I've been struggling

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My psychiatrist dropped me as a patient. I don't fully understand why. I'm broke. Navigating the bank is hard. I'm really addicted to nicotine. I smoke too much pot. I can't seem to take my meds consistently. I'm on a lot.

I'm struggling at home. My family doesn't know how to deal with me. I have really bad outbursts. They think I'm being dramatic. I get paranoid and it turns into an argument. I just feel pushed aside.

I am sorry to hear of your struggles, Crystal.

Smoking pot can induce paranoia, especially for individuals on the schizophrenia spectrum.

Is there any reason why you need to smoke pot?

Thanks. Yea. I honestly don't know why. I used to think it helped with bad feelings. A lot of people I know smoke it too. I keep thinking that I should quit honestly. I think the fact I continue to use it is why my psychiatrist left.

Nicotine/cigarettes can actually help manage some of the symptoms of schizophrenia (and sometimes related disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum), but weed is a definite no-no for a lot of schiozophrenic folk, since the THC in it is a psychoactive substance.

A link is provided below to an example of the link in a pharmacological journal:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014299900000352

An excerpt from the text:

"The incidence of smoking in the mentally ill, particularly in schizophrenia is much higher than in the general population. Nicotine normalizes a sensory deficit found in schizophrenia and both aberrant expression and regulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors have been found in postmortem brain, isolated from subjects who suffered from this disease in life."