schizophrenia

Schizophrenia 101; look beyond the pop culture portrayals and learn the reality behind this oft-stigmatized mental illness.

How to make sense of schizophrenia and psychosis
From experience, I would say psychosis is a way of making sense of the world in our own way. It is more than just a mental disease. It can be dark and unusual to many people, but to the person experiencing it, it is more so a challenge a mere illusion and battle with the nature of societal expectations of reality. To me, normal life is quite evil and tricky. At least, what people who perceive normal entails it to be. Yet, everyone experiences their own realities in a way that makes sense to them. For me, my psychosis makes sense to me. Although it can be hard to deal with since it is different from the norm, it entails a story that is quite beautiful. Comparing it to the real world it can be eccentric and completely unique to itself. Honestly, I believe people are programmed to act a certain way and believe a certain way for the benefit of societal control. An example of this is our bodies, I'm not trying to say our bodies shouldn't be nourished, they should be, and health is a major factor in the reasoning of the existence of psychosis. I believe and I have yet to find factual evidence on this, but I think the negative connotation in our minds is connected to our malnourished body, the toxic energy we are given from foods like outside chemicals effects our entire being. However, I believe that psychosis can be a positive notion in our minds as long as we feed it positivity and recreate a world that can be seen as wonderful. If my world is different from yours, that doesn't mean I'm psychotic it means my values and views are different from yours and what kind of world would we be living in if we all thought the same, a boring a pointless one. We are all just trying to make sense of our lives. In the words of Professor Fletcher at Gresham College, he states that the brain is striving to make sense of the world, confess a ready-made tendency to deviate from reality and to create its own world. For me, the world we live in is quite evil and the world I tend to live inside my head is a lot more beautiful. We have perceptions of the world that makes sense of the sensory electrical signals from heat, light, and force. Professor Fletcher from Gresham College said, “We are direct recipients of reality we are decoding the signals we receive”. So, in this statement he is saying that our psychology has a message for us trying to make sense of the life around us. We associate our senses with the data our brain is receiving, what we have already known and learned. A lot of which we hold onto are traumatizing events in the past. Because it impacts a lasting impact on our feelings, Maya Angelou said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. An example I experience with psychosis is hearing my mom say she hates me even though she never said that. It’s a feeling perceived by thought through my sense from what I’ve learned about and felt in the past. I have yet to heal from my hyper-sensitivity stages. This is not to say my mom didn’t do her best at trying to raise me, she did her best at what she knew. It is that my own perceptions of the world is different and highly sensitive toward the actions of others and what I’ve learned from them.
By Cerina Galvan5 years ago in Psyche
Elastic Mind
I was staring down the side of a rocky mountain cliff. Everything appeared to be fuzzy as my thoughts wandered out of my control.
By D Ruppert5 years ago in Psyche
Introducing Me!
I am currently a mother of two happy, healthy, and adorable children who happens to have schizophrenia. I enjoy writing and it has long been on my heart to write about motherhood, mental health, and other random “adulting” subjects. I may not be any good at it, but I can’t be any worse than all of the articles in a Google search engine that talk about how horrible it is to know a schizophrenic – let alone have one be a mother.
By The Schizophrenic Mom5 years ago in Psyche
To Be Free
“They’re looking because you’re talking to no one” Scene one It’s a ritual to go to art exhibits with my sister Raven, as I chat it up with her, I look around and I'm infuriated to see everyone looking at her with confusion and judgment. “Has nobody ever seen a woman with cancer before? It’s like they think all illnesses are contagious” grumbles Jerrick. I locked eyes with a European man, he gave me a slight nod and a smile. “A gesture of pity,” I thought. My sister giggles. “What?!” I exclaim. “They’re looking because you’re talking to no one”. “You’re somebody! Stop calling yourself no one, you’re everything to me, my world in fact”. “Sorry to interrupt, you seem just as uncomfortable as I tend to be at these exhibits, curious as to why you still come?” says the European man. “Well” as I pull myself together “My sister and I have a ritual, she's an art teacher and I'm an electrical engineer, I love to break apart machines and piece them back together into something entirely different, so I have a deep appreciation for art but not for the people who possess them.” “Looks like we are men of like minds, lovely to meet you two” he hands me a card with an address scribbled and gives me a nod and a smile and disappears into the crowd. “Curious..”
By Jillian Paris Ferguson5 years ago in Psyche
Stairway to Darkness
I felt good today, better than I had in a long time. My meds sat in silent accusation on my kitchen table, untouched now for days. But, I felt good.
By SJ Nichol 5 years ago in Psyche
The Stuff of Dreams
The Devil himself appeared in Magda’s dream one night. He was ten metres tall and everything she’d ever been led to believe; goat’s eyes, horns and legs, a woman’s breasts, snake’s tongue and bat’s wings. Fire, brimstone and acrid smoke surrounded him as he smiled purposefully at her.
By Jonah Jones5 years ago in Psyche
Do Good and Communicate
Everyone around me seems to have busy days full of work and success. I don’t mean to sound insensitive. I know it can feel monotonous. But at the end of the week, they can say they worked and made money and lived just like everyone else.
