Schizobeing Anxiety: A Potentially Emerging Concept in Psychiatric Care
Schizobeing Anxiety: A Potentially Emerging Concept in Psychiatric Care

Summary/Abstract: To the Editor, Psychiatric nurses observe individuals with mental health disorders over extended periods, and therefore offer unique insights about them. I am a nurse experienced in psychiatric wards with locked doors and think that my observations, particularly on substance abusers, may significantly contribute to the literature. Due to Turkiye’s high patient density and hospital policies in, patients with schizophrenia and other mentally ill patients are often treated in the same wards as substance users (İçişleri Bakanlığı 2024). A shared therapeutic environment is required due to inadequate bed capacity in specialized addiction centers. Psychiatric wards often treat various diagnostic groups in the same therapeutic setting (Akhan et al. 2013, Güleşen and Üstün 2020) so that individuals with substance use disorders and those with schizophrenia may share their experiences with each other and develop mutual understanding toward one another by increasing their awareness of each other’s illness trajectories. Further research focusing on this interaction in therapeutic environments could provide a deep insight into the potential strengths and weaknesses of shared clinical settings for these patient groups (Akhan et al. 2013, Güleşen and Üstün 2020). People with substance use disorders frequently experience delusions and hallucinations from symptoms of schizophrenia (Murrie et al. 2019). This is because substance-induced psychotic episodes are similar with the schizophrenia- induced psychotic ones. Related meta-analyses have reported that substances such as amphetamines, hallucinogens, and cannabis can accelerate the onset of schizophrenia (Lecomte et al. 2018, Murrie et al. 2019). These observational data suggests that people who suffer from substance-induced psychotic episodes are likely to have greater awareness about psychotic symptomatology by comparing their experiences with those of people with schizophrenia.

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