I don’t believe any quality person is going to judge you by your income
I think it’s important , when we share, to speak about those of of us whom are unable to recover. They need to know that although they are witnessing a sz that has recovered well. There are many people that to no fault of there own, do not respond well to meds, that they need assistance financially and support emotionally. If we could get support from Society it would be so much easier to recover and get employment and feel like part of society
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Can you share about your job and how they let you go ECT. I’m thinking about coming out at work, but I also need a job. Would really appreciate it Ish
I don’t have ECT. ? I work full time but my contract is due to end. They extended it 5 times but this time seems my illness got the better of me. I am dx bipolar.
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I tend to take a position that there’s two path’s to ending stigma. One would be in the present situation we are in, which is that the movement would have to be on a larger scale, more money would need to be invested into a dynamic shift in perspective, one way to do this is getting involved at a local level with a panel of people in some sort of public oversight group, in the U.S. usally larger metropolitan areas have these, there comprised of nami members, mental health workers, and usually a person representing the municipality. So through a NAMI group or other such things would be a place to organize, and voice your concerns at the local level. I can’t stress this enough: Funding, you’d want to ensure that’s going to the right places to effect change, because there is not enough of this in the dynamic climate of changing outlooks, so it’s something to think about(like does your city have the right kind of funding for homeless shelter’s etc. because all of that comes out of a grant and goes to places that need it, and to ensure it’s effective in that change, its a long progress and you have to fight for it). Then the second level is one day effective change would have to come from even higher up such as a partnership between the american psychological association working and collaborating with the self help industry which isn’t an institution in the least, I believe that if slowly psychologist’s started seeing just how effective and practical life coaches could be, or how mindfulness is being preached like it’s the new thorazine, then there could be change at the root of the problem which is the label, the self fullfilling prophecy that comes with it, the alienation. Just imagine this that if ten minutes after you were first diagnosed there was somebody that told you that you in fact weren’t your label, that in fact you can get through this and your not going to be stuck in a lifelong struggle facing perhaps years of rumination. People can’t afford to be stuck in they’re apathy anymore, people have all these groups now-a-days with blm, the lgbtq community, the women’s marches, where is the mental health march on washington?
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I don’t see any person as “weak”.
You can use any word in the dictionary to describe someone. Look at the positives and how you are benefiting in any given situation. That’s something I learnt from Dr John Demartini. I have no aversion to talking about schizophrenia, actually it is a topic of interest to me and something I enjoy talking about as it forms part of my identity.
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@anon80629714 I hope you keep your job. let us know when you know for sure?
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I know fore sure. Next Friday is my last day. 
️
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What last time…
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level J1 my main point is, there are loads of people(tens of millions) who are desperate for better treatments.
This is my point. I don’t have a problem with people showing off. I don’t like showing off but this
is not the main problem.The main problem is when people see people who have sz and are successful, they tend to get the impression that sz is not that bad and nothing should be done.
When in fact in loads of cases of sz it is THAT BAD,satisfactory recovery is impossible,
and people are desperate for better treatments.In many cases some improvement is possible
(and even that not in all!) but this improvement is often not enough.
Further, in many cases there is no improvement at all.
There are many people who desperately need for a cure but can’t come here to write it,
because of their severe symptoms.
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Yea, and I saw on some forums, people with worse cases of schizophrenia face bullying, as they can’t fit into an ideal image of a person recovered from schizophrenia. I believe people with poor communicative skills must have their voice too. And a right to their point of view! Even if illness ruined them.
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Love the idea! That’s the spirit! About the expenses we do not necessarily need millions… if the gov was engaged with a proper programme which would bring the benefits to the country (like more employment among sz, less reliance on health system) then probably it would be supported… hmmmmm… but where to get such people to be the face and a voice of sz? Anyone interested?
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That is so spot on with getting more paranoid because you wonder if they know you have sz. That is why I have been recently so unwell as I am going to uni placements where I am working next to professionals. I feel less of myself and get really bad in terms of paranoia which later escalate to some delusional thinking (eg that everyone from uni is plotting against me and they want me fail and that everything is fake, my grades, my tutors and all that carp). As soon as I revealed my condition to my supervisors, and they showed acceptance and understanding (I have done it twice and both times the reaction was neutral, like “so what? It doesn’t matter” and supportive), the next day I was feeling as my usual healthy self… I believe all this docs really underestimate the power of stigma and how much that influence not only our well-being but also the perseverance of symptoms and chances to get proper productive life…
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That is true. I know it sounds terrible but I am going not to give a **** after my parents live this world. My mum lives in denial about my condition and does not want to talk about it, and even lied about where I disappeared for 2months each time of hospitalization saying (only after my requests to be open about it) that I had depressive symptoms and needed rest. Heh… probably my lack of acceptance, low self confidence, etc, comes from it. If your own mother does not accept you and is proud of you for who you are then who will? Ehhh… never mind. I am trying to understand her, she is old school… anyhow as soon as I will try to be more proactive in shaping people’s perceptions… for now I have to live in shadows 
Would be cool if we could make an edgy commercial… Maybe blank masks with an mi written on it just standing looking at the camera as crowds and cars and life moves around them… Saying I’m your brother sisters aunts and uncles…I’m a mother…I need your support and understanding …I’m a person too… That may be kinda emo…but a lot of stations will run awareness non profit commercials for free… We could throw in this website at the end to bring in more Sz sza and related mi…
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I said it long time ago in this very forum that we need a march, we need to be visible. If you don’t see sth you don’t care… that is so very true what you proposed here. Initiative should be from gov and local level. And there is, in UK at least, but it is just only crawling at the moment, early stages of development. Just only last month the President of British Psychological Society said openly about his mental health problems and encouraged other psychologists to do the same. Currently is the huge debate if it is the right or wrong way… psychologists are thinking to be more for the public than just care about themselves, their research which is known only to them and nobody else. There are public lectures set on in BPS this year about health and well being so things are going forward. I am very excited to see what is going to happen next…
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Happy cake day, @Lara!
We need to be visible, but most of the time we keep quiet because we fear judgment.
There is a man here in Brazil that talks about his schizophrenia openly. He got out of the closet. The same happened with Elyn Saks.
Maybe we need to ask to these people what they think about getting out of the closet.
That is an idea… currently people say that success lays in networking networking networking. People are more available more nowadays than in the past. If you have their email, Twitter, fb or whatever why not… ask them what was their strategy, how long it took, what they needed to the first, if they advise it or not for people who achieved less in their lives in a conventional way of understanding the term (eg not being famous or having high rockey job family etc). Let me know if you receive any reply😀
Btw what is"cake day"?
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brugluiz what is there to fear?
Of course we need to talk, urge a quick cure( all of us) and some who manage to recover well can also share
their stories. In any case it is very bad to hide.
If people don’t like to hear about the disease, we will change them and make them like it.
People are open to changes esp positive changes.
I find that it is easier to change people’s minds when you talk to them face to face or over the phone
than through facebook or chat.
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