Schizophrenia and tapping your forehead...?

Question

I just saw "A beautiful mind" and in the beginning of it, Russell Crow kept tapping his forhead with his fingers. For those of you who have seen it, you know that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Anyway, my family used to be friends with a guy who was schizophrenic and he would always tap his forehead too. Is this a common thing for people with schizophrenia? What do you think it means when they do this? Just curious, Thanks!

Answer 1

Many people with schizophrenia not only tap their heads, but I have seen them also hit their heads with their hands or other objects. In many cases this is because they are hearing voices, it is distracting and causes great anxiety and agitation.

Typically folks who are "lower functioning" in cognition (i.e., have autism, mild or moderate mental retardation in addition to their schizophrenia) are the tappers/hitters. Folks who are "higher functioning" in cognition - i.e., with normal IQ, no autism, etc. - are aware of how potentially socially unacceptable it is and so refrain from the activity.

The fact of the matter also is that folks who are "higher functioning" in cognition tend to have a better prognosis. That means that once they are on appropriate medication, they are less likely to hear voices and experience other symptoms, thus eliminating the need for the tapping.

Answer 2

The tapping can be part of a way to help a person remind themselves to concentrate,, the schizophrenic mind is all over the place , and with no way to controle this wondering,, the finger is an attempt to gain some glimmer of a shred of controle , not that it works , but never the less , the attempt is made....

Answer 3

This has been suggested as being a common reaction to "voices" that the person with schizophrenia is hearing internally.

Answer 4

It's fairly common. Many of the things that schzophrenia patients do or say don't really have any actual meaning, they are just part of the mental "malfunctions" that are going on.