Like everybody knows, functioning is not a black and white thing. Some schizophrenics can do certain things well, some schizophrenics can do a lot of things fairly well. And some schizophrenics can do a couple of things well, and some can do few things well etc. And the level of functioning can change over time and can fluctuate.
The year I was diagnosed at age 19 my parents found a therapy/ support group for me to intend. At the time, I knew zero about schizophrenia and I knew nothing about other schizophrenics. I was leaving the group to go home one day and the leader asked how I was getting home. I told her I was catching a bus. She looked a little surprised and told me I was high functioning. I thought it was weird that she said that.
I didn’t know catching a bus was a big deal. Anyways, some people on here can go to school but cannot work and vice-versa. Some people are married but they can’t go to school. Some people can sit in a bar and drink a beer which seems almost impossible to other schizophrenics. Low functioning and high functioning are relative. I’ve seen schizophrenic friends who were in my eyes, low functioning but later got jobs. I’ve seen so called low functioning schizophrenics get the girls I never had a chance at in a million years.
I am usually motivated but it’s dumb luck, the luck of the draw. 2 1/2 years after being diagnosed I got a job and I stayed almost steadily employed for the next 7 years at different jobs until I had a nasty relapse when I was about 28. It lasted a year and I only worked sporadically. A year later I got back in the work force.
Anyways, the course of schizophrenia is hard to predict. @shutterbug was deemed virtually hopeless by doctors but look at him now. He’s accomplished more than anyone could dream of (and almost as important, he has a very distinct, good sense of humor in him) I was psychotic for my first two and half years and I saw no hint or clue that anything would ever change that. I was in and out of hospitals.
At my first job out of the hospital I had to do things while actively psychotic. I was about 22 or 23. I was heavily sedated, stressed and delusional. But maybe I was just too stupid to realize I couldn’t work. Because when my boss told me to drive a dump truck full of litter, and garbage 10 miles to dump it I dutifully got in the truck and did it despite never driving anything bigger then a Chevy Impala in my entire life. When he told me to get in my own car and go to the lumber yard several miles away I dutifully went there, filled ten bags with a 100 lbs of sand apiece, put them in my car and drove back.I guess just didn’t know any better and nobody told me I COULDN’T do it so I just did it.
For a year or more he had me take 4 or 5 large bags of dirty towels to the laundromat once a week to wash and dry them. Lots of times it was on a Saturday in the morning and the place was packed and since I took up 8 or 9 washers myself and then 10 dryers at once you can imagine the dirty looks and rude comments I got sometimes from the other people there. Anyways, I just wanted to raise a little hope here and some encouragement and I hope someone gets something from this. I’ve seen comebacks and miracles from schizophrenics. It could be you. It takes hard work, but some people want to help you. I wish you all good luck.