• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FHE Health | Inpatient Rehab & Mental Health Facility in Florida Homepage

Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Treatment

ContactCareers

Call for Immediate Help (833) 596-3502

MENUMENU
  • About
        • About FHE Rehab
          • About FHE Health
          • Our Staff
          • Locations We Serve
          • Testimonials
        • Our Campus
          • Gallery
          • Our Videos
          • The Health and Wellness Center at FHE Health
        • Our Locations
          • Alcohol Rehab
          • Detox Center
          • Drug Rehab
          • Mental Health Center
          • Outpatient Rehab
        • Careers at FHE Health
          • Employment Opportunities
        • Our Expertise
          • Accreditations
          • Educational Opportunities
          • Community Impact Award
          • First Responder Families Podcast
          • First Responder Paws
          • Education Scholarship
  • Addiction
        • Treatment Programs
          • Treatment Program Overview
          • Alcohol Addiction
          • Drug Addiction Treatment
          • Behavioral Addiction
        • Levels of Care
          • Continuum of Care
          • Addiction Detox
          • Inpatient Addiction Treatment
          • Outpatient Addiction Treatment
        • What We Treat
          • Alcoholism
          • Amphetamines
          • Benzodiazepines
          • Cocaine
          • Heroin
          • Opioids
          • Sedative
  • Mental Health
        • Mental Health Rehab
          • Mental Health Rehab
          • Onsite Psychiatric Care
          • Dual Diagnosis
        • Levels of Care
          • Residential Mental Health Care
          • Outpatient Mental Health Care
        • What We Treat
          • ADD & ADHD
          • Anxiety Disorders
          • Bipolar Disorder
          • Depression
          • Eating Disorders
          • Personality Disorders
          • PTSD
          • Schizophrenia
          • Substance Use Disorder
          • Trauma
  • Programs
        • FHE Programs
          • Specialty Program Overview
          • Restore (Mental Health)
          • Empower! (Women's Program)
          • Shatterproof FHE Health(First Responders)
          • Compass Program
        • Support Programs
          • Alumni
          • Family Support
        • Therapies
          • Acupuncture
          • Breathwork Therapy
          • CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
          • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
          • EMDR Therapy
          • Expressive Arts Therapy
          • Individual Therapy
          • Group Therapy
          • Gambling Therapy
          • Massage
        • Medical Care
          • Medical Integration
          • Ketamine Infusion
          • IV Vitamin
          • Fitness & Nutrition
          • Medication-Assisted Treatment
          • Medication Management
        • NeuroRehab Services
          • Neuro Rehabilitation
          • Neurofeedback Training
          • Neurostimulation Therapy
          • EEG Brain Mapping
          • Insomnia Treatment for PTSD
  • Resources
        • FHE Guides
          • Understanding Drug Abuse
          • Signs of Addiction
          • The Disease of Addiction
          • Confronting Addiction
          • Staging an Intervention
          • Rehab Success Rate – Does It Really Work?
          • Withdrawal Timelines
          • Life After Rehab
          • LGBTQ+ Community Resources
          • Veteran Resources
          • FHE Podcasts
          • Remote Resources Toolkit
        • Learning Center
          • Help for You
          • Help For Loved Ones
          • Help For Alcoholism
          • Help With Substance Abuse
          • Behavioral & Mental Health
          • Life in Recovery
          • Rehab Explained
          • Addiction Statistics
          • Our Research Articles
          • View All Articles
        • The Experience Blog
          • Addiction News
          • Alumni
          • Community Events
          • Expert Opinions
          • FHE Commentary
          • FHE News
          • Treatment Legislation
          • View All Articles
  • Admissions
        • Insurance
          • Blue Cross Insurance
          • Beacon Health / Value Options Insurance
          • Cigna Insurance
          • Humana Insurance
          • TRICARE Insurance
        • Admissions
          • Steps to Addiction Help
          • Will Insurance Cover Behavioral Treatment?
          • Self-Pay Rehab
        • FAQ
          • Keeping Your Job in Rehab
          • Example Day in Rehab
        • Contact Admissions
          • Contact Us
          • Secure Payment Form
  • Contact
  •  
Home > Learning > Behavioral & Mental Health > Inside the Mind Inhabited by Paranoid Schizoprenic-Stories

November 10, 2020 By Kristina Robb-Dover

Inside the Mind Inhabited by Paranoid Schizoprenic-Stories

Inside the mind of someone with paranoid schizophrenia

What Is Paranoid Schizophrenia?

Properly referred to in the DSM-5 as schizophrenia paranoid type, paranoid schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior and negative symptoms.

On the surface, many people cannot truly grasp what living with the disease is like. A crude layman’s perception is that paranoid schizophrenia simply means people hear voices or are incorrectly labeled as crazy. On the contrary — these people are suffering from a pervasive and disturbing thought disorder, which they often attempt to alleviate by self-medicating with drugs or alcohol.

Symptoms often present in an individual’s early 20s, with the first behavioral changes such as isolation and poor hygiene noticed by family and friends. Another early symptom is a person failing to fulfill basic commitments, such as school, work and family obligations.

