Has anyone every avoided you because of your sz at your job or school. How did you get over it?
Iâve had people avoid me in social situations. And they had the same diagnoses as me
Man, that is harsh.
Yeah man you never really get over it, you just pick up what you can and move on.
1 Like
Iâm trying. Someone I know kinda found out (not intended), and they no longer talk with me even though we sit next to each other(assigned).I donât think think they are meant to be mean but it hurts you know.
1 Like
Yeah Iâm right there with you. Feelings of being frowned upon. Or that we are only sane when doped up on drugs that donât even work or make us feel any better
1 Like
my deepest empathy! How dare people discriminate against you! against all of us!
that is my fear, too. Now, I never tell normals without a strict screening processâŚthe few times I violated my own rule was a nightmare. Lost jobs and friends, in a nutshell. As for other sz, Iâve had a ton of religious-minded szâs avoid me in the hospitals and outpatient centers. *donât read this as Iâm mean, read this as they approached me with bibles and I told them about our leader, Bill Nye, the science guy, and they decided they wanted to leave the room whenever I was there from that point onâŚ(people are always trying to save my soul, I dunno why, even normals!)
the only advice i have is that there is always this forum where you can come talk about it and you should! Here we can be and think as we are!
Pece 
2 Likes
I know. It is cruel and inhumane.
1 Like
How do you screen them? I need to know the best way. I have the worst time testing the waters with people without frightening them or making them see me as âcrazy.â I donât want my future roommate to hate me for this.
I have made some awful mistakes as well. I have lost many friends and am so lucky that my current best friend is accepting and understands me (as much as she can) even through episodes of chaos.
well, for example. i had this boyfriend a few years back who didnât pass my screen test. We were watching movies and he let me put on a Beautiful Mind. He seemed confused so I defined the illness for him without any hint of having it myself. I asked if he understood what the illness was after I described it.
âYes, yes, sad.â he said. He was from another country so I asked him if they had people like schizophrenics there (I know they did, but it was my lead-in, you see).
âYes,â he said. I asked what society did to them. He said society put them in institutions and didnât give them any medicine. I said, âYou know they have a pill that takes away all that and they can have normal lives. Did you know that?â and it came out that he didnât believe it and that he believed some middle aged hogwash about curses and demonic blah blah. Yeah, I screened him out real fastâŚand we broke up pretty fast too, come to think of it, I really didnât like his answer and I never told him.
So, basically, I pretended to be a normal person who was fascinated by people suffering from a mental illness. I would go âwow, that must be horrible, what do you think about that?â to whoever I was screening. Iâd bring it up whenever chance would allow it for well months on end.
Since I went back to university on 2011 I have been really good at screening people outâthe only bad thing is that I might have misjudged someone at some point and not told them because of that.
Yes, you are very lucky to have that friend. Tell this friend how much you appreciate them!! if i can remember other examples, Iâll post that, too.
Good luck!!
1 Like
Thank you so much. I never thought of doing it that way. I have been lucky with some of my friends and my boyfriend. I occasionally have episodes where I freak out or do something completely disillusion. During one such freak out, I was eating food on the roadâŚbut it wasnât food it was rocks that seemed edible(I still have a chipped tooth). My friend was there and I kept getting mad at her, because she was stopping me from my antics and leading me back to her house. In the moment, I was pissed, because she was stopping my experience. Later on though, I found that I was practically walking in the semi-busy street without seeing the cars and trying to eat pebbles. Afterward she didnât even bring it up until I did, because she didnât want to embarrass me more than I already was. I am so afraid to leave my friend. She is one of the only people who never treated me different after she found out.
Using A Beautiful Mind is a really good idea. I just fear people will fear it for some reason or that they will kill me for it. I hate the stigma that surrounds it. I would say you dodged a bullet with that guy. Anyone convinced on demons and curses probably lacks the ability to understand, you know?
1 Like
agreed on that dude! he was bad news, but he was a good cook. 
hopefully, you can avoid these episodes throughâŚmeds? get up and âuse the bathroomâ to get alone while you experience stuff?
I used to run to the bathroom when I was working, call my mother and complain about the voices in private, away from coworkers. It worked great until this one customer walked into the bathroomâŚ
thereâs also movies like Sylvia (suicide, depression of the poet Sylvia Plath), Prozac Nation (Depression), The Soloist (homeless guy with schizophrenia makes a friend in a journalist), movies that arenât as hard core as A Beautiful mind.
1 Like
I donât know. I have been pushed to take meds a few times but each time I fell out of them or got terrified of taking them. The only meds I accepted were some antidepressant which helped a bit.
I actually love poetry and the works of Sylvia Plath, so thanks for those suggestions. Thank you for your advice also. You are probably much more experienced than I am(Iâm but a graduating senior in high school).
yes i am much older (32).
i also have quit taking meds for the following reasons:
i felt i was misdiagnosed
i felt the pills were robbing my identity
i gained a ton of weight
i got tired of taking pills just because
i missed some doctorâs appointments and got shut out of the system
i wanted to rebel against society
i re-felt that i was misdiagnosed
I found a pill that worked though, like after two months (I now take abilify, prozac, lamictal, and busperone)âŚwent back to school as a late 20âs adult, then got my Bachelorâs then MasterâsâŚwaiting on word for a PhD application Iâve got in for this fall. I thank science, medicine, my family, and other szâs like the peeps on here.
I donât want to push you to try another pill, but I also donât want you to needlessly suffer from schizophrenic symptoms when you can lead a fairly regular life instead
I understand. I sometimes wish I had meds but am terrified to take them. I hate side-effects and worry that the meds will change me some how. But, wow! You are awesome! I have high grades and some nice college acceptances so far but doubt that I will survive college. I am really impressed with you achievements in spite of the horrors of szâyou give me hope yet.
1 Like
its all about finding the right meds. Right now I am suffering because my body HATES Latuda, it makes me so sick I can barely function, but the meds I had befre stopped working so I had to move onto a new medâŚ
Anyway people avoid me all the time, I have three people who are always there for me right now. My GF Yuki, who is awesome and is studying to be a LEO, with the plan of bringing mental health negotiations to the force, so that fewer people like us get shot by fearful cops. I also have my Roommate, Gary, who, when Iâm having really bad episodes, will quite literally sit on my chest until I calm down. He once needed stitches after I bit him when I thought he was a lizard man trying to eat my liver. This guy had known me only for two months when that happened, and a lot of people would have given up on me right then. Then there is my Exâs older brother, Tate, he is always checking on me and if I have having a really hard time will drive up from Mass (I live in Maine so its a 6 hour drive minimum) just to help me calm down. My own family, my mom, my siblings, they donât get it and my middle sibling is actually tryingto get me admitted to a mental hospital for the rest of my life, and his reason? He wants to be the one in charge of my stuff while I am locked away. Thankfully a sibling cannot have you put away unless you pose a clear and present danger to those around you, only a judge can order that (for now) so I am safe. And no it is not paranoid delusion that my brother is doing this, he admitted it to me because he thought no one would believe me because I am âA focking nut case with no lifeâ
Thank you! You should read Elyn R Saks, she went through Ivy leagues while having schizophrenia and now sheâs a tenured professor at the University of Southern California! Sheâs got her JD (for lawyers) and she advocates for the rights of mental patients.
yes they do! and they assume Iâm an assshole without getting to know me
I definitely will! I may go to USC too! It would be extraordinary to meet her.
1 Like
I sit beside lady at college and we started going for coffee breaks an d lunch in canteen. I feel I want to tell her Iâve had problems with mental health but scared she might avoid me