In a previous post I wrote about having to deal with community health teams as a sz. In this post I wanted to make a comment on the distrust, suspicion and paranoia of ‘community’ on dysfunctional people and inversely the dysfunctional person’s of organized community.
I found myself in a situation where I ended up in the Salvation Army after a year or so of sleeping on couches. There I met a community health team. They said they would help me get on disability. This was the reason I started cooperating with them.
I found a room in a rooming house and the community health team asked if they could keep in contact with the superintendant about me. I said no but they said that could interfere with your disability application. I said do whatever then.
Anyway over the course of the next few months I was basically harassed by the superintendant and the community health team over minor infractions like smoking weed or fighting with the superintendant. Several times the police were called and I was taken to the hospital. Nothing significant happened from a legal standpoint.
This situation where the community is suspicious of an individual and the individual has to be suspicious of the communities workings creates a double standard. The community can be paranoid of the individual but the individual is wrong to be paranoid at how the community is conspiring.
But I was, and I am medicated and I still am. I sympathize with anyone with this illness who in their individual dysfunctional state has to deal with functional communitarians who want compliance. The illness is bad enough without an actual group of people conspiring around you as a community against a lone individual.
I just dont think this kind of system of treatment us necessary. You can be locked in the hospital and arrested by police already does society really need to team up on szs?
I read your entire post and am having trouble coming up with anything to say.
I think society has long been suspicious of anyone who is different. I think it is slowly but continuously improving in this area though. Not all that long ago, we didn’t even have meds. Our treatment and prognosis has improved significantly that time.
We will likely always have those that mistrust and possibly even mistreat those with psychotic disorders, or those who are different, but I think things are on a slow but steady path towards improvement as peoples knowledge in these areas grows.
I hope my comments are relevant to what you were saying.
I have no idea what form they take elsewhere. I know from things ive read that they are widespread though.
Its a funny thing that due to sz i became very individualistic… And then you have functional people who become communitarians because their usefulness and normalness integrates them into the community. So you kind of have a natural occuring conflict between individual and community
It’s aggravating for others in the home that can’t stand or tolerate the smell. Not saying he is, but pointing out that it could be a point of contention that is drawing unwanted heat. We live in a condo and my neighbour is obviously puffing on d00bs. It’s against the condo association rules and ruins my enjoyment of my own unit because the stench comes through to our side.
Whether it was right or wrong to smoke in the room is not really the point. I wasnt smoking copious amounts i didnt have the money to. I would take a hit every once in a while from an apple i turned into a pipe. Ive never really done anything too serious and have no criminal record. After I left the rooming house i moved into another place and broke off contact with the health team but i stopped the rispiridone i was on and my symptoms got worse and when i saw a couple of the guys from the team in a car i threatened them with a brick. I was arrested for that and charged but due to the circumstances i was given diversion instead of prosecution.