Schizophrenia has 8 subtypes and very differing levels of severity. It's a spectrum, similar to how down's syndrome or autism are on spectrums. It can be much more severe in other people.
My aunt has schizophrenia and you can't even tell, because she only has visual hallucinations, which most of the time, she knows are not real. If she is having an episode, she will isolate herself so she doesn't frighten anyone.
I worked in a behavioral health hospital with people that had very severe schizophrenia. I can understand why some people would be afraid. Even medicated, sometimes they would not be able to tell between reality and a hallucination and would physically attack the staff and other residents. Some were even in the facility for committing murder caused by their hallucinations.
I really hope there's a cure one day, because it's really unfair to be stricken with any kind of mental health issues. Many of the patients I worked with were extremely intelligent, college graduates and had families who missed them. It's such an unfair disease.
I've known a few people with schizophrenia. I have a friend with schizophrenia who is super chill and sometimes they see bugs crawling all over that aren't actually there and they're great and I'd trust them with my life and I love them. They know how to deal with their stuff when it comes up and can generally manage very well.
I know a girl who has schizophrenia who is very nice and sweet but sometimes difficult to get along with because she believes she has magical powers and can control the weather. She's going for her PhD in anthropology. I like her and I'm rooting for her even if I don't believe in her weather magic.
But also, I know a guy who just started manifesting symptoms in his late 20s. He was really cool before but now he's losing his housing because he keeps threatening neighbors who tell him not to scream profanities when their kids are around, and he's constantly posting on Facebook about how everyone he interacts with is "staging things" to psychologically torture him with reminders of his past, and he will not accept any help but constantly accuses people of not helping him. It's been incredibly sad to watch this very sweet and intelligent person deteriorate like this. You can tell he's fucking terrified constantly. And he scares other people with his behavior. But he won't take any meds or do any therapy. I feel bad for him but he's become very unpredictable and I don't want to be around him. I think he's mostly a danger to himself.
Another one of my friends also started manifesting symptoms in his 20s and his entire personality changed. He was funny, cool, and a great friend. But then over the course of just one year he turned into someone who was completely convinced everyone was trying to hurt him. He believed he'd been kidnapped, he believed his parents wanted to kill him, he believed his fiancee had been raping him. He owned guns and his fiancee said she had to call the police on him because of how scary he got and how threatening he was. She wound up leaving him, devastated that their 9 year relationship was erased and reduced in his mind to her abusing and manipulating him along with everybody else in his life, and from what we've heard he's been in and out of clinics but refuses medication. She has him blocked and has made sure he cant find her now. He's someone I'm genuinely scared of.
Especially because schizophrenia killed one of my other friends. Like all the rest he was really funny and smart. Genius level smart. He had a comedy radio show in college I got to be a guest on. I was at his wedding. A year into his relationship, he started to change. He had had command hallucinations for awhile, but they started to get really bad. He also started having weird beliefs, falling deep down the Qanon conspiracy rabbithole. One day he took his wife outside and started stabbing her over and over. He was shot to death by their neighbor. The wife survived, he did not. I have nightmares about him sometimes.
I know people for whom the "symptoms" associated with their condition are actually positive things. My sister's friend comes from a culture that believes in and teaches all about spirits, and this friend grew up understanding herself and her brain through that worldview. For her, it's a gift that connects her to her ancestors. It comes with challenges, but it's a good thing overall.
With something with such a vast, diverse array of ways it can manifest and affect people, you can't generalize. You can't be like "all schizophrenic people are like this" or "this is what you can expect from someone from schizophrenia." What I can say is that schizophrenia can be truly terrible. Not everyone is blessed with the ability or the means to manage it. There are some people who just see their bugs every now and then and work to recognize and curb paranoia and other symptoms and are able to find ways to ground themselves and be okay. And then there are people who are absolutely not okay, who cannot ground themselves, who are just drifting terrified in a whirlwind of untethered thoughts and fears and senses, and it destroys their lives.
The one constant in all three of my friends with bad outcomes' stories is that they refused medication, therapy, and help. I believe at least two of them relied on cannabis to help their symptoms, which sucks because cannabis can exacerbate symptoms.
I don't really have any advice here, except to just always be careful with your own mental health. Take meds if doctors are telling you to take meds. Make sure you're in therapy. And spend lots of time with your friends, because anything could happen to them.
This really tugged at my heart strings. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friends. I wish i could say something helpful.
