I’m considered high functioning. I only work part-time because I have a husband who works full-time. I’ve always been mentally ill even before I started hearing voices. I would have done better if I wasn’t mentally ill. However, if something happened to my husband I can take care of myself and my two children. I would switch to working full-time.
I wish you the best of luck.
Going back to the OPs question, I’d say this forum represents the top 10% of SZs in terms of function. Nobody in the F2F groups I attended was as functional as most here are. If you read the family side of the forum, the functioning and insight you see displayed over here is a precious commodity for family and caregivers of SZs in our sister forum. Their loved ones generally don’t function as well as we do.
That’s a nice thought. Schizophrenics don’t really have very many role models.
Sometimes I feel people don’t give this board enough credit for the people that have come and gone from it we have had the most bravest people from services to the most knowledgeable people and their communities and the most poverty is stricken people that ever walk the streets over my lifetime of being here they have come and gone but the one thing they have in common was their illness PS poster if you’re looking to up your salary or money on this board you might look elsewhere one of the gifts that this board has ever given is knowledge thank you for your time
In answer to your question about whether or not this forum represents people with schizophrenia fairly - I honestly don’t know.
If I were to say this as a bell curve, we’re on the right side of the hump. We still have problems, but we have access to this website, that’s a hurdle for very many people whom may be homeless, etc. Then there’s the ability and willingness to communicate, emotionally you might need to feel a bit more comfortable and in a place to express what might be very personally held beliefs, and talk about things you don’t know are delusions.
What I think this website does do well, is that people whom once exposed to this site, that get loose and we notice them getting a little hard to understand, we tell those people the truth from an external source that they may now feel more trust with as a group of people with thoughts on this subject from personal experience.
I think there is a variety of people on this forum. From people on disability to professionals.
Personally, I was in a well paying job in NYC before getting ill and moving back to Belgium.
I am on disability now and going to start a Masters in January. Life could be better. Life could be worse. I have to learn to accept that I’m not as productive as before.
No. That’s my answer. Because it’s text-oriented. If there were, say, video interviews of each unique user, I would get a clear picture. The way a patient evokes in a verbal interview … that’s really what pdocs need to see to accurately diagnose.
Plus, I’m sure there are a few fake usernames on here, possibly some having multiple accounts/logins. I don’t think that’s paranoia, those are facts. Because they generally require anonymity (generally), it’s easy for anyone who is not mentally ill to come on here and mess with people. There’s no way to tell if a user is legit and unique. Eh, unless it’s obvious or something indicative on their Sz.com profile.
Very few. It’s against the rules to have multiple accounts and we are dilligent in preventing that.
You come here often enough it’s easy to spot the interlopers and we are a moderated website. There is a lot of work done behind the scenes to make sure these sorts of things aren’t happening.
It hurts my feels when you call me that!
Interloperaptor also doesn’t sound as cool.
Your anything but an interloper. You’ve way more street cred for that! 
Okay, sounds good. I could point out a couple usernames, though. It’s obvious they’re faking. I don’t want to mention which ones … but it’s obvious.
Benefit of the doubt but there’s a lot of work done to make it cool. No need to point out anyone. We aren’t just for sz these days and are open to anyone who has suffered psychotic spectrum disorders. It’s a broad brush these days but we monitor members closely.
Not everyone is the same as you with symptoms and such. You have a problem let us know privately. Otherwise just keep on posting.
FYI, if I’m on your list, the moderators here all know who I am in the real world, know where I live, etc. They’ll tell you that the info I post here tracks with what they see elsewhere online. I get accused of faking a lot because of the level I function at.
No, you are not on my list.
An example would be: I saw someone originally post they were on what was it? 1mg of Haldol and 2mg of Ability and was wondering about losing weight. That person is on my list. I mean, it’s obvious.
Hey @SlowMotional . We have a rule of keeping things anonymous. You have a facebook account in your profile. Please delete so I don’t have too. We are a publicly searchable site and we recommend you remain anonymous. It just works for everyone.
Edit. Did it for you. As per site policy.
Thank you. 1515151515151515
Yeah be careful. We are searchable by the public and it’s important to stay anonymous for most of our community.
In terms of functioning - the combination of sz/sz-a +ASD is for me, personally, more disabling than just having one or the other. SMI symptoms wise I’m doing much better than I’ve done for many years. However daily living wise I get quite a lot of support. How I come across on these forums doesn’t necessarily give any of you a good indication of how I am IRL.
I live a rather basic lifestyle. One that’s geared to reducing stress as much as possible. My day overwhelmingly is internet,TV, eat,drink, s*** and p***, and then sleep. There’s very little variation.
On more than a few occasions I’ve wondered whether I’m just socially dysfunctional, and therefore not a suitable person for these forums. Does this forum represent schizophrenics fairly by having people like me here? I honestly don’t know.