One of the regularly observed traits of poorly managed sz, sza, szt, psychotic bipolar and psychotic disorders in general is contrariness… which may be defined as acting upon (usually unconscious, but habituated) impulse to argue with others, regardless of whether one is right or wrong… or even knows what they’re talking about.
Those who are paranoid are typically contrary. They also tend to wonder why they are regularly shunned, isolated and rejected by others, even including their family members. My observation (strongly supported by professional colleagues) is that most psychotic spectrum pts cannot connect the causal dots between their argumentative natures and those rejections.
Mental health professionals assert this because it is obvious that many psychotic pts are so hurt by the critical judgments they impose upon themselves that they cannot stand it and must find a way to put the cause of their misery outside themselves… and onto others.
I did this myself for years. But when I got into the CBTs and MBCTs, I was able to see that I was in fact the cause of all that isolation and rejection. No one did it to me intentionally. (Not even my adoptive mother; she was just doing what she had been conditioned to do by her mother: judge others mercilessly.)
When I began to observe to notice to recognize to acknowledge to accept to own that I was the cause of my own isolation and rejection, I began to be able to change my (stinking) thinking, (hurt) feelings, and (contrary) behavior. I had to be self-aware and self-responsible.
Many sz pts believe that their medication is going to fix them. And that kneejerk hostility to others who disagree with their fantasies mean to hurt them.
I had to give up those fantasies a decade ago or risk sinking right back into the muck that sent me to the ICU after suicide attempts… twice.
