Schizophrenia Expert Christina Bruni shares Schizophrenia management news and commentary at SchizophreniaConnection.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120 http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120 http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/101810/schizophrenia Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:04:00 -0500 Christina Bruni 1. People with schizophrenia progressively deteriorate over time.   Reality: The symptoms often attenuate in later life and by one's sixties could be minimal. Out of respect I will not identify the person however I can tell you this is true because I have observed improvement in someone who keeps a blog on the Internet. Having read the blog in its various incarnations for the past five years, I can indeed pinpoint when the shift... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/101810/schizophrenia http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/100338/cognitive Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:19:48 -0500 Christina Bruni This is the second SharePost in the series devoted to my round of cognitive therapy sessions. I want to write about the last of the 10 meetings because it was life-changing. In one fifty-minute hour the therapist enabled me to get to the root of what happened when I was 32 and felt I had been attacked. I told him that I always understood each person involved in an interaction brings his or her past experiences and beliefs to the table and... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/100338/cognitive http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/98185/cognitive-part Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:19:57 -0500 Christina Bruni This is the first entry in a series of SharePosts that talk about my experience using cognitive therapy. My intent was to chronicle my round of ten sessions sooner however I started them this fall instead of in the summer. I can tell you only that my worry escalated to the point where I needed to take action. I will keep private the details. To sum up what the new therapist told me: "You can have faith that you will be able to act on your... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/98185/cognitive-part http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/97221/holiday Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:33:05 -0500 Christina Bruni For whatever reason, the holidays this year resonate with me more deeply. It feels like my life is moving as slow as the trains in the set my brother and I used to lay down on the ping pong table at Christmas when we were kids. The memory of those Christmas trains and the tiny toy village haunts me. Other memories flood my brain too. It would be easier if I didn't have a photographic memory of the events and conversations and details of my... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/97221/holiday http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/93565/fanapt-hope Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:13:22 -0500 Christina Bruni Early next year Vanda Pharmaceutical's schizophrenia drug Fanapt (generic: Iloperidone) will hit the pharmacy shelves. Could it be the first third-generation atypical? It blocks a different combination of neurotransmitters than earlier antipsychotics. The company says Fanapt targets a more relevant set of neurotransmitters, so that patients are likely to experience fewer side effects than with other medications. The drug has been in... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/93565/fanapt-hope http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/93015/cognitive Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:52:25 -0500 Christina Bruni This is the second SharePost in a two-part series and will take a controversial stance. It is not so incendiary an idea as it is a novel idea-a surprising one that though unproven in the psychiatric field has recently held sway in the mainstream. My take is that modest, consistent exercise and daily physical activity could improve the symptoms of schizophrenia and possibly lessen them to such a degree that they become manageable. No study has... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/93015/cognitive http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/92001/schizophrenia Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:44:57 -0400 Christina Bruni This SharePost is the first of a two-part series and examines a greatly disabling symptom of schizophrenia: cognitive deficit. I quickly realized my near-photographic memory was not the norm. My psychiatrist told me, "Cognitive deficit is seen by leading schizophrenia researchers as the true hallmark of the illness." Unlike hearing voices whose role has been well-documented as a classic symptom, cognitive impairment wasn't considered to be... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/92001/schizophrenia http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/89355/question-week Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:20:46 -0400 Christina Bruni Today's Question of the Week was inspired by a creative writing exercise I discovered when I sat in on a workshop a woman led with young girls and teens.  The prompt she gave was the introduction: "I Am From . . ." and you were supposed to write a poem starting with those words.  This riffs on the responses to the last Question I posed here.  We could use this intro to give insight into what it's like living with... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/89355/question-week http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/89352/awareness-week Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:14:18 -0400 Christina Bruni This SharePost will talk about Mental Illness Awareness Week [October 4 - 10]. The keyword in that sentence is awareness. What can be done, at our comfort level, to make people aware of what it's like to live with schizophrenia? Finding our voice often starts by revealing our stories to peers in a protective environment and then branching out to the general public if we are able to dare. I understand that sometimes we are not always in a... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/89352/awareness-week http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/88002/principles Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:54:03 -0400 Christina Bruni Heading into October, I wanted to talk about some lessons I learned recently that form the Four Principles of Recovery that I talk about in my second book, Life Will Tell You. I had referred about two months ago to my intent in starting a round of cognitive therapy sessions. Since beginning this kind of therapy two weeks ago, I have been examining things and writing them down in a spiral-bound notebook. I asked myself, "What lesson was I... http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/120/88002/principles