Continuing the discussion from Creativity vs. Intelligence:
In my experience a lot of people automatically dismiss the possibility that you can be a highly intelligent,schizophrenic person. They regard you as an exaggerator, or even worse a liar. I’ve experienced that more a few times in the 27 years I’ve been online.
I remember being in the hospital after yet another cardiac episode. They had me pretty drugged up, but I can still hear the older nurse standing at the end of the bed reading my chart and talking to my wife.
Nurse: “Huh. Paranoid schizophrenic - that explains the Zyprexa. Can you tell me how often he’s violent?”
Wife: “Not once, ever. Can you tell me how often you’re an ignorant bigot?”
Gotta love those assumptions about us.
Here in India it’s worse. Already there is lot of politics in terms of who is better and greater. If they know about mental illness it’s just another reason for putting you down.
In the ER the doctors there treated me like crap.
One doctor wanted to kick me out of the hospital after finding out about my schizoaffective diagnosis.
This one doctor assumed that I was a drug addict, because it’s a common stereotype among SZ patients.
It was an awful experience that day.
Wow! That’s well out of order. 
The only time I’ve been treated that poorly was for being a pregnant teenager. Once by a social worker in an in-patient clinic, but otherwise, I haven’t seen much of that. I get a lot of, “You don’t seem like you have…” or “You do really well for…” Like we can’t be normal people, too? I realize they are trying to compliment me, but it’s so backhanded that it becomes offensive.
No need to be insulting!
Normal. Blech.
I just try to regard that most people today that are like this already come from highly dysfunctional homes and lack empathy and healthy intimacy.
That and that most on the planet are like this and is in an infancy stage in terms of development.
“Those people” mentality is just so painful to come across and most won’t see it as abusive at all.
Also, its like a lot of people ‘magnify’ any negative quality of a person or group and suddenly you’re “that kind of person” with no redeemable qualities or other aspects of your personality.
My favorite ER doctor was actually a PA. I thanked him for not bringing up my mental illness. He sat down, looked me in the eye, and said “We are allowed to be crazy AND sick.” He went on to tell me his own diagnosis so I wouldn’t feel bad about the crazy part.
I had a nurse really aggressively stick a needle in my vein at the ER i can tell she did it on purpose left quite the bruise
Yes, I have seen that a lot. Against me and others.
My doc finally stopped ignoring everything I say - after almost killing me, because he refused to believe there was a medical emergency. Since he started listening, he found out (and sometimes confirmed with physical tests) that the core problems/solutions I brought up since 2011/2012…are actually truth.
He said he was wrong. That he acted from prejudice against sz people. But I am “special”. 
I’m happy he listens. Next step is to convince him I am not “special”. But he should take all sz patients more seriously. I’m not smarter. I’m just stubborn and refused to cave in.
That is nice.
My experience with non-psychiatrist docs is actually a whole lot better. My GP is cool. The ER doc and gynaecologist were very understanding and took me seriously. Even if I was actually having a psychiatric problem disturb the check up. I could not do the gyn’s exam. Because of triggers. She gave me her direct number, which is not a custom…so that I could call her directly if I felt more safe. And make a quicker appointment.
There’s good docs too.
In this forum I’ve been several times accused of lying,
Even though I am not very intelligent,
But I believe the fact that I am most of the time stable makes people believe that I am simply pretending to be ill,
Overall most of the time I dont fully understand whether I am ill or no. For me, insight comes and go.
Sadly a lot of damage has been done by the failure to entertain the possibility I might be right about something(delay in getting ASD dx) and with the falls I had, that the pain wasn’t ‘all in my head’/psychological. Re the negligence claim that’s in process at the moment-copious mentions of my autism and schizophrenia in a way designed to cast doubts about my trustworthiness.It’s all more than a little stupid,as I didn’t initiate the negligence claim. My daughter did . She’s one of the most level headed people I know. Certainly not the kind of person to rush to find fault on flimsy evidence. Whether the people who’ll decide on the claim will be intelligent enough to see what I can see, i.e that how I may or may not be mentally is totally irrelevant., as it wasn’t me that initiated the claim, is the $64k question.
I am sorry they aren’t believing you.
I have the same experience. Over and over again. With a negligence claim I wanted to do as well. And people around me sometimes abuse it. Dad would say something threatening or nasty. Then when I speak about it “on the record” on text or with someone else there. He portrays me as crazy or lying. He even admitted explicitly to me that he wont be honest, because it will work against him. Docs also do this. They make a mistake. Then cover it up. Which is easier because of my psychosis history. When remembering the facts right is not a problem.
I’m sorry to hear that. It’s very true that mental health teams will very often close ranks to protect one or more within that team. It’s also true that one negative comment within your notes is taken as an automatic fact by those who later read those notes. Hence I was an ‘awkward and troublesome’ teenager in 1975 who was seen as being an ‘awkward and troublesome’ middle aged man 30 odd years later. The lack of intellectual integrity and rigour can be quite disturbing.
Until my daughter intervened and had her say I had no one in my corner able to put the record state. My late wife was very supportive, but as much or more persona non grata than I was.
I have had a great relationship with the mental health team here in Wiltshire. Nothing in the way of aggressiveness, bad manners , and character assassination , that was par for the course in Essex. Conversations with my care coordinator come depot nurse are friendly and pleasant experiences. It should always have been that way, with the mental health teams I’ve been under, but sadly wasn’t.
I keep getting told I must have been misdiagnosed.
If said to a less sensible/more weaker minded person such a comment could have disastrous consequences.
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