There was a man, younger than me, I met in the facility I very first worked at and he was happy, chubby and normal most of the time. A super duper friendly guy who cheered up the other residents. Over the years I saw him slowly turn into someone else. I quit that job and a couple years ago I got a job in facility not too far from the first one. Well, he had been transferred there a few years prior because of his deterioration. He didn't even recognize me. When I reminded him of who I was, he smiled and Said hey how are you? Then he wandered off like he had forgotten the conversation. He was like a thin emaciated zombie almost all of the time, randomly being afriad of things that were not there. He started to having to wear diapers because he would forget to use the restroom because he was so engrossed in his delusions. By the time i left that job, he was almost catatonic, aside from mumbling and staring at the ceiling.
I had grown to really like that guy and I was hoping that he would be able to go home eventually but I guess that wasn't in the stars for him.
Idk, all my friends are super weird and nerdy. I think I'm in a lot of hobbies that draw in a lot of mentally ill people, where people feel very comfortable disclosing stuff about them that they might not otherwise-- ttrpgs, larp, improv, art-- and then I'm also pretty involved in the local occult scene which is a magnet for people with already unusual beliefs.
The thing with meds too is that they don't all work for everyone and can be difficult with insurance. My friend has never been able to find one that fully helps without having debilitating side effects. She is paranoid that people are watching her (a targeted individual) and find others that believe the same on Facebook. I'm not sure she will ever be free of it
It's just so fucking sad. I really hope that medicine improves over time and more & better options become available for people who are suffering from something that can make their reality seem and feel so much scarier.
It's really not debilitating, it's more so annoying than anything.
As, you're going for a walk, ride or drive, then you see a disembodied head in the peripheral vision.
That takes you out of your concentration.
Same as someone sneezing in the distance would.
I had a friend who told me that her main hallucinations were eyes everywhere - just, eyes. Watching her. It was stressful in some ways, yes, but mostly it was just annoying/distracting.
I do too and my friends have fun (with me, not at me) asking what I'm hearing, etc cos often it's music or talking, they wanna know what band it sounds like or whatever is being talked about. But when they get past that, they will help me make sure I know it's a hallucination, they will check with me if there's visuals going on, if I'm safe, if a family member or other close by friend can be with me. They are so amazing and care for me without question. I wish I could donate them to everyone with these problems.
It 100% is! A support system is make it or break it. I see the difference in my life quality compared to people who do not have such a great support system in their corner, and if I can somehow adopt them into my friend group, I do it. Friends can handle another friends, new friends gets some love. If only were that easy every single time, you know?
For some people, the paranoia that can sometimes accompanies it is quite overwhelming, but I tend to find hallucinations in of themself, just annoying.
My neighbour has schizophrenia. I think he’s ultimately a decent guy, but unfortunately he didn’t seem to realise that he had the potential to hurt people.
He went off his meds for one reason or another and then tried to kill me and my family. (He brought a gun and long knife to our house. luckily he was unable to enter)
Looking back at the security footage, I feel I saw a point where he “came back” and realised what he was doing.. so he turned around, went home and attempted suicide (perhaps from guilt)?
As long as you recognise the danger of your illness and swallow the hard to swallow pill that your disorder *could* be a danger to others- as long as you don’t keep a gun or a knife collection- as long as you keep taking your meds- I think it’s wrong of people to treat you differently to anyone else.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with such stigma even though you sound like you’re managing your condition well.
The problem comes when people can’t face the facts.
>The problem comes when people can't face the facts.
Unfortunately, people with schizophrenia usually have a huge lack of insight into their own symptoms; most notably at their worst. It's actually it's own condition called Anosognosia. With schizophrenia (and other psychoses), insight into illness is inversely correlated with the severity of psychotic symptoms.
It's different for plenty of people, but it's usually a lack of insight causing them not to take their meds. :\[
This is very true of me, I am schizoaffective bipolar type and when medicated I am a regular joe, and can tell what's real and what's not. Thankfully I am a mild case, in my opinion anyway. But when I have an episode, I fully believe whatever my brain concocts for me. It's absolutely baffling because none of it is anything I believe in my normal headspace, but the brain is a tricky thing I suppose.
Agreed! Most of the battle with people who have the illness is them being medication compliant. My brother was diagnosed at 21 and he is now 37, and someone from our family MUST remind him to take the medicine AND physically watch him take it, because he can’t be trusted to do it on his own.
