has anyone given some serious thought or exploration that mental illness may be a naturally occurring survival mechanism? It’s activated in the same way, mainly stress/fear/anxiety… Perhaps treating it as a survival mechanism to living in an often dangerous world, will reduce the fear(shame) and make it easier to accept 
If you burn your hand on the stove, it often leaves a lasting physical scar.
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MY mind tried to convince me to kill itself… Uhhh not a very good survival mechanism in my case. I have pondered that though. It’ll change you if you think your thoughts are being read.
Man, it seems like the opposite of a survival mechanism. Schizophrenia is a good way to get hurt. We are more often the victims of violence because of it. We are withdrawn and fearful which is not a good way to hold yuour own in the world. And we don’t have control of these things. And it causes suicidal behaviour. Yeah, it’s a warped way to cope.
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certain ideologies of thinking are natural, it’s acting on them that’s the big issue, see a doctor if it becomes an issue…you’re still here having endured them, if you didn’t have those idealogies maybe you would have had a heart attack or stroke. Stress/anxiety also is felt in the physical body. If the illness hadn’t of slowed me down, I would be dead from overworking the internal organs, such as heart, kidneys, adrenalines etc. I have adapted to it over time, but it still hurts.
I have accepted the “use” of the mind needing to distort reality to protect me from real stress/anxiety.
For me I think it partly is a survival mechanism against a dangerous world. The question is - why do I find dangerous what the rest of the world accepts matter-of-factly?
pob: you’re spot on there man!!! that’s the irony of it all, I internalise the pain instead of externalising it on others, like those normal tax payers with mortgages and bills sometimes do.
How does it help you survive? I believe it’s a dangerous world for ME. Maybe not others. But I can’t think of a way that schizophrenia helps me survive in this world. I cannot see it being an asset in any way, But I can see it being a HUGE liability.
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For instance - your natural instinct when someone says something to you, is to say nothing. That’s my answer. This avoids the too-complexity of ideas + ramifications of what the person said, to which you can’t fathom and respond to. A normal person would have no problem with the conversation going on. Much of my way of managing is to withdraw - hey, that hurts, that’s more than I can take, go away with your questioning. I just need to stand on my own. By my lonesome self. Hey, go away would you - I need you
I didn’t say it was fun.
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I run into that problem too. Often when someone starts a conversation with me, my main goal is to get out of it.
Yes it is for me in a practical non philosophical way.
Because I have anxiety so bad I’ve disassociated myself from society as a whole so I don’t have to deal with the negative aspects of being a part of it.
I don’t have a girlfriend or wife but I also don’t have the worries that come with that
If I didn’t have anxiety from my sz I’d prolly be a homeless meth addict like everyone I went to school with.
Quite honestly, I defy anyone to experience just a fraction of the crap I have endured and walk away as a “normal” and not have a half dozen or so MI labels stuck to their forehead.