Could self discipline and willpower and good habits cure my sza

Health and Recovery
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Reading at the moment a book called The Monk who sold his Ferrari. About seven life changing principles like thinking inspiring thoughts, finding your purpose in life, self improvement, good habits, discipline, serving others and living each day as if it were your last, and living in present moment.

Now I’m wondering - if I put these things in practice could it cure my sza? Could I come off meds if I think positive and improve my life? And could disciplining myself cure my avolition?

Any thoughts?

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No way. Its a medical disease, not a psychological one. I tried quitting meds twice, I nearly killed someone and myself.

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I agree with Aziz. Nope. Maybe the Discipline could cure avolition would work but you’d still have sza.

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You can cure yourself by saying i dont have this , i have something else or just issues. Many try that. But if you can get going on anything you suggested it could help. Public or docters opinions are also based on you at the moment, so any of that could change things. They also put high value on working.

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I will say no comment. Because idk.

And importantly, idk if it is worth the risk ATTEMPTING coming off meds and I say this because what if you relapse and need to go on an even higher dosage of ap :sob:. Etc.

These are my main concerns.

IDK if it is worth the risk… Really really.

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This is exactly what I thought when I read Earthchild’s post. Sza is not a psychological illness. It is physical.

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It’s not either/or…

You can be learn to be highly disciplined and motivated AND take your meds…

if anything, the meds will help you get there quicker…

Reprogramming the neural network in your skull will help a lot but most evidence shows sz is a disease of neurotransmitters… on the other hand eating garbage, drinking alcohol or doing illegal drugs will almost always make things much, much worse, so being disciplined about being physically healthier has huge payoffs.

Some people are very fortunate to have a “Lite” version of sza… Maybe one or two hospitalizations and they recover fully, sometimes without even taking any meds. No way to tell if you have good prognosis or not though so it’s sometimes best to use meds as extra insurance.

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No, it ain’t that easy. Never heard of anyone curing their schizophrenia by will power or positive thinking. You will not " think yourself" out of this disease. The reason is simple; if it was possible, then it would have been done by everybody a long time ago. And it would have been publicized all over the world, and every psychiatrist would treat their patients illness by recommending it.

That said, living by those principles for someone with schizophrenia would probably help. Living by those principles could help someone live a better life. It’s good to have a purpose in life and be a good person and help others and improve yourself etc.

Speaking from experience, I was a drug addict and lived that lifestyle for four years. During that time, I didn’t give a damn about anything except getting my drugs. I didn’t care much about living a clean productive helpful life. I didn’t care about helping anyone or being a good person or having a purpose.

But I eventually got clean in AA and a huge part of AA is self improvement. The AA program is not just about quitting drugs; there’s much, much, more to it. It’s about being honest and living by a set of principles. It’s about improving yourself and your life. But I’m bringing up AA because it changed my life. And I’m bringing it up because I turned my life around and I lived by what they taught me.

I was gung-ho in the program the first 5 years. I tried to live a principled, moral, honest life. And I succeeded in many ways. BUT…all the positive changes made me happier, and I got a lot out of it and made good things happen in my life but it didn’t cure me. Living a good life helped my recovery in many ways.

Like a said, I was happier and more productive and living a principled life brought me many good things. It helped make my life better and it put me n a position to help other people. That’s why when I walk around in public now, I get smiles and approval occasionally.

People can spot that I’m not out to hurt anyone or cause trouble. And that makes me happy too!

So yes, there’s definitely benefits in living a good life and working on yourself. But my last advice when it comes to improving your life is don’t take on too much. None of us are perfect and trying to be perfect will just frustrate and cause it’s own problems.

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Not cure, but it has been huge and instrumental in my own recovery, personally. Schizophrenia is just as much a psychological disorder as it is neuropsychiatric. That’s a good book by the way. You may like to read Thomas Merton.

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It can lead you to better coping mechanisms. Sz and Sz aff are disorders that are biologic in basis. Psychology isn’t going to cure you from delusions or hallucinations. Meds do that. Self discipline and willpower will help you in recovery but it’s meds based for sure.

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well youll never know until you try :slight_smile:
you can certainly improve your life by doing any of the above

the meds idea, u shouldn’t even think about coming off anything until you have a full action plan with coping mechanisms that work and stuff. and it wouldnt mean that your symptoms couldnt come back because they definitely could come back.

So if you dont have all the skills in place solid it could be pretty rocky.

and of course discuss with your pdoc.

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My experience is no. But there’s little harm to me (except everything may go up in price if the government pays for your future psych ward experience and increase in meds) if you do it so I say go ahead and try it.

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Discipline, good habits and positive thinking are necessary to cope with the illness. There is no cure, but these things help you live a better life.

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Always remember the brain is squishy malleable stuff…

Changing your thoughts rewires your brain and changing neuron chemistry will change your thoughts

You can work from both ends of the problem…

Never let anyone convince you that you can’t ever be cured, or at least be way better than you ever dreamed of. This isn’t Huntington’s…

Don’t settle too soon. Don’t give up.

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You can’t just will away a mental illness anymore than you could will away diabetes or heart disease.

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