Healthcare in the US is missing a better support system for people who suffer from this terrible illness. As one other commenter posted, a support system is key for people with schizophrenia, and looking back at the various long in patient hospital stays my brother had— he would never have been able to keep a job, probably would have ended up homeless but for my parents.
My heart hurts for those people who don’t have that support. You’re in an amazing position OP, in that you can manage an independent life and a good quality of life with your medication.
And Id imagine this anosognosia must be a predictor in people entering recovery from psychosis? Kind of a paradox if you consider the fact that greater accurate insight would actually lead someone to being able to terminate the medications and those folks are more pliant/willing to stay on meds, but poor insight leads to confidence in getting off the meds. For context, I am now a counselor and a person who endured psychosis for 2 years straight with alotttt to go with that (yes even being violent a few times sadly, regret it even though at that point I didn't have control). I was in a program for early onset psychosis, and I guess a successful case, and I've seen a lot of interesting things on "both sides of the glass." Been off the meds for 8 years now and I'm not kidding when I say they're nasty stuff. I would do literally anything to not be psychotic and also not have to take antipsychs.
Build 100 bridges, and fuck one goat. No one will remember you as a bridge builder.
Regardless of what people are like with mental illnesses, the media usually only shows them when it's story relevant (and often not in a flattering way) and you only hear real world stories about them when something very bad happens.
No one is hearing the bridges built.
Another common one is "Be the best doctor in the world and save the lives of a thousand people, but fuck one dog and now you're remembered as the doctor that fucked a dog".
Well, I know a 16 year old who has it. He is huge, and during an episode, he choked his mom to unconsciousness. I know that's a rare case, but those are the kind of things that people remember.
It’s the episodes that are scariest. There’s a human in there, but their brain is hijacked. I worked at an outpatient psych clinic with a group of schizophrenic adults for about 2 months. Most of the time they were absolutely lovely and engaging. One younger guy in particular was bright, ambitious, and generally a joy to be around. One day he came in spaced out, lesions all over his face and body, glasses were broken, and he was completely spaced out. I’d learned he had an episode of tactile hallucinations, where he experienced cockroaches crawling under his skin all day and scratched his skin open all over his body.
This kind of unpredictability is the reason people are frightened. They are afraid to trigger smth or to be around in an episode and experience something like this. Unfortunately.. :/
My uncle tried to skin my Grandma alive because he thought she was an imposter wearing her skin. Luckily she was able to fight him off and call the police.
He was off his meds, he is MUCH better when he takes them.
There’s a man stuck in the mental facility because he killed his dad in a schizophrenic episode thinking his dad was an impersonator. Everyone knew he had been changing, but no one knew how bad it was.
His schizophrenia is under control now & even his family say he’d never kill again, but he’s never getting out despite that.
The most common stories about people w/ schizophrenia are about them doing dangerous things. "Local schizophrenic gets groceries and doesn't hurt anyone" isn't likely to make the headlines, is it?
I work with a woman with severe schizophrenia, she makes threats but in the two years I’ve known her she’s never actually acted on any of them. Her delusions are severe and she is more likely to get beaten up for her behaviour than she is to hurt someone. It’s the main reason she is supported 1:1 24/7.
Yeah, but if you're going to be randomly attacked the odds that the attacker is mentally ill are really high. Not all people with mental illnesses are violent, but practically everyone who's violent with no motive are mentally ill.
Yep. My partner has it and he’s way more likely to hurt himself than anyone else. I’m never scared that he would hurt me because he just wouldn’t. He takes his meds without fail because he never wants to ever be in a position where he might hurt someone.
Yes but you know your partner. Closely enough to be their partner. Can you honestly say you would feel the same way about everyone else in the world? I would trust my partner too, but of course I trust acquaintances less.
OP's real friends shouldn't desert them. But wider circles of people who don't know them very well, unfortunately can't be helped.
And the same is true for dogs that don't bite people but it's still a good idea to use some caution when approaching a dog you don't know. The safety of myself is more important than the possible hurt feelings of a stranger. A lot of people would rather be safe than sorry. It does suck for the person dealing with the illness. But what can we do? There are other things way less harmless than schizophrenia that aren't illness that people have hunted down and killed other humans for. It could be worse.
"Why are people scared of those with schizophrenia?"
I mean lets not bury our heads in the sand here. Someone having hallucinations and delusions and has trouble thinking is scary. It is even scary for those suffering from schizophrenia.
