How to explain to a new sponsor in a 12 step fellowship and friend in what way my schizophrenia affects me still - why i am not a useless childish eff up

i’m not really sure what to say to her
i said that i had spent too much on an on line order and that i was going to let my mum buy some of the food back off me
she was slightly taken aback that i wasn’t going h to o give her the food oat which point i explained my debt and situation with money
snd she said that i was letting my mum take power from my facing consequences and normal but negative fact facing and progress making advice

i’m stuck in general how to explain that i’m not a helpless reckless child

what do you have difficulty with? does this sound familiar?
what do i say to her to explain residual schizophrenia?
i’m almost free of positive symptoms these days
and what do you do when faced with these kind of things ?

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I’m unsure if this will be of any help, but when i told my friend about my skz, I told her about my delusions. To add onto what I told her, I also told her that while I do have these thoughts, I am still able to think and function “normally” as I keep the delusions that I have in my head and I have a pretty decent hold on them (as in, I am able to reason with myself on if they are true or not.)

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After having schizophrenia for over 30 years… I find that that’s not the whole story of the Delusions are not the only thing wrong with me
My question is about how we are otherwise not normal

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I hope I’m not misunderstanding, is you’re question is about how to explain about how we think/our behaviors as a result of our thoughts, and how it’s normal to someone who has schizophrenia and therefore does not at all make people with skz like children/should not be treated as such?

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hey yes thanks kind of…
I think it’s actually a good point it doesn’t matter how much Else I’ve told her i’ve not really spoken about my delusions in the past.
i’ve been talking to her about what I’ve done and she seems to judge me by normal parameters
so, yes I’m talking about thinking problems … day to day processing… cognition… in the 12 steps they talk about manageability,
she judges me by how manageable I am by normal standards
Things that won’t get better by a bit of thinking about is a bit better and behaving
Kind of reasons why we might need a carer although otherwise mentally stable

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A sponsor is there to help you work the 12 Steps. They aren’t supposed to stick their noses into your private life to a great degree, especially your finances. If you brought it up as part of Step 4 or Step 8, then it’s fair game. Otherwise, I’d say she’s out of her lane.

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I think a great way to explain to her about your behaviors as a result of schizophrenia is to tell her that as a person with schizophrenia, your mindset is different than someone who doesn’t have schizophrenia which in turn would make you act differently. For example, I have the delusion that people are able to hear my thoughts, and since I think that, I will be suspicious of the other people around me and therefore won’t bother to create a bond considering I feel like my privacy is violated by them. If someone asked I would tell them that, and that schizophrenic beliefs are sorta just as ingrained into the mind just like a “normal” belief is. Hope this helps!

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it was about unmanageable spending on food as part of a daily check in xx
i was asking my mum to buy food off me
she said i should give her the food
i had to explain my debt and unmanageable spending and how i’m sorting it out currently but without the expectation it would be okay forever
i found that she was judging me by what it’s normal to expect a person to work through the steps and recover sanity in behaviour but i find this an unlikely thing to expect me to always recover as i think it is part of the type of executive functioning schizophrenia messes with

What do you want your sponsor relationship to be like?

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thank you for your help
i think i was a little unrealistic

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