I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1985 (age 21). I’m 54 years old. I believe schizophrenia is now part of my identity. If my schizophrenia went away tomorrow I wouldn’t know who I am.
Do you feel this way?
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I can empathize.
And I feel kind of sad to say it, but it is part of my identity.
I don’t generally think in a “schizophrenics vs. normal people” way though.
But I do often feel like an outsider. And I’ve faced some terrible stigma in my life.
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I agree… it’s part, a huge part, of who I am now. I used to be “H.P. the dietitian” or “H.P. the student” but now I’m “H.P. the mentally ill lady”.
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Yes yes yes. Male 32… u.k. sza since 2010.
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In a word “Yes”
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It’s not a part that I accept. I feel there’s a cause and effect to it that can be figured out and effectively treated, without worsening negative symptoms. I don’t want to just resign myself to a disabled, jobless life just because I have a supposedly un-curable disease.
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i think if i were to somehow regain my ability to read people (infer what they are thinking) and empathize better i would slowly get back to the person i was before schizo
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I feel like it took my mind and split into half’s then quarters, etc. Parts of me are lost and only come back at uncertain times. I am I am.
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The only way I’d know I was dead would be if the music in my head were silenced. I have had this hallucination since the cradle and always preferred quiet surroundings.
In a word, yes.
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It makes it harder to succeed in normal realms but it doesn’t define you per se.
I’m a lot of things and also a paranoid schizophrenic. It’s just the way it is. It’s a part of me and it affects my life profoundly but I’m not just that.
In life. I’m / have been. A son, a brother, a step father, a husband, a boyfriend, a friend, a work collegue, a work supervisor, an uncle, a cousin, a nephew, a step cousin, a pet owner …you get my drift…these are the things that define me.
Schizophrenia, if anything, takes you out of those identities!
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I feel like people make it so. They definitely treat me differently since the diagnosis 
️
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I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2014, so, 4 years ago. I was diagnosed in 17 years old of age. So… I’m a bit of an early case- it could be considered adolescent schizophrenia. I started having symptoms as early as 14 years of age. My diagnosis was quite delayed because when I was only 14 years old, I had severe disc herniation as well as degenerative disc disease (the doctors told me, “Wow you are so young! But your discs are degenerating! I haven’t seen anything like this before!”). We were working on treating that, so we didn’t focus much on psychiatric issues.
I spent my late adolescent years in a psychotic state, and going in and out of psych wards. My parents didn’t understand the disorder as much, so, when I was being seen at a children’s hospital, I tried my best to educate them about it. I got my diagnosis when I was 17 years old.
So, schizophrenia has been a part of my identity. I even got kicked out of a school trip because I had schizophrenia. It took a long time to embrace my diagnosis. I possibly have a genetic disorder, so the illnesses take up so much.
Wishing you happiness and joy <3
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Yes, it’s part of mine. But I don’t let it define me as a whole.
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I feel the same…
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A warrior of schizophrenia.
I do mean a person engaged in some struggle or conflict.
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Yes, it is a big part of my identity.
I suffered with symptoms as a child.
That’s a long time.
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This! So well put, matey.
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I try to think of myself as “a person who has schizoaffective disorder,” not as “a schizoaffective.” I don’t want it to define me. I am a person first, and yeah, I happen to be a person who suffers from a severe mental illness. It has had an enormous impact on my life, but I try not to give it too much power in defining who I am. I suppose it’s a part of my identity whether I want it to be or not, but I can do my best to keep that to a minimum.
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Just to clarify, I wasn’t saying that my schizophrenia defines me or that I am schizophrenia.
I was thinking of people with a shared commonality. Such as a person who says that they’re a ‘cancer survivor.’ Really any people who feel a common bond based on anything that has had a significant impact on their lives: alcoholics who attend AA meetings; combat veterans; survivors of sexual assault.
I’ve had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia for over 33 years, and the disorder has had a significant impact on my life. For good and bad.
If schizophrenia was cured tomorrow it would still be part of my identity, and I’d even refer to myself, proudly, as a ‘schizophrenia survivor.’
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The religious figure In my “grandiose delusion” is part of my identity.
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