Ppl I know get more scared and more sad when they hear schizophrenia than mental disability, bipolar, depression, autism, etc
My parents hide my sz by lying to ppl and sometimes they say I have depression, they don’t want to say the word schizophrenia.
Why?
Simple: because of stigma.
People are scared of us and no one likes us as much.
I have psychotic depression, not sz, but I still get a whole punch of stigma in the face.
They think I am the devil bcz I am schizophrenic.
If I was mentally disabled they would have said God is with me, I am like an angel. I have seen them do this.
You’re not a devil. It’s a mental illness.
And intellectually disabled kids are abused very badly in institutions, so their situation is quite similar to us. Abuse happens anywhere, and we just carry a heavy burden.
I think people or even me imagine the prototypical unmedicated schizophrenic man as homeless, deshelved, and doing drugs. Yelling and talking to himself and people get scared and avoid them like the plague. Compared to those people, im high functioning.
Some think we’re dangerous. My mother told me I am dangerous when unmedicated. She read books about how to interact with dangerous schizophrenics.
My uncle also thinks I am dangerous when unmedicated. Ppl who know me well know I am dangerous when unmedicated.
Fear of the unknown, fear of the unpredictable, and in some cases that the media has a hand in sensationalizing the inherent danger some of us in our worst moments embody.
I can be dangerous, I admit that. I’m a danger to myself and sometimes others in my wake. That scares me, helps resolve my desire to stay level.
I can see why others with little experience and knowledge would fear us.
sz/sza is judged as the modern day leprosy …
I still think to lessen the stigma, they should rename Schizophrenia. Make it…
“Schizo-Doodly-Bop”
It has more of a fun, bouncy ring to it!
Lack of information, overexageration by the media.
I believed that beeing sz was beeing “crazy” all the time, before i was diagnosed.
It’s media representation.
I think we would have to turn militant in terms of trying to get some of the more positive stories out there.
Your average Schizophrenic is suffering isolated more than they’re going around murdering people.
Someone needs to take a stand on this.
I tried a couple of years ago to setup a website for people to post their stories and experiences in the hope we would get some publicity and prove to people that we’re not axe murderers, but just normal people with an illness
Went no where and the little interest meant I could not justify keeping it going as I was paying for the site out of my own pocket
since sz began its a bad/unfair status
Even doctors stigmatize against SZ.
It’s a sad situation 
My psychiatrist said I am faking my negative symptoms and decided to stay in bed all day everyday. I was like wtf
Well, just look at the term schizo. Its not really a word that makes people comfortable. Its the only medical term i know thats like that. I never really feel i can even tell someone about it and have to keep it to myself. I dont even like saying im one here or to docters. Even with my mom i told her i was mentally ill not schizo.
Yeah, the media plays a big part of it. When the rare violent crime gets committed by a schizophrenic the media over sensationilizes it, and really plays up that the crime was committed by a schizophrenic.
In other words, the fact that I have had schizophrenia for forty years and worked the majority of that time ain’t going to go viral on YouTube or be all over the net. But a murder by a schizaphrenic on drugs and off his medication will be all over for a week. And the general public mostly forms their opinion of schizophrenia and schizophrenics by what the media says. You can see the problem here.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.