When I think about the stigma I just tell myself stuff like you still have emotions, you still are a person just like everyone else. I still have a life, I play the drums, I can have friends, I have talents. How do you deal with the stigma? What do you tell yourself?
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I don’t tell anyone about it. And I tell myself that it’s not my fault I have this, I was born severely screwed up and I need to just survive it the best I can. I also had to accept the fact that I will never be like other people or live a normal life.
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I only tell my friends about it. Although, I did write about it in my essays for my application to Bryn Mawr College, I also wrote about the stigma. The stigma is pretty bad in the general public, who have no understanding of schizophrenia, and only hear about it when a rampage killer is rumored to have it. Some people think a symptom of schizophrenia is split personalities. I don’t work right now, I’m going to school, majoring in psychology. When I become a psychologist, I plan to be open about my diagnosis.
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I just use jubilance
very few know therefore no stigma , it is best not to tell people in my opinion !
take care
Hey,
I’m pretty open about everything but that is a hard thing. Most folks have no idea and modern life means it matters little to anyone but yourself…
Still! It’s worthy if your comfortable with yourself! If you make a difference in one persons life then that is probably a good thing! Saying that though----people just don’t give a hoot these days and it’s often a thing that will work against you in work or social settings!
So. Keep it quiet till your extremely comfortable but even then dont’ get offended if people treat you differently!
A friend in the struggle, Rogueone.
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How do I deal with it?
I don’t. Not my problem.
I act accordingly, follow the laws (especially with regard to safety)
Pay my bills on time, am respectfull to my elders, protect children from harm and try to cause the least problems for others as well.
Call me whatever label you want, but if you don’t like me, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
i rise above stigma’s because i know the truth of mental illness, stigma does not effect me
if people had gone through what i went through there stigma would be praise
There are people that honestly feel stigma does not exist. I do not know what planet they live on. Some have schizophrenia and still believe it to be true. Our society as a whole was geared to celebrate normalcy - traditional and conservative ideas and culture. We (Society) like things to blend in . We are a bunch of followers - just think Facebook. Mental illness plays no part and has no place in todays vanilla flavored popularist type society.
Even the liberal movie and television industry loves to portray us as being a bunch of violent cold hearted sociopoaths or boogie men. And you call this open minded? I deal with stigma by not telling the public or strangers or even many family members that I suffer from schizophrenia/SZA Its that simple, what they don’t know won’t bite me in the ass and hurt me later. Not only does stigma against schizophrenia exist it is engrained in how society thinks and operates.
And if you think that your psychiatrist or therapist does not stigmatize? You are dead wrong.
God forbid if you should ever stumble upon their notes or personal journals on you.
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I don’t tell anyone but then again I don’t know anyone I’m so socially isolated it doesn’t make a difference. But I feel fearful of it I don’t want anyone knowing I don’t want to act weird or distracted particularly around family. I’m worried if I told anyone they would think I’m an axe wielding murderer which Is a typical stigma. This is what worries me about getting to know people as well as I don’t trust them I can’t hide my illness 24/7.
I’m beginning to think that anyone who would actually stigmatize me, put me in a box, shut it and label it are the people who have no power or influence over my life.
My family, some of my friends, my boss, my three co-workers, and my landlord and two neighbors know that I’m SZ. I see them, I interact with them and they have influence on my existence and they know I’m different, but Ok.
If the guy at the gas station or the waitress at the coffee shop a few blocks up know and have a problem with it… well, they have no power in my life no matter what. So their stigma doesn’t affect me. It’s their problem, not mine.
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great post there Wave
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I guess if I were successful or even semi successful I would be more apt to be open with my illness. Take Professor Saks, the whole world knows she is sz and they accept her, they praise her, because she is an anomaly. Let’s face it, 99% of us struggle a great deal because of sz and we do not need anyone around us knowing we have fallen on hard times. The stigma, to me, is the struggle. When one can stand in arms with their brothers and sisters does the stigma not sting as much. Standing requires effort: education, a meaningful job/career, being a member of the community. When you stand tall, things like stigma don’t interfere with your life. If and when you fall, keep rising. When you rise to meet life’s challenges, you break stigma, both your own and others.
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Psychosis can be a comfort. The comfort of the intellectual… and I’ve never been an intellectual. But my mind raced… this way, that way. Days on end… nothing but confusion. Where I learned something, though I don’t know what. And I tell myself that this is simple…
rising above any stigma in life is key, i like your post
I do my best to be open about it with my friends and try to show that people can recover and cope with it. I plan on working in mental health services. I will probably write my essays for grad school applications about what i’ve been through and how it has changed me for the better.
I have some friends (the ones with the highest IQ’s and most liberal opinions) who completely understand what I have been through, but some of them have no idea and are pretty ignorant as to what a day with schizophrenia is like. People are either empathetic and rational about it or they just don’t understand and don’t want to because it scares them. Regardless of what people think, it doesn’t matter, I have a life and opinions don’t affect my behavior.
You just have to do the best for yourself as someone with schizophrenia, that’s the bottom line. Everyone should do so anyways. I try to show that schizophrenics are still people, not just freaks.
Since I am in remission, I just have to remind myself that most people know very little about mental illnesses…I’ve heard professors mix up schizophrenia and split personality…(not psych professors, of course). It can be dangerous to tell the wrong people that you are mentally ill, some people freakout or think they can blame you for it. The truth is that it is a genetically inherited brain disease and the best you can do to cope with it is to try medications until you find the right ones, and then stay on them forever. It’s actually pretty simple. Schizophrenics themselves are the most at risk of being harmed by others or harming themselves. I wrote a paper about violence and schizophrenia last semester, and schizophrenics are more often the victims of violence or they kill/injure themselves. In fact, there is a 15% chance that a diagnosed schizophrenic will commit suicide within 30 years of being diagnosed.
Stigma comes from misunderstanding. Mental illnesses are getting more and more public awareness, I think that within time more people will understand what it is and understand how treatments work. Like I said, it’s actually quite simple once you become compliant with help- you just try meds until you get better, then stay on them. I don’t get how that is so puzzling to some people.
But stigma comes from the wost of the worst- usually paranoid schizophrenics with high IQ’s, low negative symptoms and high positive symptoms, particularly voices giving them commands and very strong delusions. Again, I wrote a paper and gave a presentation on this…these types of schizophrenics are the most likely to be violent, and if they are on any sort of substances, illegal drugs or alcohol, the risk of violent behavior goes way up. I actually am that kind, the non-deficit paranoid subtype of schizophrenia, but I am an honors student, I go to class for free on scholarships, and I take medications, three of them. I do my best to show that we aren’t void of free will, we can gain insight into our condition and recover from it. It’s a disease, and it is very treatable these days.
I’ve read that the word “schizophrenia” has a reputation for making people immediately commit suicide after being diagnosed. I think the disorder needs a new name, “schizophrenia” and especially “schizophrenic” are just cacophonous. People with cancer arent called “canceritics”
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