Who’s married or has a girlfriend? Did they know your diagnosis? If not how did they take it? I feel it would be a deal breaker an scare them away.
I’ve dated a few times since getting schizophrenia and never has it been a deal breaker for me. Sometimes it’s hard to find the right person, though.
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I have a partner who I’ve been with for 11 years. I didn’t have Schizophrenia when we first met but developed it during our relationship. It has been hard on him, he worries about me but he is very supportive and understanding. It is possible to find someone who is caring and understanding. There are good people out there.
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I was briefly married, divorced now. I’ve had a few girlfriends. I have schizoaffective/bipolar-type, just told them I’m bipolar. I mentioned the psychosis later. They took it well, they could see I’m a good guy, though there have been some women for whom the psychosis was a deal breaker.
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I’m guessing it’s not a good idea to come right out with it but wonder how long to wait to spring it on them. It’s a tough thing to figure out. Sometimes I wonder if it would be best to find someone like me with sza where we can help each other
I feel like everyone has different priorities. My old priority when looking for a bf was to find someone relatively “winning” at life. Now I figure this is a dumb way to look.
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Had a partner who didn’t mind the sz because was psychotic depressed and could relate… I usually find fellow mentally ill people make the best friends and partners but then part of the reason we split was because I was being dragged into low moods and psychosis by this person. So… shrug. Different people have different perceptions of stigma but I think more and more folks have some form of mental illness these days.
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I have a Chinese girlfriend. She knows about my illness and is understanding. She is trying to help me with her knowledge of Chinese medicine too.
No boyfriend anymore. But when I did have one he fully accepted it.
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Whatever the case is, maybe it’s not up to us who we choose to have in our lives sometimes. It is a little lonelier being single than being in a relationship with a guy you only see as a friend. But maybe it’s better to have a friend to spend life with than to have no one at all. I highly doubt that I will be single forever because my family want me to have kids and I also want a family. But at the moment I am having family trouble and my own illness rearing up and these seem to be more pressing concerns.
I was married for 7 years to a very mean individual.
She did not understand or accept my disorder, especially towards the end of our marriage.
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I have been married for 22 years. When we were dating I told him about my sza, and I still remember how bad I felt having to do that. It ddn’t change anything.
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It’d be nice to one day find a nice guy to bring back to my family and show off my kids and have a place of our own. A wedding with my friends Jackie and Judy as the bridesmaids. I’d like to go back to my old job as a tutor once disability comes through as well or maybe apply to be an educational assistant or something. In any case right now I’m really not interested in relationships, be as amazing of a person as you want. I just want to focus on my present problems with mi and disability and how I can best act moving forward.
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I had major problems before meds. I’d be way too paranoid to form decent relationships.
I’ve been married since. Got divorced but that was more her stuff than mine. It was rather complicated as things are!
Get your head right. It’s not anything you can’t do so keep trying. I wouldn’t advertise your mentally ill at first. You do need to come clean sometime. That is usually good policy! We all have baggage. For some it’s a mental illness!
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I got married at a time I thought my sza was cured but was starting to relapse again. When I told my husband about it I said I had a history of depression and was in hospital a few times. But didn’t say I had sz or sza as I thought I didn’t anymore
The following year it came to be my sza was rediagnosed and a cycle of episodes and hospitalisations resumed and yet I’m fortunate that hubby is still with me.
I think he’s very understanding bcuz he has illness too (temporal lobe epilepsy) and gets brief psychosis on occasion.
Me I’ve been officially single for 7 years since my diagnosis. My ex was my first and last girlfriend after leaving the hospital and I didn’t have a job or anything. I had to borrow money to take her out for valentines day. She was kinda very fast moving in the relationship thinking about it now.
But i didn’t want to talk about myself but rather my cousin. He started dating his future wife in middle school. After they graduated he worked full time at a grocery store and she worked somewhere. Things were going great and they stayed together. While he was working he started to get ill and he ended up in a pysch ward and was treated. I’m so proud of her for really being there for my cousin and staying with him through the worst time in his life. He recovered and drives cdl and they are looking to buy a home and have 3 wonderful girls. She works at the first job she had since high school and worked her way up.
Thanks for all your stories. I guess it’s not as hopeless as I thought.
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My last gf was when I was 17 I’m 30 now…
Loneliness is a killer
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I was married for 18 years and have 4 children. I honestly hope I never get involved in a relationship again.
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yeah…i feel the same. ill be 29 in dec. for me theres one girl i know whos perfect for me. or i mean shes my type. compared to my peers i dont have much. i couldnt take care of us with kids. idk i can barely take care of myself. ive been really beating myself up about it lately. if it one thing i could ask for from the universe is to have a family. this reminds me of an argument free will vs determinism. are we free to make our own decisions and choose our own mate? or is there someone for everyone. someone specific that we wait for when the time is right.