I have been really badly triggered by a well meaning friend today.
She sent me an article entitled The Shamanic View of Mental Health. It basically said that western psychiatry treats schizophrenics wrong because we’re not sick, we have spirits trying to latch on and communicate through us. The article bashes western psychiatry for not encouraging the spiritual gifts of the patient.
Now I am really triggered with the delusion that demons are trying to attack me. This is nothing new, but it hasn’t been a problem of late. I’ve already had Klonopin today and don’t want to take more. I take my melatonin and meds before bedtime in half an hour, so hopefully I’ll be okay until then. My husband is home with me and is helping.
HELP! How can I calm myself down? This will be the last I’m on the forum for today, but I’ll be back tomorrow to read again. Any advice is well appreciated…I fear I will be on the road to nightmares tonight.
Just ignore the shamanic angle. Schizophrenia is not the path to enlightenment or some kind of spiritual perk, it’s an illness that requires treatment, namely antipsychotics and maybe CBT. Some supplements help too.
Religion won’t cure you. I’m saying this as a somewhat devout religious person. Bashing western medicine when it offers one of the better solutions for schizophrenia is foolish.
In your shoes, I’d find a safe, quiet space to pass the time in until I felt more comfortable to do things with others.
Maybe discuss Piracetam with your doctor, it’s seriously effective for voices. My voices have pretty much shut off after a few weeks of 1 to 2 grams a day, and the changes are supposedly permanent since it upregulates NMDA receptor density.
Wow I’m sorry you’re going through this. I agree with naturallycured, it wouldn’t be healthy to start trying to adapt new ideas which won’t cure you and will in fact make you more vulnerable to the voices you are experiencing.
I dunno considering I’m stuck in the same place as you. I have had many people tell me I am spiritually gifted and not ill it is stressful. And so many of my experiences line up with others who have had spiritual experiences and whatnot. I don’t know.
I think people have a problem understanding how a disease can talk. I still have a problem with it sometimes, even after acknowledging that it’s just a hallucination.
I’m feeling a lot better after 12 hours of sleep. I’m still glad I didn’t finish reading that article. Very triggering.
I appreciate all the advice and replies. I honestly don’t see how it’s helpful to call a schizophrenic spiritually gifted and encourage them to listen to the “spirits” aka voices. And as firemonkey points out, what’s the threshold for spiritually gifted? By the article’s logic, the sicker and more tormented the individual presents, the more gifted they are?
I’ll continue taking my western medicine and dealing with the few breakthrough symptoms, thanks.
Anything that causes serious distress and suicidal ideation is definitely not something positive. I hate the whole spiritual aspect of things because it causes people to look 8n the wrong places for help.
I think the western view of psychosis is not perfect. But like you, I get delusional of such “shamanic views” on sz. I had several confrontations with it and when psychotic I went along with it for a bit. People idealizing psychosis, doing shamanic stuff on me, proposing I do ayahuasca retreats for healing sz, etc. I dont even really care if it is correct or not - i think not. It makes me highly delusional and scared and that is enough to stay far far far away from it. Recently, as soon as I notice something or someone goes in that direction, Im either walking away, turning off the movie/article/book/computer or telling them I want another subject in the conversation.
I’m sorry that you are going through this. When I read ‘theories’ and spirituality of what schizophrenia is ‘truly’ I get caught up in delusions that I struggle to contain. Best is to read reasons, true reason that is schizophrenia is a brain disorder,
Practice grounding techniques, meditation for example. Take deep breaths and know that everything will be okay.
I think those who push this stuff aren’t those who are beset by debilitating cognitive and negative symptoms where having schizophrenia is a pile of crap you wouldn’t wish on anyone.
I don’t know if this will help but that’s just one way of looking at it. It’s one viewpoint, not the consensus of the whole world.
It may work for certain cultures but what about cultures who look down and persecute schizophrenics? All I’m saying is don’t fall for that viewpoint. You don’t live in that culture so do the best you can with taking your medication and living life in the 21st century
When I first got sick 38 years ago I heard the Shaman story too. I read that Native-Americans treated people like us as Shamans with special powers and gifts i.e. our symptoms. When I read that I thought it would help me somehow. But really, I think it’s the minority of certain cultures around the world who believe that schizophrenics are Shamans. I think a more scientific explanation is more helpful. Believing this is solely a spiritual disease is really going backwards in someones recovery instead of forward.
