So I get there at the meeting and this guy says that his drugs were “alcohol, marijuana and LSD” i mention that those were mine too. And that I had a diagnosis to go along with it. He says “I have a diagnosis too and I’ve been hospitalized a whole bunch of times”…he goes on to tell me “the voices aren’t real ya know!?”
So then it was a speaker meeting, the guy who spoke was his best friend and shared that he was schizophrenic. His whole story, he worked for 20 years, been sober for 30.
People started to share…FOUR people other than myself claimed they were diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Then the end of the meeting comes and I share…I say “I’ve been on anti-psychotics for 2 1/2 years, and thank god I’ve been out of the hospital since then. You a true inspiration to ME, as i can relate a lot to your story” etc… I didn’t say what my diagnosis was but they all knew.
Then after the meeting a lady asks if I have a sponsor, I say no, so she tells me to ask for the speakers number. So I ask for his number and the beginning of the meetings speakings number. I think I’m gonna ask this guy with schizophrenia to be my sponsor…the one who spoke. But crazy there were 5 people with SZ at the meeting. All the SZ people were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. True friends. I can’t believe it. 1% of the population? Well like 50% of this meeting. Well I’m gonna go for a drive because I’m a little hypomanic right now I think I found the right sponsor. One with SZ who can relate to my issues. He also said he did heroin and coke which I didn’t do, but nonetheless, addictions addiction. Pretty cool if you ask me. Peace.
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Sounds awesome… Good luck with this! You are obviously not alone.
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Thought I’d tag @anon84763962 in this
We were just talking about comorbid disorders of sz. Just thought ud like to know
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How you gonna show up to aa high when you move …west…
what do you mean “high” i dont plan on getting high
That’s great you found a sponsor who you can relate to jj!
I don’t have any research studies to share but I know I have read schizophrenics have a higher rate of addiction than the general population.
It’s probably in your book surviving schizophrenia.
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I was teasin don’t get ur aa Ina bunch…
I met with four different people before I finally found a sponsor who I clicked with.
One of the first guys I asked had paranoid schizophrenia. He was a regular at a couple of meetings I attended every week in the beginning of my sobriety. He never tried to hide his illness. He was very popular and he was called on to speak at almost every meeting. He almost always referenced his illness somehow in most of his shares.
He made a jokes about it; he was a funny guy. but at the same time he was well respected by almost every member. I liked him and when I asked him to be my sponsor he said “sure” and he drove us to a coffee shop and we went in and sat down and he leaned back in his chair and got comfortable and he asked me, " OK, what’s your story"?
I immediately liked him more because at that time I had been in AA and CA for more than a year and no one had asked me what my story was. So we talked and he agreed to be my sponsor and he gave me his phone number so we could talk more. Unfortunately, I called his phone number for a week with no answer and no return calls. I ran into him and he told me he had been out of the country for a week which I found out later was a lie. I called him a few more times with no answer so I got the picture. I saw him in meetings after that and he was occasionally friendly. But he never mentioned anything about the whole situation with him dissing me.
Anyways, yeah I’ve seen many people over the years in 12-step programs at meetings who have been in psyche wards. It’s actually quite common and it’s treated like no big deal.
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