suportal:

With every social media network rolling out new options for reporting mental health concerns, it’s worth taking the time to listen to people when they say that getting notifications asking if they’re okay from an automated system is not helpful. Instead it makes many people more paranoid about what they post, and takes away from their ability to use social media as a safe space to share their struggles with others. Instead of drive-by reporting, if you see something that concerns you try reaching out to the poster! Even if you still think it would be best to report them, shooting them a heads up that you’re doing so, goes a long way to ensuring that our online communities stay safe for everyone!  

I work hard to keep things lighthearted on my blog so I apologize for the brief serious post, this is just really important to me. Having had my paranoia triggered when a few of my memes were reported, it caused me to leave a few social media platforms and I think this is a suggestion that would have helped mediate a lot of the pain I went through.

Okay brief rant over

ashh-err:

People with personality disorders are not inherently bad people

Remember this; we’re human beings.

hey gamers I made a tumblr gc for psychotics, like or reblog this post to be invited

@doecries promo? spare promo, ma'am?

so-over-ableism:

just saw a post where the creator was trying to raise acceptance for “scary” mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bpd, npd, etc., and the sentiment was nice, but they weren’t schizophrenic and used the term “schizos”. as a schizophrenic myself, i absolutely hate when non-schizophrenic/non-psychotic people use that term. it’s not your term to use because it’s been used to demonize and dehumanize us for years.

please y’all, if you’re not on the schizophrenia spectrum, don’t use the term “schizo”. it’s really not that hard to say schizophrenics/psychotics or people with schizophrenia/psychosis (if you like person first language that is). if one day the stigma goes down and we can use that term without the societal implications, great, but today is not that day.

genuine question just to help me broaden my understanding: are you comfortable with people who aren’t schizophrenic but are schizoid or schizotypal using that term? cause my understanding is that it’s not really used against those people, it mostly targets schizophrenic and schizoaffective people, but the PDs come from the same root, so I just don’t know.

thanks for any answer you give!

sweetschizo:

Schizophrenia awareness month prompt challenge day 2 - delusions

Delusions can be any belief which:

A) isn’t common or socially acceptable in ones culture/society

B) doesn’t change based on lack of proof/conflicting evidence

There’s many different kinds of delusions - this post includes many examples.

Today I’m going to talk about what you can do if a loved one is struggling with delusions, as it can be really hard for people who don’t experience psychosis to figure out what to say and what not to say and how to react and act when a loved one is delusional. I’m writing this based on my own experience as a schizophrenic person who has struggled with delusions, so keep in mind that this is a bunch of general guidelines based on my experiences, and that not all of it will be universally applicable, and that you should always talk to the psychotic/schizophrenic person in question about what helps them as an individual.

1. Accept that our delusions are real to us

Our beliefs may not make sense to you, but keep in mind that no matter how nonsensical and unrealistic our delusions may seem, they’re real to us. We’re experiencing them as if they were real, and we need the same support, compassion and empathy that we’d need if what we we’re describing was actually happening.

2. Let us talk about it.

Most people have a need to discuss their experiences and thoughts with other people. Schizophrenic people usually aren’t an exception to that rule. Allow us to vent and express our frustration and fear. Imagine if you had a problem that was real and serious to you, and that your friends, family or partner reacted by dismissing and invalidating you when you tried to open up about it. Nobody likes to be dismissed and invalidated, so please listen to us as you’d listen to a friend with a real problem.

3. Don’t agree that our delusions are real, but listen and be empathetic

Keep in mind that while our delusions aren’t real, our feelings related to experiencing said delusions are. While you should never agree that our delusions are real (that may aggravate them and make us feel even worse) do validate and empathize with the feelings said delusions trigger in us, cause they are very real and we need your support and compassion just as much as a person describing a real problem would. Do not say “you’re right, what you’re saying is true” and don’t say “that isn’t real, get over yourself. Do say “that must be terrifying, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

4. Help us feel safe within the framework of our delusions

If we’re afraid that the water is poisoned, offer us water from and unopened bottle. If we’re afraid of being murdered, help us lock all doors and windows. If we’re afraid of being watched, help us cover up cameras and windows. Never explicitly state that you agree that our delusions are real, but do accept that they’re real to us and help us feel as safe as possible and try to find loop holes that allow us to feel safer without directly confronting our delusions.

