if you had the chance to go back and talk to yourself what would you say?
how could you have prevented your own mental illness?
I don’t think it was preventable for me. The old man was abusive, went to Iraq twice and grew up in a shifty city and school. If I could I would prevent it in a heart beat. Mania and feeling depressive has really held me back in life.
I don’t think I could’ve talked myself out of it. I tried to get myself to go to hospital a couple of times before we knew what was going on, but the illness had me convinced that nothing was wrong even though I was psychotic.
I had no control over what happened. It’s taking some time to come to terms with that, but I’m trying.
I would have called social services as a child and get myself placed in foster care, before my mother kidnapped me when I was 8. When I was 13, I ran away when she wasn’t home, got my ass to the airport and flew back home to Sweden. I ran for my life and survived, but with PTSD. I have read that people with PTSD are 8 times more likely to develop sz. My father was an alcoholic (and suspected psychopath), but I don’t regret going back to him and Sweden. Not even for a second. I might not have fallen ill if not for this. I can’t know for sure, but at least my life would have been better (probably) with a foster family. Many adults approached me when I was about 18 and had moved to my own place, telling me how they wished they had called social services and that it was one of their greatest regret. These people didn’t know I was struggling with PTSD or anything, they just wanted to come clean or something.
I would’ve gone back to when I was 7 and tell my mom to take me to a psychiatrist.
There was no way to prevent it.
I would have gone back to when I was fourteen and told my mom about all the sexual abuse. When she finally did find out she took action, but by then it was too late. I was already crazy.
I would have told myself not to smoke. I started at 26, and then went downhill at 26. I was going out with a woman who smoked, so I started. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
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I looked for a way to end the voices for 23 years. I tried every form of logic and reasoning to end the voices. They told me they couldn’t stop talking. After years of trying to end them with drugs I was told it couldn’t be done with drugs or reasoning. So I accepted that and learned to live with them at a drug lowered state. I don’t believe it can be done in my case because the mechanism in my brain that causes it can’t be stopped by modern medicine or self control. So me and my voices are trying to get along the best that we can. It;s not what I wanted but just something I have to live with.
If I could’ve prevented it, then hell yes I would have, but I don’t think that was possible. I sure wish I could have, though, considering how much psychosis has cost me over the years. Hell, I was a medical student when I had my first psychotic break at the age of 23; damn stuff cost me my dream of being a doctor. Years later it cost me a marriage (it was more than she could deal with). There were clear signs of it when I was a teenager, but my dad never would have let me take meds; even as an adult he always hated that I took psych meds, something I didn’t start doing until I was 20 (started that way too late).
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I wouldn’t have been able to prevent it, but if I would then i may not have prevented it because it changed my life and I can’t imagine my life any other way. Yes, maybe I could have gone to varsity and gotten a nice career in astronomy or art or library, but the experiences I had I could never change, it helped me to get into a relationship with God and meet interesting people and now I know who my true friends are.
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I don’t think anything I could have told myself or anything I could have done differently would have prevented this illness.
Doubt much I could do, would have to change families at a very young age to stop a lot of the bad stuff, even with the knowledge I have now, I would never want to go back and live it again
That is beautiful. I guess I wouldn’t change it either. I like the insight I now have into the mental health system.
I definitely think it would have been preventable, if I would have prevented the trauma’s or dealt with them in a better way.
I would want to go back and:
Tell someone about the childhood sexual abuse.
Ask outside help for the problems within our family.
Tell myself not to use drugs.
Tell myself to pick a normal boyfriend.
Tell myself to keep my son’s father away before I gave birth.
Tell myself not to use medication for PTSD, but to seek good psychotherapeutic help.
If I had to chose one thing, it would probably be to pick a better, nicer, non-abusive boyfriend/father to my son. I believe that would have prevented the whole thing.
I saw myself once across the road…we waved at each other…it was ■■■■■■■weird…so if I saw myself when I was younger when it all started I would just give me a hug and wish me luck…
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drugs triggered mine had I not of taken drugs I might of not erupthed the frisscosis
Oh god a million different things. Sometimes it feels like I had a million bad things happen to me, and if ONE of those things didn’t happen I wouldn’t have got the skizzle 
I know that’s false though and I was probably born sick. But it feels like I had a lot of major and or minor traumas and bad decisions. I’m just lucky I’m in school now doing well and asymptomatic. I’m soooo lucky…
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You can’t prevent this illness, because you have no control over how adults treat children. People are idiots, selfish, and worthless. How can you change that? You can’t.
Theres nothing i could have done i had a good life
I could tell my past self to not isolate so much, but that could’ve been poisonous advice because being around people triggers hallucinations for me. I’d probably say to cherish what i have then because of what losses i’d get.