As symptoms escalate, they may present in a far more flamboyant fashion, such as responding to internal stimuli like auditory or visual hallucinations. In a more severe presentation, a person may interact with their delusional paranoia, putting themselves or others in danger of harm and generally appearing unwell to those not suffering from the disease.

Diagnosing Schizophrenia

To be diagnosed with schizophrenia, an individual needs to be properly assessed by a licensed mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner. This often occurs in an inpatient hospital setting, although it can take place in an outpatient setting if people are vigilant enough to recognize the need for assessment.

During the assessment, clinicians attempt to build rapport while evaluating the individual’s current presentation and any recent or remote history. They also evaluate daily living activities such as sleep, hygiene and appetite. Clinicians check for manifestations of positive disease symptoms, such as hallucinations, paranoia or delusions. Additionally, they’ll assess for negative symptoms such as blunting of affect, poverty of speech and thought, apathy and anhedonia.

How to Deal With a Schizophrenic Problem

Just as with any illness, a paranoid schizophrenic fares a lot better when they have the support of family and friends. If you or a loved one has been recently diagnosed, it’s important to understand that schizophrenia is a lifelong illness that often involves periods of relapse, remission, hospitalization and medication changes.

Caring for or living with a schizophrenic can be complicated and emotional, often taking a toll on family, friends, and the individual affected. Therapeutic intervention for schizophrenia requires a collaborative approach involving you or your loved exploring medication, therapy and case management options.

How Substance Abuse Affects Schizophrenia

In a study completed by Baigent et al., in a sample size of 53 individuals with schizophrenia as well as major substance abuse, most individuals began abusing substances to relieve dysphoria, depression and anxiety. Alcohol and cannabis were most frequently used due to their accessibility, although amphetamines and other stimulants were the drug of choice to reduce feelings of depression. Due to their elevating effect, drugs like meth and cocaine can amplify the feelings of a user’s paranoia.

The same study showed that participants were willing to view themselves as drug dependent and saw it as more socially acceptable to have a drug problem than a psychiatric condition. Some of the study’s participants stated that substance abuse “created a sense of identity and belonging to a group.”

In the above study, an open-ended question survey showed individuals continued to use marijuana as a means to treat depression and anxiety and participate in social interactions.

Studies have concluded that marijuana use correlates to an increased risk of schizophrenia, a higher incidence of inpatient hospitalization and a more severe presentation of the illness than seen with nonusers. Substance abuse can also increase the prevalence of violent crimes, both of which contribute to the stigma of mental illness. This stigma is so widely felt that those with the illness often have difficulty asking for help.

Schizophrenia Stories — “To the Top of the Mountain”

Stuart Baker-Brown shares his experience struggling with symptoms for five years before receiving a formal diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia in 1996. Prior to his diagnosis, Brown had frightening beliefs that the KGB, the secret police of the Soviet Union, were out to capture him. He promptly hid away from the world, ashamed and living with his paranoia.

Before his formal diagnosis, he stated that he experienced a depression so deep that “Suicide began to be a real option for me. I could see no future and found little cause to stay alive.” Stigma limited him from interacting with the world around him and left him feeling like nothing more than a diagnosis. In 2002, after several trials, he found a medication that suited him well.

In 2003, after working with various available resources, Brown felt able to rejoin the world and climbed Mount Kala Pattar to photograph Mount Everest. After being told he suffered from one of the most severe cases his psychiatrist had ever seen, Brown was able to accept his diagnosis and at the same time refuse the stigma associated with his illness. He refuses to let opportunities be taken from him on the basis of his schizophrenia and has made plans to become the first individual with the disorder to climb Mount Everest.

How FHE Can Help

At FHE Health, we understand the difficulties you face when dealing with mental illness as well as addiction. We provide individualized services for each and every person, including evaluation, medication management, therapy and substance abuse support. We can help you learn to live with your diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and without substance abuse. Our innovative Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program helps find the root cause of your illnesses.

If you’re ready to take back control of your life, get in touch with us immediately 24/7, 365 days a year. Call our helpline at (833) 596-3502 to find out more about all of the life-saving treatments available.

Filed Under: Behavioral & Mental Health, Featured in Mental Health

About Kristina Robb-Dover

Kristina Robb-Dover is a content manager and writer with extensive editing and writing experience... read more

Primary Sidebar

Learning Center

  • Help for You
  • Help For Loved Ones
  • Help For Alcoholism
  • Help With Substance Abuse
  • Behavioral & Mental Health
  • Life in Recovery
  • Rehab Explained
  • All Articles

Sign up for the Blog

Our Facilities

Take a look at our state of the art treatment center.

View Our Gallery

The Experience Blog

  • Addiction News
  • Alumni
  • Community Events
  • Expert Columns
  • FHE Commentary
  • FHE News
  • Treatment Legislation
  • All Articles

Footer

FHE Health

© 2025 FHE Health

505 S Federal Hwy #2,
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
1-833-596-3502
youtube facebook instagram linkedin twitter
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • AI Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
A+ BBB and Top Places to Work - Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2025 · FHE Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at marketing@fhehealth.com.

833-596-3502

Text/Call Me