What is it like to live with schizophrenia?
369881
During a training excercise, all the theraptsts and social workers had to put headphones on that mimicked what it was like to be a schizophrenic who was having delusions.  There were voices that were audible saying all kinds of things making it very hard to differentiate what was really being said to you and what was "in your head".  My brother says it is very distacting, confusing and sometimes scary. The voices they hear, and delusions, are as real as anything.  Most of the medications make you very forgetful too. It is hard to even remember to take your meds.
337850
I worked at this fully integrated reintegration program.  We had psychiatrists, case managers, therapists, emergency services staff, day program (clubhouse) and residential workers.  I was part of the residential program and I worked with people coming out of the state hospital and helped them with budgeting and banking, medication management and medical care, nutrition and cooking, cleaning, recreation, housing, community resources, hygiene..basically any skills you need on a daily basis, I tried to teach them.  The program was aimed at improving quality of life and preventing decompensation and the return to the hospital.  There is a magazine called Reintegration Today that focuses on the rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia and programs like this.  The magazine is quarterly and free.  I put the link below.
244284
I work with Adults with mental illness. I am also raising 2 of my siblings with it. My father on the other hand is a schizo. I am not and neither are any of my siblings. Though they do have Bi-polar, Mild mental retardation, add, adhd. I told my doctor this before my husband and I first started to try and she told me to take a high dose of Folic Acid. I am 9 weeks pregnant. I feel fine about the decision. \nSchizophrenia can be heridiry. You will not see signs of it until the teenage years. Those of them with it that show signs in the teenage years have a better chance of responding to treatment than those that show symptoms in the 20's.
1001692
Many people believe, falsely, that having a 'split personality' is the same as schizophrenia. Well, it is not. There are, in fact, important differences. \n\nThe term schizophrenia is from Bleuler (1911), who firstly identified more and milder varieties of the disease. He spoke of a Gruppe der Schizophrenien (group of schizophrenics). Schizophrenia means 'split mind'... which goes some way to explaining the present confusion. \n.Schizophrenia is the label applied to a group of disorders characterized by severe personality disorganization, distortion of reality, and an inability to function in daily life1. \nTypical symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, mostly visual and auditory. To try to interpret these very realistic hallucinations, the sufferer develops delusions. A common delusion is that a schizophrenic may think he has a magic power or that he is God. This is a psychotic state. A psychosis affects the brain and damages it. \n\nDisorders in emotional perception, movement (stiff movements, for example) and problems with speech (such as abruptly stopping in the middle of a sentence and starting another), may make the sufferer look bizarre to others. \n\nThe most common form is paranoid schizophrenia. This is where the sufferer's thoughts are controlled by strong suspicious delusions, and auditory hallucinations, such as 'hearing voices' which is very common. In comparison with other forms of schizophrenia, the disorders of emotional perception, movement and speech are rather small. \n\nThe development of schizophrenia often starts during adolescence or young adulthood. It is believed that it is caused by genetic defects triggered by stress factors like depression, the death of a dear person, or other experiences that are hard to cope with. \n\nThe prognosis of schizophrenia is bad when the disease has developed slowly; when there were no significant factors to trigger it; when it started to develop early; and when there are more family members suffering from schizophrenia. Treatment includes the taking of medications to suppress psychosis and joining psychotherapy. During non-psychotic episodes the sufferer has to learn to live with the symptoms and to avoid the possible triggers which prompt the psychosis; such as pressure, unstable and unhealthy lifestyle, stress and insecure feelings. \n\nA split personality has nothing to do with schizophrenia, but more with Multiple Personality Syndrome (MPS). This is a psychiatric disorder that causes the sufferer's personality to divide into sub personalities, also known as alters. The alters have their own memory, and don't know of each other's existence. Consequently, the sufferer has episodes of amnesia. \n\nThe development of MPS is almost always triggered by severe abuse, including sexual abuse. During the traumatic experience the person becomes dissociated from the experience, becomes 'not there', and an alter personality takes over the pain. For every traumatic experience an alter is created. The alternating of the alters is easily recognized by the changing of the voice of the sufferer. \n\nMPS is one of the most severe forms of defence mechanisms used to cope with extremely traumatic experiences. \n\nSince 1994, MPS has been officially classified as Dissociative Identity Disorder in the DSM-IV2 as the alters are more identities, rather than personalities, based on dissociations. \n\nAs MPS (or DID) is believed to be very rare, not much research has been done. Therefore, not much is known of the prognosis. It is considered that the later the development of the alters takes place, the better. Another outcome of research is the belief that:\n\n... after the age of 50, the alternating of the alters would spontaneously reduce3. \nThe experience gained by research is that sufferers who had re-integrated alters have a better recovery rate than sufferers with still divided alters. The integration of the alters is always ac
567296
Personally living through a lot of messed up situations and abuse on all sorts of levels. I think you have to live it to preach it and know a lot of information to be able to help. A lot of councelling did not help me at all. I saw 9 different shrinks in 3 years and nothing. It took changing everything in my life and a lot soul searching to help myself and now I have a lot more good days then bad. But it took a lot of hard work to get myself here.
779411
It doesn't sound like schizophrenia to me.  Sounds like a personality trait that might have been helped by her stress of growing up with an unreliable and unsupportive father (because of his illness).
