Hi, first time posting so sorry if I’m doing it wrong. Just a general conversation I want to have. Do you guys feel like a lot / most of the information people believe about schizophrenia is false? There’s 2 people that know about mine, one because I live with him and have loads of meds laying about, and the other is my Mum. I’d never mention it to anyone else in my wildest dreams… I feel as though schizophrenia is the hardest to talk about because people automatically think ‘psycho’.
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I think stigma has two faces, others ignorance about mental illnesses and our own self stigma, both equally important.
I tell mostly everyone that I have sza, and mostly everyone reacts well. It’s a good way to filter people as well, if they react badly I know it’s not a good person. Sometimes I try to explain, other times I don’t bother.
Any stigmatization is excessive. I think movies like “Psycho” are largely responsible, as good as that movie is.
I think so when I tell people I am schizophrenic they just stop talking to me or think I will hurt them
I don’t think anyone understands it really. And I think there is a lot of bias about it, at least where I live. I think it is one of the reasons my reg doctor treats me different now. Before the diagnosis I didn’t have any trouble getting help for other medical issues - now it seems my reg doc wants to just believe everything is from my sz and treats me like I make stuff up or it’s in my head.
When I tell a new doc I have sz - you can see the look change on their face right then! And the new FoI makes it worse. I always check Do NOT share information because I don’t want my medical info out there. But they never read the form and always put it out there electronically anyways. I had to go to ER and they already knew my diagnosis and meds I was on.
FoI is a government conspiracy to take away our privacy. They said it was to help make their information more available to the public. Really they were just trying to open the people’s information so they can trace and track them more.
I use the stigma to my advantage…most people leave me alone…but a few people understand and are cool with it…so yea most Normie’s think in dangerous…but that’s fine it cuts down on my time in Walmart…
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I feel pretty marginalized, in general. I find at least here (U.S.) the younger generation is more educated about Sz and Sza. I suppose it depends on the society and who you’re around at the moment.
Try to educate yourself about your illness as much as possible. And surround yourself with people who care and won’t judge you.
This, along with the meds, helps a lot of us out.
Take care 
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I was stigmatized last night, it doesn’t bother me as much anymore as I am more well than the normies almost!
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Hi and welcome to the forum @doojay!
I don’t tell people I have schizophrenia. I have a few close friends who I have told, and apart from family, that’s all who know about it.
I don’t feel stigma from those people but I know that the word schizophrenia does frighten some people so I don’t openly share my diagnosis with anyone.
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I face stigma from two groups of people; professionals and laypeople.
It sort of sucks, because I have to go to laypeople sometimes to get help because the professionals see me as too competent and knowledgeable to really get messed up. They know I am smart and that I know psychology pretty well.
like how I just figured out that it was the chaotic car drive and lack of nicotine (I went from 15mg/ml to 6mg) in one day and not the person nor place that caused me to feel like my nerves and composure were completely shot. And chaotic car rides are a known trigger, ever since a bad wreck when I was 20 I have hated driving unfamiliar routes and absolutely cannot do highways without my nerves frying.
I got to that conclusion by chatting with my mom because the docs are all off the clock and I was acutely freaking out.
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I normally don’t tell anybody. Except when I was psychotic I pretty much told everybody. Which is kinda bad for me because of the stigma. Don’t know if there is any fallout. I do remember one of the women in the class that I told it to curled up like I was going to attack her. I have overheard things that could be negative but I can’t trust that because that could just be the voices. Don’t go out much so I can’t say I have interacted with that many people though.
Thanks for the response everyone 
very good to see many different opinions. My partner is very supportive and often has sat down with me and asked lots of questions to try and help his understanding. Most of the time I’m an extrovert and I enjoy socialising which doctors believe to be part of it as there is another side that completely crashes out and hates everyone, which is mainly due to/accompanied by paranoia. When it’s come up in conversations regarding other people or movies and such involving sz people in my area do tend to view sz patients as inferior and dangerous. Maybe the conversation should be had more often.
In General, I feel Stigmatized by the people closest to me.
I find that psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, family doctors, stigmatize the most.
I was also greatly stigmatized and faced harassment when I was employed in the Education field.
And Sadly, family members, including close family members like my father and brother that tend to always be stigmatizing.
People diagnsed or labeled with a severe mental illness, like schizophrenia or bipolar are usuallly marked for life within our society.
Its like wearing a target on your back for life - it seems to never go away.