…neither a person with schizophrenia or a person who have schizophrenia. You may think that I don’t accept my diagnosis or label and, yes, I don’t. It doesn’t mean I don’t take medicines or that I’m not involved in my treatment. I go see my psychiatrist every 2-3 months and, despite I can’t pay for a good therapist right now, if I had the money, I would go to therapy every week or every day if possible. And I wouldn’t do it because I think I have a problem, but because I want my life to get better.
When you say to yourself “I’m schizophrenic”, you’re attaching your identity to schizophrenia. You’re practically saying you are schizophrenia. The truth is you’re a human being.
When you say “I have schizophrenia” or “I’m a person with schizophrenia” you’re bearing a thing that you didn’t necessarily accept to bear. But you may think “but I have the genes of schizophrenia, then I have schizophrenia.” You should notice that there are no enough evidences to say that schizophrenia is really a genetic “disease.” Even it was true it is genetic, DSM-V would diagnose you not by your behaviours, but by a DNA test. Scientists can’t conclude nothing yet. But even if you believe it’s genetic, epigenetics have proofs you can change your genes.
That’s why I just say I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It doesn’t mean I’m this disease or that I have this disease, but just that a crazy psychiatrist thought I was crazier than him.