5. Don’t start a discussion

You may be frustrated that your friend or partner is being irrational, but delusions don’t change or subside based on conflicting facts and evidence, and starting a discussion about the validity of our delusions will only frustrate both of us further.

6. Distract us

Playing a board game, watching a movie, going for a run or playing a video game won’t change the fact that we’re delusional, but it will temporarily distract us from our delusions and reconnect us to reality. Do what you can to make us focus on something else than our scary thoughts.

7. Don’t take our delusions personally

If we don’t trust you or if you’re involved in one of our delusions, please don’t get angry or frustrated. It’s nothing personal - it’s our mental illness acting up in ways we can’t influence or control, and it has nothing to do with you. Please be patient and do what you can to prove that you’re a safe person that we can be comfortable opening up to about our psychotic experiences.

Schizospec be like

*people think I’m a bitch because of flat affect*

*people think I’m being mean because of flat affect*

*people think I don’t care about them, am bored of them or not listening to them because of flat affect*

*people think I don’t appreciate the things they do for me because of flat affect*

*people think I’m mad at them because of flat affect and they get scared of me / angry because they don’t think I have a reason to be mad*

*people think I’m completely fine while I’m in agony because of flat affect*

Text: you can still achieve meaningful goals with a psychotic disorder

You can achieve. It might not be what you originally intended, it certainly hasn’t been for me, but you can still achieve things worth doing and make a meaningful difference in this world even with a psychotic illness.

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Text: Racial discrimination in mental healthcare must stop

Racial bias in diagnosis in the mental health field is well documented (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4274585/). Racial minorities, especially African-Americans, are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder, despite there being no genetic evidence showing greater occurrence of schizophrenia/psychosis in these populations. It is thought that these misdiagnoses occur due to clinician stereotypes and lack of cultural understanding. Unfortunately for the patient, this can lead to receiving medication that is not needed and the accompanying side effects, along with the stigma of a psychotic diagnosis. It also means not being treated for the disorder they DO have. Graduate schools need to do a better job at educating clinicians to work in a wide variety of cultural settings, because we are failing patients.

Text: psychotic people are not the problem behind mass shootings

Psychosis isn’t responsible for mass shootings—evil people are. Stop blaming a marginalized disability for a criminal problem.

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Text: there is systematic discrimination against psychotic people in the healthcare system

Psychotic people are discriminated against in the healthcare system. First thing that comes to mind is the lack of outpatient treatment options, the centers that were meant to treat de institutionalized psychotic patients in the late 20th century turned those patients away and treated non-psychotic patients instead. Few outpatient therapists working private practice know how to treat psychotic patients. Psychotic patients are often brutalized in mental wards, something many of us are intimately familiar with.

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Very sinisterly, having a diagnosis like schizophrenia or BPD can lead to your death through medical discrimination. Patients with psychotic disorders are likely to be denied organ transplants, which is in fact illegal but happens anyway (for example, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127379/). One must wonder how else healthcare neglect shortens our lifespans? There is rampant discrimination against psychotic people in healthcare, and it must stop.

Text: being delusional/paranoid is not the same things as lying

When you’re delusional or paranoid, you believe things that aren’t true. This can sometimes lead you to saying things aren’t true, but this isn’t the same thing as purposefully lying. A delusion or paranoia is a complex biological state created by a person’s neurology that is outside of their control, and the beliefs a person holds while under the influence of these mental states seem real. Any false information a person conveys during delusion or paranoia was not done so on purpose, so they should not be treated like they purposely mislead. Please, be understanding that delusions and paranoia can happen, and try not to judge.

Text: disability from psychosis isn’t laziness

Your impairment from your psychotic disorder is valid. Disability from psychosis is real and must be respected. Demand accommodation. Demand to be treated like a human being.

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Text: schizophrenia is not a character defect

You’re not a bad person for having schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is the result of faulty neurology, not faulty moral character. We are not lazy, violent, or in any way lesser because of our disorder. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Text: psychotic people are worth the effort to treat

Psychotic disorders are harder to recover from than many other mental disorders, and part of that is due to a lack of treatment options. But part of the reasons there is a lack of treatment options is because psychotic disorders are viewed as harder to treat. It’s a never ending cycle. They’ll give us medications, which help many people certainly, but many psychotic people need therapy to see real improvement, I know I did. But there is no standard therapy for psychotic disorders, and many therapists are at a loss for as what to do with us. We need a standard schizophrenia/psychosis therapy like CBT/DBT/ACT, but in the meantime we need more therapists to be willing to try expanding their knowledge bases and therapy schools to include a greater breadth of illnesses in their curriculums.

