Can you separate your self from your illness?

I have now been in psychiatric treatment for almost 6 years and it affects the way that I see my self. I write a lot more about sz, psychosis, symptoms and so on in my journal. Once I was just thinking of my self as a human being with thoughts and emotions, but my treatment has made me focus on psychosis. How do you see your self?

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“Can you separate yourself from your illness?”

No, I AM schizophrenia!
Seriously, I don’t know. It’s part of me now.

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I have a hard time separating. I don’t think I can. I don’t know if I should either.

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Can you separate yourself from the environment you live in? You can try all kinds of ways, but until you change your whole environment you are still stuck where you are and where youve been. Possible for some, impossible for others perhaps. It seems in my case it wasnt so possible, no matter how we wished it so. I guess it would be nice if we could go to the exchange shop ahd exchange one life for another. But,thats not really how it works.

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Separating mental illness from yourself seems similar to annoying saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life hands you lemons we all know how difficult it is to make lemonade.

Recently I have realized it’s not just illness creating problems in my life, there are personality quirks as well. They seem more troublesome for me. And they can’t be addressed with meds. Are even more difficult to separate from sense of self.

Mental illnesses affect our minds not just brains. Seems stupid to mention it here. Mind plays a role in conceptualizing our sense of self. It various things affecting one another.

It would be interesting to see and hear from someone who has managed to separate mental illness from self image.

No. I am my schizotypal diagnosis. It’s not something I will combat, something external to me. But I don’t indulge in my diagnosis and feel pity or anything like that. I just want to get the best out of the circumstances.

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I pretty much define myself by schizophrenia. I’m a schizophrenic first and foremost.

It makes things easier to remember that when I’m unable to cope.

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Hmm. . .

The Word Illness Is A Strange One In My Ever Elusive Book Of Psychological Structure.

On One Hand, There Is Mainstream Society. A Culture That Goes With The Flow. Perhaps.

On The Other, A Field Of Labels. Diagnostic Criteria. Kinda Like The Flu Of Sorts.

I Decided One Day, After Years Of Pushing Against Those Pushing Me. I Decided To Go Mainstream.

And…, Well…, It Went Rather Well. Sort Of. Kinda. Maybe Perhaps. But!, The Word Illness.

It Still Baffles Me.

On A More Spiritual Level. I Consider Myself Christian. But!, I Am Not Religious.

The Voices Truly Come From Outside Of My Own Inner Being. (No Doctor Agrees Though).

Which Is Fine In All Reality. I Never Dabbled Much Into Classical Music Anyways.

I Mean, ‘Bach’, Violins, Pianos. ‘Beethoven’, And His ‘Moonlight Sonata’. Perhaps.

But!, That’s About As Far As I Wander Within The Landscape Of Higher Education.

Don’t Most Doctor’s Enjoy Classical Music?.

I Honestly Don’t Know. That’s Why I’m Asking. Sorry Not Sorry. Oh!, ‘Demi Lovato’. So Pure!.

Okokok, I’m Shifting Perspective.

Point Is, We Are Human Being’s.

And As Human Being’s, We Are Collectively Curious.

The Medical Field Hand’s Out Injections, Pills, Emergency Room’s, Facilities, And Clinic’s.

There Must Be A Reason?.

In My Personal Study. The Word FEAR Became A Door To Understand The Cycle Of Life And Death.

I Wandered Once Again Into Void’s Of Philosopher’s And So On.

Discovered That I Was Given A Key To Unlock The Eerie Mystery.

Although, I May Have Trouble Discovering The Answer.

SINCE I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE QUESTION IS (!!!).

To Separate Self From Illness.

To Be Or Not To Be.

Is That The Question?.

:purple_heart:

Yes I have made a little secret,
that I would talk about it only here.
Not to anyone around me, other than docs.
I believe I don’t have to control my mind with right thoughts.
Because its not the thoughts that are wrong.
Its the functioning of the brain.
Because of which my pdoc stopped, sending me to psychologist.
He know I have separated it as condition of the brain.
And not personal behavior issue.

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I don’t see it as a significant part of myself unless I’m in an active episode.

Its also, like asking if we can be cured. And, none psychiatrist can officially say theyve cured anyone of anything. It would be like saying the alcohol or street drugs cure people. Alot of people swear by that stuff.

Schizophrenia is an illness that “poisoned” my personality, and my life. I don’t see it as a part of me. I view it as an infection that I can’t get rid of. Meds are a treatment, but they’re not a cure.

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I have experienced psychosis since I was 16. Since I was 11 to 17, I was a drug addict

Schizophrenia has its challenges, but my life sucked as a teenager, and as an adult I know nothing different than a psychotic existence…

So now I have been stable for nearly 3 years, and have 3 more dx’s!

Pretty shitty but it has happened and there is nothing I can do about it

Schizophrenia is such a broad collection of symptoms, and an illness does not define a person.

Something like this is just part of you.

Without a distinction or a construct, we’d all be untreated probably rotting in an asylum somewhere unpleasant

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Occasionally I forget I am even schizophrenic… it’s been happening a lot more recently… don’t know if it’s cause I’m on the forum less, I’m focusing on getting ready for my baby or just cause it’s been 2 years since my last psychosis…

But idk, sometimes I can separate myself from the illness

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It’s hard to make a 100% statement. Sometimes I’m drowning in it, and other times it’s not there at all. All in all, I’m the same guy, this is just the latest challenge that’s been placed before me

It also depends how much people around you let you. If your just trying to be creative with your words and your family is always like, Stop That! Thats your Schizophrenia! It may be more difficult. Or say youve accomplished something ahd they are like, Thats your schizophrenia too!

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I can’t separate psychosis/sz from my self.
All I say, do, write, experience is symptoms,
some days minor, some days major.

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Its part of me, I remember that everytime I think about my brother’s normal successful life and I see them everyday as I live with them. Maybe if I lived in a schizophrenic country I would feel more normal lol but is it a good thing? Pretty sure its not. We need normal ppl.

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SZ is one of many health problems I deal with. It is nowhere near as much of an issue for me as my heart condition is these days.

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I do not really get either of them: self or illness.