Schizophrenia.com

Denying your mental illness

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#1

My brother downplays what I go through symptom wise.

He basically feels that my mental illness is a personality flaw and treats it as a weakness.

He wants me to stop worrying all the time and feels I can just snap out of it anytime I want.

Are their people in your life that basically deny or downplays your mental illness?

My brothers true colors are coming out or maybe I’m just waking up to how he really feels about me.

It’s going to be a lonely road for me when it comes to my future.

My father has not been the most understanding person in the world but at least he’s been there for me when I needed support.

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#2

My parents are supportive, but they don’t understand psychosis and they don’t seem interested in educating themselves either. Everytime I try to bring up my symptoms, they just write it off as depression and leave it at that. I guess it’s easier for them to understand, but I wish they would at least try

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#3

My sister said the other day; be strong! I don’t think she’s the one who’s strong. She smokes a lot and does other self destructive things. She doesn’t understand, because some people aren’t bothered a lot by others.

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#4

Very few people understand psychosis.

This includes mental health professionals like therapists.

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#5

I had a covid dream about something like that this morning, I was at some sort of hospital and i sneaked into a secret elevator that took me to the top floor, the top floor was for serious cases so i just sort of gatecrashed the group lol, people were looking at me funny and they were acting like ‘whats he doing here’ and they didnt believe i had a mental illness,

Then my pal turns up who happened to be a proper member of the group and i’m like hi, i said thats my friend and he looked a bit perturbed then people were like he hasnt got mi :frowning: it wasnt a nightmare just ver surreal an i think i get what it was trying to tell me.

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#6

This is very true. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on them, it’s just a little frustrating I suppose

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#7

My brother feels that I’m weak but the reality is that he’s the weak one.

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#8

Yes one of my brothers, the other brother and my parents still do but much less.

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#9

I kind of accept my weaknesses and try to improve but its hard to improve, even with a change of med i have been making very slow progress for the last 10 years, but i know i am not as strong as a normal person, physically and mentally and also Spiritually.

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#10

I disagree.
People afflicted with a severe mental illness usually show strength every single day.

It takes inner strength to battle these symptoms 24 hours.

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#11

This reminds me of trivial knowledge I came across once about the phrase:

‘Pull yourself up by the bootstraps’.

It’s a physical impossibility.

But that all too often is the tack(sp) that neurotypicals take with us.

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#12

I can relate to my condition being downplayed. My sister on several occasions, has downplayed my schizophrenia and brain injury as if it were nothing.

I had a heart attack about a year ago, as a result of my seizures. But the heart attack happened because of an electrical discharge from my brain, rather than the usual blocked arteries.

She blew it off as nothing, simply because it wasn’t the norm. That’s like saying I got shot in the chest with a hunting Arrow, rather than a gun so I feel nothing and there’s no danger or harm … It irks me, but I need to accept other people’s point of view. It’s theirs, not mine. It still hurts though, I get it

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#13

Yes we have strength but we are essentially weak it is just our ability to cope with that weakness that you say is a greater strength than many.

I am not ashamed to say mental illness is a weakness, coping with it takes strength and courage but we are still affected by its hold on us,

Meds are a strength in some ways, weakness in others. if you get a good med you can have more strength. but i am still weak in a lot of ways :frowning:

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#14

Interesting take @mrhappy and nice ‘save’.

Gonna be a jerk though and say I see both sides

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#15

My brother has a lot of hatred towards me because I can show empathy for others.

My brother lacks empathy so he is envious of what I’m capable of.

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#16

I think people see us and wonder whats wrong, some people dont even know we have an illness, the average guy on the street wouldn’t know, its not what is on the surface that counts, its whats underneath, invisible, you cant judge a book by its cover.

#17

When it comes down to it he’s quite toxic.

I’m going to keep some distance away from him.

#18

Whoa I see you are armed with a good understanding of narcissism.

Do you really think he is one? It’s just that the term is seemingly gaining in use; or maybe Sz’s tend to get hurt more frequently by them so I see the term on here often?

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#19

No I’m positive that he’s a Narcissist but he’s not sociopathic.
I tell him he’s a narcissist all the time.

My father is a bit of a Narcissist as well but not as bad as. My brother.

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#20

I have a sister who is mean and toxic. I can relate. I don’t talk to her at all

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