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Text: respect psychotic people’s treatment decisions

Our treatment decisions are between us and our doctors/therapists. We might choose to seek input from you, but ultimately, an adult psychotic person’s treatment decisions are between them and their treatment team. Respect the choices made by a psychotic person in regard to medication and medication type, and therapy. It’s not an outsider’s place to comment, especially unprompted.

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Text: respect psychotic people’s mental and psychical limitations

Our limitations are not for you to test. While what a psychotic person may be able to do on the day-to-day might vary, their capabilities are for them to decide, not you, the outside observer. I’m my experience, I can go from okay to not okay very quickly when people push me, and I need people to respect me when I say “no”. People don’t like to do that, because they view it as “unfair”—well tough. Respecting and accommodating disabled people isn’t special treatment, it’s basic decency. My schizophrenia causes severe impairment at time and I need special consideration, and I’m going to demand it.

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Text: visible psychosis isn’t “ugly” or “weird”

Sometimes we have visible psychosis symptoms, like involuntary facial movements or talking to ourselves. These symptoms are looked down upon by the rest of society, but there is nothing wrong with these symptoms. Unobtrusive but obvious psychosis is not inherently harmful, and is not something to be ashamed of. You are not something to be ashamed of.

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Text: you don’t have to apologize for your symptoms

I sometimes find myself apologizing for my psychotic symptoms, and I’m trying to stop. There is nothing to apologize for. Psychosis is a medical disability, and as such we are entitled to accommodation. We have a right to have our needs met, as human beings and as citizens. Don’t apologize for being psychotic, we are not a proble

When I was in inpatient, no one had any idea how to handle a person with psychosis and trauma. I was just treated like I was being purposefully “difficult”, and nothing was done to help me cope with conditions I was in.

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I don’t consider giving me klonopin for a panic attack when it was prescribed to me for conversion disorder a proper treatment for a PTSD episode. Giving me medication when I wasn’t supposed to be taking in order to shut me up it isn’t proper care.

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Or the other hospital, sending me to my room and telling me to do breathing exercises when I was clearly on the edge of a breakdown from isolation, that wasn’t helpful either. Ignoring a patient’s needs isn’t treatment, and quite frankly I wish I could get my insurance’s money back, because I didn’t get much in the way of medical care.

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Creating stressful situations by messing up medications and not giving me prescribed pain medication on time, serving me food I had told them repeatedly I was allergic too, screaming at me, emotional abuse by staff, and other mistreatments are not conducive for anyone’s recovery. let alone a person with a complex trauma history. Hospitals can and should do better, but they have to want to.

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Text: psychotic people are not “broken”

We are whole as we are

Text: Maine isn’t “cute”—it’s a serious illness

Mania isn’t an aesthetic. “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” isn’t a thing. Mania is a serious medical condition that can require hospitalization, and in the form of mixed episodes it can lead to people taking their own lives. Mania is a common cause of severe psychotic episodes, Bipolar 1/ schizoaffective are no joke and must be taken seriously. Don’t diminish the severity of mania, please. ⠀

Text: psychotic people have the right to complain about abusive doctors

Sorry for the late uploads today, I am not feeling well and have been asleep most of the day!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

If you’ve been mistreated by a doctor or medical staff, you have the right to complain. You don’t have to stay silent just because they might be more educated than you are, or are older than you. You have a right to respectful medical care, and if you haven’t been given it you have a right to say so. Leave the negative review if you want, really. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

If the mistreatment goes beyond disrespect to abuse, you are not doing anything wrong by alerting the medical boards. You have a right to be protected from malicious doctors, even with a psychotic disorder. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Text: psychotic people’s pain matters

Our suffering matters. We should not have to be left in pain. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Text: psychosis doesn’t make you a bad person

A medical condition does not make you a bad person. Medical conditions are amoral states of being. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Text: psychotic people deserve to feel good about themselves

A lot of us struggle with self esteem issues, I believe some as a side effect from our illnesses but also from the stigma and mistreatment we face. We deserve to feel good about ourselves as much as anyone else, there is no reason we should not. We are not burdens and we are not lesser, psychotic people have equal worth to non-psychotics and we will always matter.

Respect! Schizophrenic! People! ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