418449
I feel really sorry for you and for your brother, but he is lucky to have you.  \n\nIs he interested in anything like art or music?  Maybe if you could find something that he is interested in an try to encourage that.\n\nSome hospitals and health care centres have opportunities for people like your brother to get together and meet and talk about their problems.  Sometimes just talking to other people in a similar situation is helpful.  \n\nAlso, see if you can find any schizophrenia support groups where you could get a lot of information for your brother as well as yourself.  \n\nThe links below contain a lot of info on schizophrenia and support groups and organizations.  Hope that helps.
914971
Well, for one, its not so bad being schitzophrenic... better than being on your own. second, when your in the mood for a party, they are!
273399
Psychosis is one symptom of schizophrenia and a symptom of a type of Bipolar Disorder.  You can have Bipolar without psychosis, but you are pretty much guaranteed to be psychotic if you are diagnosed with schizophrenia.
25684
About 10,000 people will be diagnosed with Schizophrenia in the US this year.  There are currently 2.2 million people suffering from Schizophrenia in the US today.  Worldwide, the disease affects about 1% of the population.
4725
It depends on the disorder. Schizophrenia is much more likely to develop in someone whose parent(s) had it, as is bi-polar disorder. You may want to talk to a pshychologist and get a professional opinion if it's present in a lot of family members.
1185248
It sounds like it would be helpful for you to learn more about schizophrenia to understand better what you could be getting yourself into by staying in the relationship.  Trying to maintain a relationship with someone who is suffering from the symptoms of a serious mental illness is difficult, and you don't want to go into it with your eyes closed.  There are a lot of great websites out there that talk about the symptoms of the illness.  http://www.schizophrenia.com/  also has support forums for family members and friends of individuals with schizophrenia....those might be helpful for you.  Another helpful thing may be to see a counselor on a short term basis yourself.  A psychologist or LCSW should be able to talk with you about the illness and help you think about the pros and cons of getting deeper into the relationship.  They can also help you explore your own reasons for starting this relationship and help you start thinking about whether or not it's a good choice for you.  Best of luck to you!
932655
It is managed by medication...not cured. \n\n"Like diabetes or high blood pressure, schizophrenia is a chronic disorder that needs constant management. At the moment, it cannot be cured, but the rate of recurrence of psychotic episodes can be decreased significantly by staying on medication. Although responses vary from person to person, most people with schizophrenia need to take some type of medication for the rest of their lives as well as use other approaches, such as supportive therapy or rehabilitation. "\n\nHere is an excellent article worth reading:\n\nhttp://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizoph.cfm
318699
(Paranoid) Schizophrenia
1032768
Being a severe bipolar myself - It one of the most interesting, but one of most terrible disease to live with!\nUnless people are considerate enough to research it they will never understand it!\nEven understanding SOME of it - It cannot be controlled. Medication helps with SOME stability, but being bipolar the medication being immuned very quickly.\nShe is doing great by taking care of herself, eating right, hygiene, etc.\nWith bipolar it is a mood that can come and go throughout the Moment, Day, or situation!\nPlease don't take too much upon yourself as it is a draining condition - especially from the person with it!\nBut I must Tell You Thank you for being understanding. It's very rare that people are there for ones like this! It is so trying! People cannot handle it - They want to deny it exists...\nMy grown children went through heck when I raised them (I didn't have a diagnosis's then)\nNow, they also live in other states, when we have contact they only want to, can only handle that I'M FINE, I'M DOING WELL - we don't discuss who I really am or what I'm going through!\nWhen I am out of sorts, I say I don't feel well! Some know what I'm talking about, most don't care = I don't care that they care or not!\nI've learned to accept this is who I am, I do my best to maintain!\nIf you'd like to keep in contact please email me!\nAgain, thank you for being someone who's taking the time to understand the disease!
230330
I live with schizoaffective disorder, which is a diagnosis that shares symptoms with both schizophrenia and depression.  In regards to your question, I would say that the INSANE usually do not know they are crazy.  To be considered clinically insane, your symptoms have to be quite severe.  \n\nI don't think I'd qualify as insane at any point in my life, however I did spend about eight months in a "waking dream."  At no point during this time did I stop to think something may be wrong with me.  I have met others with similar experiences who told me that they ended up walking into an emergency room saying there was something wrong with their brain.\n\nWith schizophrenia and related disorders, most bot not all people have a symptom known to mental health professionals as "lack of insight."  When this symptom is present, it means precisely that the person has no idea that what they are experiencing is not real.\n\nI hope this answers your question.
1148522
Yes.  But only in specific cases with certain illnesses.  I don't want to hear that crap about road rage or whatever the fancy name is nowadays.  Schizophrenia?  Absolutely.  That is a severe mental disorder where your perception of reality is extremely disoriented.  Depression?  Hell no.  Everyone gets depressed.  I was diagnosed with depression (bipolar actually) several years back.  Am I bipolar.  Nope.  It was my life situation that gave me the symtoms. Am I depressed now? Nope.  The only symptom I have is social anxiety.  Is that a reason to commit a crime?  Hell no. I know what is right and what is wrong.   However, when you have schizophrenia, autism, brain damage, or retardation, you don't always understand. Your perception of reality is very skewed, and nine times out of ten, you don't understand the wrongness of your actions, neither the consequnces.