Well you just think you would know more people with it. Bipolar is just over 2 out of every 100. Today I seen some guy were I get my depot and thought hey I’ve seen him around. When ever I go down town I must be walking by these schizophrenia and bipolar people and not realize.
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I knoooow! I think about that all the time.
Pretty much my thoughts exactly except the example demographic I thought up was murderers and rapists could be any person I walk by on the street at any time and I’d never know.
A few years ago I was talking to someone who was expecting a child, and they were talking about 1 in 300 , 1 in 600, chances etc of their child developing certain conditions and they seemed shocked when I told them the odds for schizophrenia.
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It sucks big time that we have to be the 1%. But I guess someone has to be. One thing that annoyed me in the hospital setting was how few fellow schizophrenics there were. A lot of anxiety- and depression-related disorders, but few other psychotic patients. A lot of the staff knew not how to care for psychotic patients. When shopping for a pdoc, a lot of the time I’ve had to specifically ask the receptionists if the pdoc in question has experience with schizophrenia. Sometimes, infrequently but sometimes, they say no.
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when I was in the hospital for the first time, there was only one fellow psychosis related illness person in there and she was a stripper so she was a little too out there for me. She argued with the nurses and their aids. Most were there because of drug abuse or for drinking or because they were offered rehab over jail time.
I can totally relate to that, I rarely met other schizophrenics during my hospital stays, it was all suicidal people, and the staff is untrained in dealing with psychosis.
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my family blows past that average, or maybe we are over achievers. myself and my dad have sza. my aunt has sz and so did a cousin.
I could pass you on the street and you would think I’m perfectly normal.
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What I find so frustrating about this is… if the statistics are right, then why can’t I find a support group / group therapy setting for sz? I mean there must be HUNDREDS of people in my area who have it – so why can’t I connect with them and form a community?
There aren’t even any Hearing Voices groups in my state.
Then again, maybe it’s due to stigma – my town doesn’t like to acknowledge it has homeless people, drug addicts, mentally ill citizens, etc.
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