Do you like to use this word to describe your illness? Does it bother you when non SZ people use this word when describing something they did that is out of the ordinary or wild? or when they use it to describe a mentally ill person.
I know that schizophrenics are capable of doing “crazy” things when symptomatic, but we are not crazy.
In my opinion the term crazy is overused and used with out thought.
I also think that the word Insane is over used by the general public, and I don’t like the negative stigma it generates.
Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder that involves faulty genes - chemical imbalances and usually a stressful environment. It can be as debilitating as cancer or alzheimers and other severe illnesses.
Using words like crazy or insane generates stigma, especially within the non schizophrenic population - it simplifies and stirs up a negative backlash. I have used the word before to describe myself, or things that happen around me.
I dont use it often, but I have been wondering lately if I should use it at all
This is the kind of word I use without thinking. I know I shouldn’t, that it’s a terrible stigmatizing word, but it’s very hard not to use it.
It’s also hard to fault normals when they use it since I use it myself so much.
Sometime I will use the word. It’s used for so much it’s hard to take it seriously.
I notice in my region crazy is used as an adjective before a verb or another adjective… the kids here talk of things being crazy fast, or crazy big, or crazy long. “that was a crazy long red light” (the kids can’t use “Hella” in front of their parents)
Situations are also described as crazy. My friend and I watched two people nearly come to blows over a parking space while their cars blocked a busy street. Then the bicycle cop got involved and there was screaming and when it was over my friend did say, “That was crazy.” I agree, I would never jump out of my car and almost get into a fist fight over a parking spot.
But then he got all embarrassed and tried to back peddle. He wasn’t calling either person crazy. He was calling the whole scene crazy.
If someone is thought to have a mental illness, they are said to “off”… “I don’t know, that guy is off somehow”
Yeah, it’s overused…it used to be a term applied to a certain type of person but now everyone is crazy.
I just think of myself as having a condition. I don’t like to think of myself as having a disability or anything.
I use the word crazy. I am crazy about my son and my family and my research. Meaning I am extremely enthusiastic about it. I’m pretty sure my son uses it because he doesn’t associate the word as meaning insane. Personally I cringe when I see “normie” or “normal person”. It’s my own interpretation of the word and how I think people are using it that is the issue. Personally I don’t think crazy brings any more stigma than normie or “dumb” blonde (that one really bothers me). If the intention is not to criticize then perhaps looking at how the person saying it, meant it would be more appropriate then our own prejudice on the word itself. So many words can be used in so many ways with a lot of different meanings. I wasn’t going to respond to this thread but alas here I am… A normal persons view on the word.
I must have struck a nerve inside of you - those were not my intentions. Many people on this site use the word “normal” or “normie” just like many people use the word “crazy” You are right, it is the intention behind the use of these words that matter.
No worries… Unfortunately it is a nerve that gets struck in me all the time because I wish we lived in a world were stigma didn’t exist for anyone. 
Barbie you have been a big help to me and Im sure others here on this site with your valuable advice and insight.
I have been guilty of using the word normie or normal on a number of occasions, I have also used the word crazy - even though my intentions are good. Certain words hurt - even if the intentions were good. I have decided not to use the word normie or normal on this site. I will also be careful to avoid the word crazy, especially when directly related to my mental illness or someone else’s. Thank you for allowing me to see this. Again my apologies -
I too hate the word “normie” yet I find sometime I use it when I am trying to make a point. Yet that point sort of gets lost. I hate the word, yet it still slips out. I have been trying so hard to use it less.
I would be dead if it weren’t for the people in my life who don’t have SZ.
But really, “normie” seems to divide the world into two and only two categories. SZ and non SZ and that is it. What about all the rest?
My 17 year old sis is crazy amazing and mature and kind. But I live with her, and well, she is NOT normal. She’s just not SZ.
Not having sz doesn’t seem to make her life any easier. In fact, I’d say her life is harder then mine at the moment. People insulate me… my day is in bubble wrap sometimes. There is a lot of planning to help me not crumble. I have a crisis team at the end of the phone.
But when the kid sis is having a panic attack or curled up in the bath fully dressed crying her eyes out my family says, “Your a smart cookie, you figure it out. You’re fine. Call us if James needs anything”
i prefer using the term eccentric, not crazy. No one deserves to be called crazy in my opinion.my siblings call me crazy because I hear voices. But again, I prefer the term “Eccentric.”
I forgot what movie I was watching way back when but some poor soul in the move shouted out across the big hall,
“I’m not rich enough to be eccentric. You’re only eccentric if your rich, the rest of us are nuts”
Again… just a movie and that scene always plays in my head when I see or hear the word. It puts a smile on my face.
I agree, I would love to be rich enough to be eccentric.
im not rich at all, on the contrary, I’m actually pretty poor. But back in the 1900s i would have been considered eccentric, as I consider myself now.
No, I prefer insane or mentally ill. I don’t say crazy so much maybe once in a while.
Now day I reserve the word crazy for politicians. I preferred the word unique for me.
I have never used the word normie until now. As for normal there is nobody normal. We all have are own problems.
Peace be with you Ridgerunner
I love this post. You are so right on this one.
I tend to call myself crazy for the hell of it!
I agree with this post, too. I don’t like to use the word crazy or insane, because the stigma around mental illness is still so bad. But crazy is an overused word, so it escapes somehow for anything. I heard of the word malletjie as well, I’m also from South Africa. My family-in-law uses that word not necessarily for mental illness, but anything they don’t agree with, but it still hurts. They probably think I’m a malletjie as well, and I married their son/nephew… I’m writing a book about my struggle with mental illness and I want to destigmatise it so I said I don’t like using the c word.