| The stigma of schizophrenia | |
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swordandshield
Posts : 254 Join date : 2014-03-31 Location : Enter by the Narrow gate -Yahushua-
| Subject: The stigma of schizophrenia Fri May 29, 2015 8:17 pm | |
| I have schizophrenia and everyone thinks I'm violent and a potential killer even though I only tried to take my own life by overdosing tylenol 3 years ago and haven't done anything foolish or stupid since then. Why is there such a stigma about schizophrenia and we are branded as outcasts just because 1 guy out of millions of schizophrenics randomly shoots people in a crowded movie theatre?
The only people who knew I wasn't violent or a potential killer are my ex girlfriend and my family. But mention the word "schizophrenia" and you consider him/her dangerous. If we stigmatize things then it makes that much harder to help people who have schizophrenia. | |
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Tenshigami Hair Trigger Mage
Posts : 1083 Join date : 2014-02-02 Age : 40 Location : Where monsters rampage, etc
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Fri May 29, 2015 9:08 pm | |
| It sucks, man. I know. People are just uninformed I think, for the most part. It's sad, but true: people simply fear what they do not understand. If they can stigmatize or tease you for something, they will.
When I was in school, I was the fat kid with ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome. The last two things maybe weren't so obvious, since I didn't exactly go around telling everyone I knew, except for the fact that I did have some classroom accommodations, so it wouldn't really take a genius to figure out I was one of the "special" students. (Also, to be honest, I was definitely a little weird.)
I got no end of teasing about my weight in Junior High and High school, and I'd often hear people in the halls call out my name in the exact same way as a disabled character in a popular show at the time. Maybe it wasn't always mean-spirited, but there was no way in hell I wasn't going to take it as such. Eventually I just pretended to ignore it, but that didn't stop it from hurting every time.
This may sound a little unfair, because ultimately responsibility really shouldn't fall on you, but I don't know how else to put it - it's up to you. Through your words and your actions, prove them wrong. Show them who you really are.
I say this as someone who failed miserably at this and have lived my life with very few friends because of it. Don't shut people out - just be yourself. Don't be afraid of being rejected. If you reject everyone from the start, you'll regret it in the long run.
If they can't see you for who you really are then honestly they don't even deserve to be your friend - but they need to at least be given a chance first. I'm not saying all people will come around. I wish that were true but I'd be lying if I said that. But some people will, and they will also see that the schizophrenia itself did not necessarily make you try to take your own life - it was the stress of dealing with it, and with having to deal with other people stigmatizing you for it.
Edit: Added a few things, and I'd also like to apologize. I have a confession to make - I uh, found a lot of your posts annoying to the point where I honestly stopped reading most of them. But seeing this? Holy crap was I ever wrong, and I'm sorry.
Last edited by Tenshigami on Sat May 30, 2015 11:05 am; edited 1 time in total | |
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Slivendiferious Quilvius
Posts : 1265 Join date : 2014-02-02 Age : 33 Location : Netherlands, The
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Sat May 30, 2015 10:52 am | |
| You should've been in my high school class. Schizophrenia was considered to be "cool". I don't know a whole lot about schizophrenia but I have heard that apparently it stems from severe trauma? Like supposedly something truly traumatic happened and part of your personality split off to help you handle that? Anyway, I hope you'll forgive me for going all "ruin mode a la Raine Sage" on you here, but I have a question I have been dying to ask to a Schizophreniac (I have already asked the question to a couple of psychologists in training). Is it possible for the original personality to cease to exist entirely and for a branch personality to take over completely? | |
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Tenshigami Hair Trigger Mage
Posts : 1083 Join date : 2014-02-02 Age : 40 Location : Where monsters rampage, etc
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Sat May 30, 2015 11:18 am | |
| - Slivendiferious wrote:
- Is it possible for the original personality to cease to exist entirely and for a branch personality to take over completely?
Might want to read up on it Sliv. Multiple Personality Disorder is different. While the two are not mutually exclusive and I think may be found together in the same person on occasion; cool or not these are things people get stigmatized for, and I don't think we should be spreading the ignorance by assuming just because person has x they also have y. | |
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The author of this message was banned from the forum - See the message |
swordandshield
Posts : 254 Join date : 2014-03-31 Location : Enter by the Narrow gate -Yahushua-
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Mon Jun 01, 2015 12:28 am | |
| Schizophrenia is a chemical imbalance in the brain. I did have some traumatic stuff happen to me that I wish not to talk about but I don't know if that is what caused my schizophrenia. And I have Asperger's syndrome also Tenshigami. When I was in school they thought it was ADHD though. I was put in special ed classes and a lot of people thought I was a retard because of that even though I got very high grades.
You found my posts annoying? How so? | |
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Tenshigami Hair Trigger Mage
Posts : 1083 Join date : 2014-02-02 Age : 40 Location : Where monsters rampage, etc
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:46 am | |
| - swordandshield wrote:
- You found my posts annoying? How so?
I honestly don't even remember anymore. I was being stupid. | |
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Suikoden Tired
Posts : 1164 Join date : 2014-02-02 Age : 34 Location : Studying deep-sea bioluminescence with Dr. Casey.
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:04 pm | |
| It's annoying how people ignorant of the condition always assume that schizophrenics are always erratic and nothing but trouble. I've got a third cousin who has Schizophrenia and when she is regularly taking her medication she's just as normal as any other person. Obviously not keeping up on meds can lead to problems, but most of the bad shit you hear about happens to people dual diagnosed with Depression etc. who have gone through extremes. MPD is something I'm not going to talk about at length because it hits very close to home, but it comes about as a coping mechanism in response to very bad trauma. Various different personalities show up and change depending on the circumstance. This isn't something that happens all the time but it can be spontaneous. Fei and Id from Xenogears gives a good case study for anyone that's interested in MPD. | |
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Harbinger Nephalem
Posts : 592 Join date : 2014-02-02 Location : Inside my dream
| Subject: Re: The stigma of schizophrenia Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:39 pm | |
| It really does come from "fear of the unknown" or misunderstanding.
When I was in elementary school, aside from my brother and sister, we were the only Asian kids in that school. I got teased a lot. I didn't pay too much heed to it though.
When I got to high school, things got better because people were more familiar with other ethnicity. In University? Non-existent.
The lack of exposure to something may cause people to react in a rather distasteful behavior. | |
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| The stigma of schizophrenia | |
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