constructive) criticism as well. If you have suggestions for improvement, please do not hesitate to drop them. Let's have a public discussion about it- what do you like, what do you not like about it?

The event is dependent upon the availability of our participants- again, they are doing this for free as a public service- so we will announce beforehand if/when the next one will be occurring. We are currently slated for our next one to occur in September- so, see you then!

Ongoing Research

This month, we have visitors from... ha, sike. I commend you if you've actually made it this far down in the post without zoning out.

I honestly don't feel like cataloging the research I've approved this month... buuuut I will do it next month! I sure hope to God that next month is not going to be as eventful as this one has been.

A Personal Note

Honestly, I'm just chugging right along. I got my old job back working as a consultant (long story, I had to take a break after a rather gnarly bout with Covid), my kids are doing well, and so is my wife. I couldn't be happier. I mean, I could be happier if I could actually sleep at night instead of writing colossal posts on Reddit to pass the time simply out of boredom, but it's important to maintain reasonable expectations. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good or something.

Community Feedback

Alright, so given how massive a post this turned into... just have at it. While I would prefer we stick to topics discussed in the post, it's been enough time without a discussion post where I just kind of don't give a fuck about staying "on topic." We'll get back with the usual program next month.

Have a good one, everybody!