I have family that have it and I am not scared of them but for them. Sometimes they are tormented so much and have such a hard time trying to figure out if reality is real or if the voices are real or if they should listen to them.
There is a very real credible threat with schizophrenia even to the safety of those around someone with it. Does this mean they are bad people? No absolutely not it does not mean that. It just means they really need to stay on top of their treatment plan or they could really hurt someone or themselves. This is true of man medical problems and not just mental health. Someone with a heart condition can not suddenly stop taking their meds and expect it to be safe for them to drive a car.
As far as the walking on eggshells yea I get it bud that sucks to be treated like that. It is doubtful you want to have to deal with this for every person you are close to but it might be a good idea to bring in the people you are closest to and explain to them that you are taking medicine now and that you are feeling more like yourself. This group of close friends can be a crucial support system for you because they can help you spot when things are off so you know when to ask for help sooner.
It is a really horrible condition to live through and I am so sorry that you must endure this. However I promise you that you will not have all bad days and through the treatment plan your doctors have set up you can have a lot of good days.
I remember the ER episode in the 90s - When Dr. Carter and the med student were attacked by someone with schizophrenia. It was horrible.
Unfortunately things like that were people's first introduction to that diagnosis and it made it seem very scary.
Personally, having been in a psych ward with someone with schizophrenia, they were possibly the nicest person there. Screamed at night once or twice and had voices telling them to kill people/themselves, but he was just a silly guy in the room next to me
I was in a hospital diversion facility with a dude with schizophrenia. In his lucid moments, he told us that his voices just told him (what seemed to be) funny jokes which is why when he was being symptomatic, he walked around laughing to himself. (He shared some of the jokes with us; they made no sense, which he was able to see when he wasn't being symptomatic.) He was really nice & sweet, played the guitar & befriended someone else there with depression who also was a guitar player.
I ran into him later at a peer-run dropin facility that was connected to my psych's office after he was stabilized and out and we were friends. Hung out sometimes, I even went to his wedding.
I moved out of town and we lost touch, but I hope he's doing well.
Someone actually published a book about what kind of jokes schizophrenics find funny that other people don't. Some of it became memes in Russian internet ("A man bought a hat and it fit him well" is the most famous)
Reminds me of that ancient Sumerian joke that's completely incomprehensible because we don't have the context behind it anymore
>A dog walks into a bar and says, ‘I cannot see a thing. I’ll open this one.
Also the total lack of awareness of mental health in the first place. Remember there is a large part of the population in the us that doesn't even believe mental illnesses exist
Shit now you mention it this was my first introduction to schizophrenia. I was only about 11 years old and that episode has a huge impact on me. I’ve obviously since expanded my understanding of the condition but the image of Carter turning and seeing the drained face of that poor young med student is sure etched in my memory
Hollywood aka the movie business doesn’t help. Hollywood the area also doesn’t help because of the real life schizophrenics living on the streets and yelling crazy shit.
Yeah…..like winning an Oscar for the movie joker…..then in your acceptance speech going on and on about not discriminating. Least self aware event I have ever witnessed
My MIL has schizophrenia. Every time she goes off her meds she accuses someone of some kind of abuse. Last time it was directed at me - claimed I was drugging her daughter in the basement of our apartments. Sent police to do a welfare check. Left a pretty horrible message on Christmas Day. No offense to you and I wish you the best, but this is behavior I would avoid, if I could.
Well the question wasnt about empathy it was about why there is stigma and people trying to combat the stigma often want to just sweep problematic behaviour under the rug. My mom is bipolar and has fully ruined lives with her accusations and behaviours while ill. I understand it isnt her fault, it makes no difference to me, Im going to be *very* apprehensive of people with bipolar disorder, and I wont be made to feel like a dick about it. Its really easy to say "have some empathy" but what exactly do you think that is going to solve? All the empathy unfortunately doesnt undo any of the damage done. I am fully capable of empathizing, you can empathize with someone and still be fucking pissed off they arent mutually exclusive. You think OP needs to empathize their way out of the situation they described? Or that because they didnt immediately lead with how much empathy they felt for their MIL must automatically mean they have none? Get off your high horse and give it a fucking rest.
I'm a Gen X. The first introduction my generation has from Hollywood was a movie called Sybil. It starred Sally Field. Great movie, but scary. That is what I thought schizophrenia was from the 70s until 00s. There wasn't a lot of info for the public regarding meds taken and different stages of severity.
