Do you guys have any good tips and tricks for beating schizophrenia?
I don’t think it works like that. you’ll have to find your own tips and tricks… i think mental illness is a unique and private hell.
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Keep yourself busy.i realize when i am on holiday its even worse
Just the basics. Take your medication. Make all your doctors appointment. DON"T DO DRUGS. Have a support system. That could be your family or a friend or an aquaintenance. Eat right, Keep to a regular sleep schedule. Exercise. Try to keep busy. If there is a day program for adults in your area I would recommend taking advantage of it.
Try to keep to a structured lifestyle. Structure in your day is proven to help people with schizophrenia. Do some things for fun. I’ve had a few therapists tell me how important this is. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just maybe go out to coffee occasionally, go for a bike ride, go out to eat, go to the library. It could be anything but it really helps so that your whole life isn’t sitting around thinking about your problems all day. Get a pet, it’s very theraputic. I do some of these things but not all but this a good guideline to work with.
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Schizophrenia is a natural defence mechanism the body needs it keep you safe even with all those nasty symptoms. The best way to cope is to manage yourself in diet, exercise, hobbies, social networking.
If your body has used schizophrenia as a survival mechanism it may happen again if you’re stressed or have severe anxiety, most of the issues with a schizophrenia diagnosis is to do with “yourself” personally, which can be managed.
Beating? My goal is managing. I believe fighting sz is a mistake, but accepting while overcoming the most debilitating aspects is doable. Maintaining a routine lifestyle while keeping stress at a minimum helps. Regular exercise, as consistent a sleep schedule as possible, and a healthy diet also helps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a tremendous help for managing hallucinations and delusions. I don’t fight sz, and I don’t believe in being “cured” or completely recovered, but I do believe in a manageable life.
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This is a tip sheet I made a couple years back: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhyoela8yszdldy/advicetomyself.pdf?dl=0
The link is broken… Can you share a new one?
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Sorry— try this one:
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This is great! Thanks for doing it @keepsimple
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These are some really good replies thanks.
Thats awesome. Great job!
My number one tip is insight. Learn as much as you can about your illness so that you will be aware of what is happening and what can be done about it, and maybe more importantly, what can’t be done about it.
I went from insane to well learned about psychology and schizophrenia in particular. I did it through college, but you can get a great education in schizophrenia from books on Amazon, lectures on YouTube, articles from NIMH website.
If you want me to point out some articles, lectures, and books, I can, but they’re pretty high level and challenging material- you might want to start out with Surviving Schizophrenia 6th Edition and see how that goes and then you will know if you are ready for some serious, serious material on schizophrenia.
I started with Surviving Schizophrenia. It’s great! If reading isn’t your thing, I can point you to a Stanford lecture by a renowned neurobiologist on YouTube. It’s great too.
If you’re really serious and find that material comprehensible, I can point you too some advanced articles and books.
Good luck, and feel free to ask me questions.
I used to call it tricks of the trade.
I would look at other people and try to blend in with them.
I would feel like I had to scream out loud about all the stuff going on. But I would look around and say to my self, “well no one else is screaming”. Hmmm. Maybe it’s just me.
People are not telling me about all that private secret stuff that goes on. I think I’ll keep it to myself. No one would believe me anyway.
So my aim became not to let anything come out that would draw attention to myself. Ok well maybe not always possible, but avoid police too at all costs.
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I think one has to be careful a bit with too much insight… I remember reading E. Fuller Torrey’s “Surviving Schizophrenia” early on in my illness and it scared the heck out of me.
With schizophrenia you want to establish a sense of safety and security as much as possible because mostly when people feel they are in danger is when symptoms creep up. That’s not to say you shouldn’t get used to feeling uncomfortable, but it’s best for most people if you slowly increase noxious stimuli gradually.
It’s a lot like how Rasputin became immune to Arsenic by taking a little each day. Stress is a lot like arsenic.
Another bad thing about too much insight is that we tend to make our own prognosis (how we think we will be in the future)… If you are depressed you are going to make a lousy prediction and that can be very self defeating. Self-pity can really hold you back for a long time.
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die and be reborn again in another body !?!..lol 
take care 
i should say to any unstable ’ sz ', don’t actually do what i just said…it was a joke 
take care
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Actually as far as insight goes I think one of the people who seemed to have really good mental health was the physics dude Richard Feynmann… I really enjoyed reading his non technical books but even his science books didn’t use fancy terminology and he had an uncanny ability of seeing through and cutting through BS… every time I have seen him interviewed he seemed to have a smile on his face…