By Luke Haddad5 years ago in Psyche
More Important Than My Fears
Struggling with Schizoaffective disorder has resulted in me doing and saying a lot of things that I regret. The most impactful but least notable was when I yelled at my brother four years ago. I know he’s going to read this, and I want him to know this is an explanation of progress and not a confession to lingering guilt. I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
By Luke Haddad5 years ago in Psyche
The Delusion
Always running about like a rat in a maze I'm a free rat as long as I stay in the maze When will I find freedom, that taste of luxury
By Phoenix Rose5 years ago in Psyche
The Second Flight of Icarus
When Regor first discovered the body, Luka was still clutching what he called his "little black book with me poems in". At his side was a bag containing an old worn toothbrush and a comb that was missing more teeth than it had. Apparently, the elastic bands holding his shoes together had been upgraded to silver duct tape. His old Baird television set was still on. It was the only thing Luka brought with him when he moved into the Chalfont rest home. The sound was off. Regor didn't notice the old black and white rerun of Gomer Pyle on the screen. "Oh Luka", he thought, "now you've gone and done it." His old friend looked like shit. He wore a dirty satin shirt with small cigarette burns trickled down the front. He was sitting at the piano, his eyes still open. A burnt silver spoon sat on the glass table nearby. And he held his sacred black book tight to his chest. In his other hand he was squeezing a bunch of one hundred dollar bills. Must have been 200 of them.
By Phillip LoFaso5 years ago in Psyche
No Plain Jane
I entered the room and saw her just sitting in the middle of the floor on a mattress on an unmade bed. I took one more hesitant step into the room and she looked up at me. She had a faraway look on her face and her eyes rose to meet mine but she did not respond to me at first. I later found out that her name was Jane, like in plain Jane but she was anything but plain that I can tell you.
By Mary McDonald5 years ago in Psyche
Schizophrenic stigma
Hello ...To start off im going to tell you a little about my self The names Have change to protect privacy My name is Charlie. Im in my late 50's shhhh. I live in Manitoba Canada. I have lived a life for at least 2 people. My story beggins with my mother My mother was a mentally Ill Parinod Schizophrenic person She would have hallucinations, in which her senses aren’t working right. She would hear voices that make fun of her tell her things to do- harmful things. Or she might see things that aren’t really there.....Paranoid Symptoms Delusions are fixed beliefs that seem real to you, even when there's strong evidence they aren't. Paranoid delusions, also called delusions of persecution, reflect profound fear and anxiety along with the loss of the ability to tell what's real and what's not real. My mothers name was Molly. Small pettie 4 foot 9 inch women Molly was a very beautiful women [not that matters]. But it does. In the sence that people look on the surfaces and not into the intelect. A point of view of what they wanted to see and not what it was Molly had three kids they each were born 2 years part Two girls and a boy. Chalie, trudy, and steve..she also had another son that was taken from her when she was 15 years old, So a total of 4 kids. Molly had a 6 yr grade education. Molly was very well readed. My mom would read almost every day. When she went to write her GED. She scored a grade 11 without studing for it Her life was a living hell ... at 15 she was raped! Molly than had a son she called Dan. When Dan was around 3yrs old my mother went to child family service for help. The reason being my grand father was molesting her. My mother was a minor. So they took Dan and left my mother to fend for herself ...Why! she was a minor too ??? When they took my brother they put him up for adotion Again no efforts were made to get him back home ..I did bring this up to one of my uncles when i was about 24 yrs old. He told me it was the government. How do you fight the government? No one help her, no support. Not until the Government step in. I was always furrious at my relatives for not being there for us kids. There was not one good excusses my relatives could give why they wouldn't help us 3 kids But I too had to except that I was not their responcibility So sad that we didn't matter Little to no efforts were made for us 3 kids on our behalf What gulled me the most The adults would say to me "Charlie you are the oldest You need to take care of my siblings". I was 6years old!... how riducluous is that statement .. I did try ..But running away was easier Molly meet my father Vern. Vern was born in Ireland in about 1942 Vern was sent by ship to live in Canada when he was just a wee baby with a realtive I was told .. He was tall 6'2, dark hair, strong chin good looking Vern had a strong resembled Elvis Presley. Vern was also an alcholic. When Molly got pregnant with me. My grand father litterly got a shot gun found my father and told him he was going to marry my mother [And you thought shot gun weddings didn't exsits LOL] I was born in the fall of 1964. One of my few memories of Vern was a time he was beating up my mom I remember trying to interven But Vern hit me so hard that I litterly flew across the room at 3 years old [Ha.. he was suppose to be the better parent] I think not! Molly was so desturb that my father left -and left for another women. My mother spent a lot of time trying to find him We moved coutless times accross Canada to find Vern. Vancouver, Calgary back to our home town/city The 2nd last time I saw Vern ...he took me to a restaraunt. I dropped a french frie on the floor ...I begged ....him not to leave me! I said I would clean up the french frie off the floor [at 3 years old] ...I totally remember this How could this man look in his own little girls face and not care Well he did a little ...because when I finally got to speak to him the year 2000 he told me he remember the restauraunt french frie memory p [who cares right!] Molly's mind was going deeply into mental illness trying to raise 3 kids trying to stay normal with no help despratley looking for Vern it destroyed her ...I believe her mentall illness was there for years and year attributing from my grand father molesting but the more stress she was under the more she was see things -hear things Mom put towels and blankets on the mirrors t.v ...I even remember her screeming into a mirror. Mom was getting more and more down the rabbit hole I have to back up a little ...A little more from the younger years Just to give you an idea of what we were dealing with.
By Rae Dyck5 years ago in Psyche