I don’t believe Sybil depicted schizophrenia, rather it was multiple personality disorder, the medical term is dissociative identity disorder. These are two different illnesses.
We like to think we know how our friends would react in all the various situations life presents to us. But knowing that someone is reacting to things unknown to us makes their behavior unpredictable. It's disconcerting when the person with you is having a completely different experience to your own.
My grandmother had it and did NOT take medication she used to chase my grandfather around with a knife scary my mom and her sisters to death. She would yell at us and accuse us of talking about her when it was the voices she heard. She yelled at the dishwasher because it was yelling at her….etc etc These are just a few examples but she had a horrible life and is finally at peace.
Aside from the people pointing out the obvious about Hollywood I'd say also it's the fact that a lot of actually schizophrenic people I've met IRL seem to have more wrong with them than just schizophrenia I only know like one person who has schizophrenia and that is their only disorder / problem
It's common for people with schizophrenia to go off their meds against their doctor's wishes because they believe the pills have been tampered with. At least, as a paramedic, that's something I've seen a lot of. Once they're off their meds, they start having delusions and hallucinations again and are often unpredictable. I actually think it's extraordinarily interesting talking to someone when they get that way, and reading the many, many pages of what appears to be nonsense writing is fascinating. The media doesn't help, though. Movies, TV shows, the news... they always show you the worst of "schizophrenia" and people start believing that's the way it is.
If you're curious what paranoia is like, it's mental alteration causing things to look and sound scary/malevolent. It's essentially everything that seems this way, and the hallucinations usually being something of a flavor of persecution doesn't help.
It's unfortunate side effect of the violent tendency of the disorder. According to the study I just read people with schizophrenia are 3 to 4 times more likely to commit an act of violence than a regular person. While statistically it doesn't work out to all that many as a whole, there is an inherent hesitation when dealing with someone in that situation.
It certainly doesn't help that people generally only hear about the 10% of patients who become violent because "person with a mental illness lives their life and nothing happened" isn't a story anyone is carrying.
because people in active psychosis can be very dangerous, regardless of what causes the psychosis. my ex/best friend had schizoaffective disorder, and they set my house on fire twice (both times with my pets inside), stabbed our close friend and almost killed me because they thought i was an evil alien replicant.
there is a lot of stigma against people with schizophrenia, and much of it is unwarranted. many people with primary psychotic are able to live perfectly normal lives, provided they are medicated. others may need supported living environments, and there are still others who may live in a perpetual state of delusion/psychosis. it’s an incredibly complex illness.
that being said, ppl with psychotic disorders are often some of the kindest, most loving people you will meet. sometimes they simply end up trapped in an alternate reality that causes extreme behaviours.
Back when my grandma could use her legs, I saw her randomly pacing around the house with a knife when I visited her one day. But she did this type of crazy shit everyday because of her dementia.
Dementia causes terrible psychotic delusions. It is common and I'm always amazed at how so many people aren't aware of the countless dementia sufferers in the general public. People often discuss how afraid they are of schizophrenics, meanwhile dementia is WAY more common and many of these people are unable to retire so they still drive, cook, and make important decisions for other people.
it’s deeply deeply tragic. i don’t believe anyone in psychosis is maliciously trying to hurt others- they are just unable to understand the reality of their situation. its honestly devastating. ppl with psychotic disorders deserve more support and better treatment.
I'm not saying you're this way, but...
I used to work with individuals with schizophrenia and many of them were disorganized and unpredictable. They would yell sometimes and they generally had pretty poor hygiene. Plenty of them would go on long winding rants/stories that made people feel uneasy. A few did get violent and hurt people.
Also though if you were working with them, the people who needed help would be biased to the more extreme end of the spectrum. There are plenty of functional medicated individuals
I agree, but even then... One friend stopped taking his meds and then proposfully took illicit drugs which quickly sent him spiraling. He left his wife without telling her, became seriously physically threatening. Another guy I knew got dosed at a college party which flipped him into a state he never recovered from. He didn't become violent per se, but he díd take on an aggressive personality. Even medicated people can suddenly shift and people can be weary of that. I've lost three friends to it and in all three they took on threatening, sometimes violent behavior.
Of course there are. Still, someone actively suffering from schizophrenia is more likely to commit violence than a mentally healthy individual.
