hi, i’m thinking about telling more people i have a serious mental illness in my college, i don’t really care what they think now tbh if they don’t like me for it then that isn’t my problem, i don’t see the point in keeping things to myself any longer.
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I would never tell someone to just say it. Everyone is a different in their comfort level with this.
But I blurt it out first thing many times. If people walk away, it’s a real time saver. I have been known to go up to girls and say, “Hi, I’m diagnosed schizophrenic who works as a gardener and lives with his sister. By the way my name is James.” If they brush me off, I don’t waste my time. sometimes I don’t get brushed off.
I tried to scare my new neighbors with this. “Hey, I"m Sz, don’t live near me.” But the lady had a beloved Uncle who suffered SZ and she’s not afraid of me at all. In fact they are turning out to be very cool neighbors.
i could never use that as an introduction if i was meeting someone for the first time, i have to get to know the person first and gain their trust before i tell them, that’s why i only really told one or two people in college and tbh now ‘i want to tell more people’ and it will be interesting to see how they react, how they will behave, i know my best friends will be cool with it so thats the main thing, but if i had told people i had it the first day of college i think it would have been a lot harder to make friends.
I don’t tell anyone. I still live with a hope that this will go away. I became ill in 2010.It’s not that long ago. I still need a somewhat high dose of neuroleptics, but it will get better. I’m sure of it.
At work I pretend to be normal. I have told them I have trouble sleeping and that I’m sensetive to stress. But that’s about it.
I completely understand. That’s makes sense. I’m not a sensible man most times. I have to admit, this has only just been new thing with me. Past few years or so. I just got to point where I got too tired and irritated with people so I started using it as a way to get people away form me, and it didn’t work. So I just kept doing it.
its good to tell them something anyway even if it is just sensitive to stress, it makes them aware that you have a problem without letting them know the full extent, so if anything happens you have a good excuse and they wont think bad of you, they will actually care about you more for saying that i think.
sounds like you are trying to push people away, idk why people do that, i like to think that most people are nice and you can usually tell who isn’t just by looking at them most of the time, i learn to avoid certain people but i like most people.
if i was telling someone, i would say i had episdoes of psychosis, rather than schizoaffective, sounds better, some people once they hear the word sz they build up the wrong picture of you imo, maybe in 50 years time they will understand better about sz
that is your choice , but i never tell anyone.
i personally don’t want to see them running away shouting ," save your self’s he’s a schizo !"
take care
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I would tell very few people IRL that i had paranoid personality disorder. The profiles of such people online are far from complimentary//very negative.
It’s been a while, but I’d like to think I’m gaining more trust of people. I admit, I used to do it as a way to in fact scare people off. But lately, the past 6 months or so, when I say “Hi, I have SZ, be very afraid” Someone in the crowd has said, “I’m bipolar, or I’m ADD, or I’m PTSD…” A few months ago, I went to pick up a younger brother in a bar who was too drunk to drive home. He would not leave until I talked to this one girl at the back who was reading a book and not really interacting with the friends who brought her. I just wanted to pick up my younger brother and be gone. But you can’t argue with a drunk, so I pulled out my line (HI, SZ, gardner, lives with sister) she said she was diagnosed paranoid SZ, family just moved to town, no support network, we got to talking and she joined my SZ support group.
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that’s awesome but i don’t think it happens very often, i’d love to walk into a bar and do that. is she nice? maybe you should go on a date 
She is nice, but I missed the opportunity. Someone quicker already asked her out. She’s happy.
I find that when I look for love, I find chaos. When I look for friendship, I sometimes find love. So, in time maybe.
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I have found that I only tell the people that need to know (immediate family, girlfriend, son’s mother, doctors, etc). I have had a few situations where my illness was used against me in such detriment that it has only added to my paranoia. There seems to be people that need to know (those who you have to share an intimate life with) and those who really don’t. I don’t even talk about what I think or hear or see except with doctors or therapists… it’s very difficult to talk about things that others can’t empathize with. Most people that know that I am sick don’t know the diagnosis (nor do they need to know). I just guess that from what I have experienced I have just learned ways to function.
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that’s interesting, idk how much information i would like to give to my friends if they asked, i wouldn’t say anything unless they asked tho, my friends that know have not asked me anything about it, they just know that i have a problem and it could be really serious, my friends try and cheer me up when i am down and they know instantly when i am not my usual self, i go all quiet and i’m not really interested in anything,i do the same with them if they are upset about something and i try and cheer them up and make them laugh,
last year i told about 4 people in my class which was risky and idk why i did it or how it happened i must have thought i could trust them and to be fair they kept it to themselves, this year i think only about 2 or 3 know but only one knows that it is p/sz.
i feel like telling them more because they are my friends and i don’t like keeping things from them and also the fact that i had a scare last week where i kinda fell off the wagon and didn’t think i would see them again i think that has a lot to do with it as well, i’d hate to just get unwell like that and not see them again.
i dont remember if my illness was ever used against me[quote=“humboldthead5, post:14, topic:188”]
I have had a few situations where my illness was used against me in such detriment that it has only added to my paranoia.
[/quote]
i don’t think my illness has ever been used against me before but it has stopped me from doing certain things
i think, and sometimes someone would tell me i couldn’t do something if they thought i couldn’t cope with it, but its hard to pinpoint anything inparticular.
i am hoping that will work for me as well, just hate being alone, even with my friend coming over all the time i still feel alone 
they say there is someone out there for everyone, hope they are right.
Making friends is letting other people know who you are. It’d be better not give other people a label of you. Schizophrenic is a label to all people who are diagnosed with this disease. if you tell other people you are schizophrenic before you show them what kind of people you are, you are not making friends with them but scaring them away with a negative label.
greenlife
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