What is it like dating in the schizophrenia world? I have never had a girlfriend and I am 24, but I am considered high functioning and just graduated college. I think I could manage having a family, but I imagine it is so hard to deal with the symptoms when dating and finding a girl that is okay with the genetic component of schizophrenia and dealing with schizophrenia in general. So whats it like for everyone here?
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Good topic!! I havent dated, not even talked to a girl since getting sick (2yrs ago).
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I have a boyfriend. But Iām gay and in remission. Maybe that makes it easier.
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Iām talking to a girl right now, she sounds ideal, makes me wonder how i am going to break it to her that i have āthatā huge skeleton in my closet, i was thinking of just saying i get anxious, iām not planning on getting unwell anyway, my meds will see to that so it should be ok.
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Have went on at least 5 dates after being divorced and diagnosed with schizophrenia, not in that order ha, either way my experience with poverty of speech made things difficult at times on dates but she never said anything about it.
I am currently trying online dating and am a bit picky when it comes to who I will talk to. If you graduated college and are high functioning I would say try dating, you probably pass as normal and the genetic parts of the disease only matter when you want kids but that should be down the road a ways.
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iāll be happy no matter what my kids are like, if they have sz i can help them with that as i have experienced it.
I would be devastated if my kids had Sz or SzA. I could help them, but it would be terrible and I know it. I still want kids someday.
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my grandad had sz, cut his own throat, my dads dad had it and then i got it 
he was a strong character my dad, he said his dad got released and had a certificate of sanity given to him 
its kind of ironic bc now iāve been re-diagnosed does that mean i am better? lol
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I havenāt tried dating since being diagnosed. I had lots of relationships before I was diagnosed though. I was diagnosed at about 39.
None of my relationships worked out.
I met all my girlfriends the old fashioned way, that is āin real lifeā and not via online dating.
Good luck with it all.
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I have two kids of my own and will help them with whatever pops up be it schizophrenia or something else.
Back to dating though, has anyone had luck with online dating?
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I had a girlfriend who after seeing me relapse 4 or 5 times started not wanting to have children from fear of them āhaving problemsā.
Although she didnāt told me, I understood I was the cause of that change of mindset, but hope nowadays sheās not still afraid of having kids from someone because of what she saw in me.
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Been years since I dated, would have a hard time now as Iām so used to being alone
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Iāve dated ever since I was a teenager and have been sick for longer. I am going to not date for a while though, due to needing to work through some traumas regarding my family and past relationships. It was easier to navigate dating before this past relationship.
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I got sick (or officially diagnosed) last year, at twenty-three. I started dating a girl I was good friends with at twenty-one. I really cherished that relationship but it only lasted a month and a half because I got paranoid about my rather conservative family finding out I was in a gay relationship. Later that year I pursued a relationship with a guy who was also a good friend (notice a pattern here? :P). Our relationship was fairly stable until recently; problems we were having and not really dealing with effectively got to be too much and we broke up last month. Iām still friends with both of my exes. I donāt think Iāll put myself out there again for a while yet. Got a lot of work to do on myself first.
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Never had a girlfriend nor dated and I donāt careā¦
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Schizophrenics shouldnāt have kids!
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So better be alone?
When I dated I donāt think the women knew I had schizophrenia though they knew I had a mental illness because some of them did too. I dated a woman who had schizophrenia for a few months. She had some interesting delusions about people living to be 800 or 900 years old and she thought sisters and brothers should date but she was really sweet and out of my league in the looks department but we took turns making and hour and a half bus ride to visit each other and I didnāt really have any money or a car but on dates we went to the art gallery or to her favorite bar and I stayed the night with her at her parents house one time. We got along great.
The other women I dated were good-looking too but I only briefly went out with them, to the movies or out to dinner and I had a car when I dated them.
I used to drive by myself up to the Tenderloin district in San Francisco at night and for some reason there were all kinds of woman on the streets wearing purple hot pants and bright red halter tops who were looking for dates. I guess they were just really friendly, outgoing folk.
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Iāve had two gfs since being diagnosed. I donāt really recall the exact time I disclosed the illness to each of them which probably means it wasnāt a deal breaker to them. That was about eight years ago. Iāve given online dating a try here and there and have been on a few dates spread over the past decade. Depending on how much you want a relationship will dictate whether your successful at dating. For me, I enjoy single life, having a woman by my side would be nice but not a pressing requirement. If it happens, great, if not, Iāll continue seeking. High functioning and a college grad- the ball is in your court!
Iāve had a few relationships, even was married briefly, but now I am single by choice.
Most of the women I have dated I met online, most of those through Match.com.
Iām a little reserved when it comes to telling my diagnosis to a dating partner. Once I get to know a woman better, and she can see Iām not a bad guy, I test the waters by telling her about my bipolar stuff. If it seems she can handle that I eventually tell the other side of it, the schizo- part of my schizoaffective disorder. That prefix āschizo-ā can be scary for them.