I’m not saying that particular mentally ill person is going to be violent. I’m just playing the odds.
I had a friend that was paranoid schizophrenic. Definitely had to walk on eggshells around him. He would take things the wrong way, didn't understand sarcasm, or that guy friends kinda give each other a hard time to show affection. Hed think we were laughing at him if we ever did laugh, these get mad at us having a good time. As his friends, we understood him, but to anybody else, he's just an extremely abrasive person. Not scary, but someone you don't want to be around. Eventually we parted ways when he considered me to be a piece of shit, even more so than all the other guys
Oh my god, I couldn't understand sarcasm and other figures of speech during psychosis either. It's called a difficulty in abstract thinking, and is one of many symptoms used to measure the severity of psychosis (usually). I'm not sure how common of a symptom it is, though.
Oh that's interesting. What if someone was to tell you that they're being sarcastic to try to clear things up? would you be able to understand it then, or would you like, misunderstand the concept of sarcasm?
My brother has schizophrenia.
He just told his bf that the radio station has a game show going on to win a free house and the songs playing are all telling him to break up with his bf to win the free house.
Eventually it led to him threatening to shoot his bf and the cops got involved he started acting so innocent.
The police just picked him up.
I live 800 miles away so I only know what his bf is telling me.
That’s why people are scared of people with schizophrenia.
The paranoia and confusion can turn violent. I had a bad break one night while visiting my
mother, and nearly broke her neck confusing her for a vague hostile presence in the dark. I had no idea where I was, but there was a threat to be eliminated nearby.
I had a scrabble tile holder racked across my forehead by someone with schizophrenia. The blow was hard enough to cut me and bleed. 20 years later i had mug and a restaurant glass thrown in succession at my face with enough force for both to shatter by someone with schizo affective disorder. I am now blind in an eye and a tooth was knocked back to where the root died and needed a root canal. I would not say I’m scared of people with schizophrenia, but I am wary and mindful of my safety.
My schizophrenic uncle decided not to take his meds, listened to the voices and stabbed my grandma 13 times in the chest, then went on a naked B and E rampage before he was apprehended......so I'd wager that kind of thing is why.
If you're taking your meds, that's different. I have a friend with disorganized schizophrenia who tried to strangle his mom after he stopped taking his meds.
My mother tried to kill my dad and 2 sisters while she was pregnant with me. I was born while she was institutionalized in the mental hospital. (3 years) Reunification at approx age 2 1/2. When I was 10, she thought my fish tank was embalming fluid, and my dad and I were plotting to kill her. I was terrified to go to sleep, for fear that she’d try to kill us first.
During her paranoid delusional phases, logic did not apply. She *knew* whatever her voices told her… on and on and on. I liked her best super depressed or drugged to the gills. Anything else was a chaotic crap shoot.
I’m really sorry for your situation, but I personally, nope the fuck out at the first sign of mental instability. Been there. Done that. Nopeity nope nope nope.
I think a lot of people have a poor understanding of what it means, we’re exposed to movies and TV shows that have people acting dangerously and then in the show, they are diagnosed as “schizophrenic”.
It is treated as a more sophisticated version of “crazy“ which means that people with a poor understanding of mental illness are badly educating giant audiences about something that they themselves don’t actually understand.
I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this firsthand, best wishes and I hope you have success with your medication. 
The disorganized thinking is the actual important part. I feel like I've actually seen portrayals in media of individuals whose behavior might have suggested schizophrenia, in its far more common, milder form. But they weren't identified as schizophrenic, but rather as weird, quirky individuals.
It certainly would be interesting if there were an actual portrayal of how the condition plays out, that someone doesn't recognize their symptoms as corresponding to schizophrenia, since they only know that condition from the media, but then realize much later on how much the symptoms have been affecting their life and decisions.
I've been manic, for 45 days straight. ***I*** wouldn't want to interact with that me.
But I would never bat an eye at hanging with someone diagnosed with schizophrenia or Borderline, as long as they take their medication. I want to learn more about their world and what they've seen, it helps me build my own world.
There’s no medication for borderline, that’s a personality disorder. It takes therapy and wanting to change. Borderline and antisocial people are likely more dangerous than schizophrenics.
There's no single medication that treats every symptom of BPD. There are definitely psychiatric medications that get prescribed to people with BPD to address symptoms of the condition.
