I know with SZ it can make the workplace very difficult. How do you guys manage this?
More like impossible.
When I wasn’t doing well, it was really hard just getting out of bed in the morning and even doing my part time 4 hour shift… I was a Janitor for a community center and my shift went from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. so I was gone before too many people were there.
It was still hard and I still needed a lot of help keeping that job. I ended up with a dramatic med change and it really helped.
But now that I’m dong better… I’m with parks maintenance and grounds keeping. I’m out in the parks… it’s a flex schedule and it’s a good match. My job helps me with my day. Plus… I never want to be homeless again…
Sitting still in my head too much… not good.
That was half the problem… finding a job that I could do. If I worked in an office… or a restaurant… I wouldn’t make it.
4 Likes
Was just discussing this in the thread called
“Doing too much”
If you want to read it 
Yes. Before I worked as a translator and writer. Can´t do that now, because I have problems with my concentration. I´ve found a part time job in an art gallery though, and I´m doing ok. But I miss the writing. Can´t imagine a life without it.
I’ve worked for 25 years. Then I went off on disability because I couldn’t cope. I had no drive and no motivation. It is bad to sit at home after you’ve worked so hard… But I can’t go back at this stage. I know I won’t cope. My brain become so tired when I have to concentrate then it numbs my entire body.
It became so hard to concentrate and work. An eight and a half hour day with an hour commute became too much. My mind was turning into mush. My nerves were frazzled, I wasn’t sleeping, I was crying all the time. Mistakes were being made no matter how hard I tried. Finally, my doctor said, you’ve had enough, you’re done working. It took a year to recoup from that day, to the semi fragile self that I am now.
A traditional desk job is probably not possible nor desirable to me anymore. Too much structure and routine annoys me terribly and it always has even as a kid. The main thing is to find ways to be productive however you can define that for yourself (and ignore other people’s definitions of success which may be fine for them) . If you can help enough people around you in the process you may not get rich but you probably won’t go homeless.
I lost my architectural career in 1998. tried to go back five times but each time I failed I would try to end my life…not worth it I decided…I cannot work, thus I’m on disability…some people can work. I sure as hell can’t.
1 Like
I think it is extremely hard for the mentally ill to make career changes, especially when a lot of social services tend to peg you into the same type of job. It’s pretty idiotic but their job doesn’t require your happiness.
The cause of my schizophrenia is a great and evil curse, not work. I was a great worker back then before they came.
But they came and i was cursed in my mind.
And they’ll see me dead.
Look! Your brains can be screwed with by them, look into it already. Hell they even wrote it down in certain places.
The cause of my schizophrenia appears to be what some would call demonic entities and the things they can do to a person, not work.
I miss work and health, i used to smile you know, the independance was wonderful.
Yes and my evil mother.
With love from wherever the hell I am…
Well, my job is low-stress and not too physically hard. My illness affects me but I can handle my job duties OK (I’m a janitor) and I can hold my own with my co-workers and my new bosses have told me almost a dozen times in 8 months that I am a good worker. I am even a little faster than my co-workers. But I would have trouble with other jobs. Most of my 16 jobs since 1983 have been unskilled, entry level jobs. At some of them I have been a good worker, some of them I got fired for bad attendance. I rarely get fired for bad job performance. I am not always good at the social part of jobs, I tend to clam up and not talk to anybody unless necessary. I hate to make people uncomfortable with my silence but I figure I’m hurting myself more.