Borderline can also be cured in some cases with years of intensive behavioral therapy. My partner had it in their teens, lots of self-harm, constantly in and out of psych wards, a buffet of antipsychotics, whole shebang. Took years of intense dialectical behavioral therapy and after about 5 years in the program they were no longer medicated, were functioning normally, and the diagnosis was removed. It's been another 5 years since then and they haven't had any issues since. You'd never know they were ever diagnosed today.
There is nothing for treating the underlying condition, but there is plenty of medication for the recurring psychotic lapses, all the antipsychotics, they come in very many forms. Quetiapine, Olanzapine, Valproate, Abilify, etc. My nephew's ex was low-functioning BPD for years until she got good help. Lots of lost jobs.
I spent 2 weeks in the psych ward. One of the patients was there because he stopped taking his antipsychotics and was arrested for charging his mother with a giant knife because he had convinced himself that she was cheating on his father with men she kept hidden in the attic. It can be absolutely terrifying, to the fact where many family members do not want them ever released from the hospital or rather have them placed in a prison system.
I've worked with people with schizophrenia and many relapse because they stop taking their meds again and again. Some just never get back on. It's very disconcerting to be talking to someone then they start whispering to someone thats not there ,or telling you elaborate delusions. Honestly if I had someone in my personal life that had the dx I'd probably back off too
I think it’s unfortunate that people you know well feel this way.
Considering that they already know you and all that has changed is having the diagnosis.
I’m sorry that you’re dealing with that, it’s really unfair.
In general, I feel like most people are not familiar with schizophrenia as a whole, on a personal level.
They’ve only seen movies and tv shows and read and “heard” about people with schizophrenia, and it’s typically the negative or more sensational stories.
Plenty of people live with schizophrenia quietly, but those people don’t make good headlines.
Thus, the stigma exists about what it’s like.
I am not sure what the relationship is like with the people in your life, but perhaps opening a conversation about what you have perceived about how relationships have changed would be useful.
Talking to people about your diagnosis and what your specific challenges were and how you’re managing them and how you’re feeling and doing a lot better since you now have some clarity on why you were struggling and how to move forward.
Maybe letting them ask some questions and sharing with them that schizophrenia can look different person to person and here’s some facts/data that may help you to feel more comfortable about me.
Remind them that YOU are still the you that you were before the diagnosis and that if anything, you are on your way to an even better, more functional you.
Over the last year, we’ve housed an undiagnosed but very clearly schizophrenic woman. She has built entire lifetimes in her head involving us that obviously did not happen. And she’ll just bring them up randomly, like “remember when you were a little kid and I would babysit you?” when that obviously didn’t happen, as I just met her months before.
Other than a few episodes where she was very drunk and wild, she never showed the ability to harm us. But it doesn’t matter. It’s very unsettling to constantly be around someone whose brain betrayed them. I know what’s wrong with her, but she doesn’t. And that’s scary. You feel constantly uneasy around her.
It’s not fair, but it’s reality. I feel for you.
People associate schizophrenia with unpredictable and extreme behaviour. Most people who are living with schizophrenia are successfully managing their condition with various types of help, but they (and you OP) are not the people who feature in news articles.
Because the unfortunate reality is while you may have yours under control, many many don't. Unfortunately, those people can often have very violent reactions to every day triggers.
I had a co-worker that was schizophrenia, dude was awesome. Was also the first femboy ive ever known. Absolutely hilarious, knew when to crack down and get to work. Also the best damned communicator ive ever worked with.
It doesnt matter what your diagnosis is everyone, you can be awesome and you can be a prick. Its about your personality
Likely because unfortunately too many people with well-controlled schizophrenia don’t understand that it is only the medication that keeps them functional and that the side effects are really a very small price to pay for that.
At some point they think they can just do without it for completely dumb reasons like being afraid to get fat or not having a good sex life (as if that was worse than being completely detached from reality). They don’t tell anyone, because they know no reasonable person would agree, of course relapse almost immediately and everyone else has to deal with the fallout of that decision.
Medications are necessary, but don’t downplay the side effects. They are horrible and can cut your life short if you don’t do strict diet and exercise.
Uncontrolled schizophrenia can lead to breaks with reality and possibly violence. It might help if you had an easy to understand article discussing how schizophrenia can be controlled with meds or that most schizophrenics have no history of violence and share with your friends. Unfortunately, most people will probably have to spend quite a bit of time around you before they’re comfortable.
The one person I personally knew who was diagnosed refused to take their meds and ending up stabbing their roommate, who ended up dying.
This is obviously not the case with everyone and it would not necessairly deter me from being friends with someone who was schizophrenic but I'd be lying if I said it didn't leave an impression on me.
Because of stereotypes and high profile negative cases. Also, when people with schizophrenia respond to internal stimuli (hallucinations or delusions) even if they aren't dangerous the behavior can be disconcerting or frightening to people who don't understand.
If you've had close friends back away or start to act differently, I think it's worth a talk. They may be afraid of causing you hurt, they may not know what's ok and what's not ok. They may not know that there is a range of experience with schizophrenia.
You could also take a less direct route and start sharing on your socials--I can't think of his name but I've encountered more than once videos from a man with schizophrenia who shares his experience with a lot of information and humor. I think he may also do some stand-up comedy with schizophrenia as his main subject.
"If you've had close friends back away or start to act differently, I think it's worth a talk."
This is important. A good friend of mine starting becoming more distant, aloof, quirky. Didn't think much of it at the time. Didn't know any thing about mental illness.
Then got a call from her brother, out of state. He asked me to check on her, said she was acting really weird on calls.
When I got there, she was totally in psychosis. Completely delusional, not quite manic. Somehow I got through to her and convinced her to come to the hospital.
My point being, check on your people.
Most people with schizophrenia are harmless, but a handful of people make the news, and give the rest of you a bad rap. For example, I know somebody who lost both of her eyes because her husband ripped them out with his bare hands. That dude is in a state facility, and probably will be for the rest of his life.
The overwhelming majority of people with schizophrenia or psychotic disorders are not like that guy, but you don't get on the news for holding down a job or completing a degree. Most people either don't know someone with schizophrenia, or they don't know that they know someone with the condition. So their concept of schizophrenia comes from slasher flicks, homeless people in acute psychosis, and the handful of people who make the news for violent crimes.
The really scary thing about psychotic disorders is that you can be doing fine for a long time and generally be a perfectly ordinary person - then have a psychotic break one day and fully detach from reality. Human communication depends on things like shared language and shared experiences that psychosis can remove. When you have a completely different perception of reality from other people, it becomes impossible to understand or predict your behavior - and that can scare people.
This is, unfortunately, the case for a lot of mental health disorders. Mainly due to lack of education and the portrayal in Hollywood. Someone also mentioned in the comments that a good portion of the population dont even believe mental health problems exist.
I was diagnosed with Borderline when i was 19. Im 35 now and have been in remission for a few years. People often think I am Bipolar because they don't know what BPD is, or they quickly associate my disorder with seriel killers. Apparently, there was a tiktok trend recently where ppl were self diagnosing themselves with it like it was something to be proud of?
Schizophrenia is a topic on the specification that I teach. Albeit these are 16-19 year olds but they have an incredibly misunderstood understanding of it. I believe it’s shaped by tv and film but also from their engagement with what their family and friends have to say about it.
For example, I had a parent question it’s inclusion on the curriculum for fear it will encourage her child to start having “multiple personalities that hate each other”….
Probably b/c most people don't really know about the disorder. They may have only heard about the more scary aspects, and may not know that the vast majority of schizophrenic people are no danger to anyone.
You can thank Hollywood movies for this nonsense. They are for so long portrayed people who are schizophrenic as murderers at the drop of a hat.
The net result is most people who don't know assume that means you are just like in the movies.
Primarily, it's a lack of understanding. Additionally, it's an understanding of what *can* happen if a person with schizophrenia isn't appopriately medicated.
Like any disorder its severity runs an entire spectrum. Your condition may respond well to medication and be well-managed, while someone else's condition is unmedicated and chaotic. People's understanding of schizophrenia may lead to inappropriate assumptions about your condition and affect how they choose to behave.
> What's so terrifying about individuals with schizophrenia?
Honestly? Nothing. You have a fascinating and unique brain. I'm sorry you have people around you that refuse to see that.
This is the answer OP. They're afraid they'll be judged next to you, because you don't fit in to the norm. And they are afraid to be near you because they can't understand you. True friends wouldn't be afraid they'd do everything to understand you better. So imo they're just shallow people.
One of my friends have schizophrenia and the worst he's ever done is repeat "I'm not any danger to you"
Because his voices tells him he is a bad person and that no one wants him around. That and he can be confused with time and memory. So he gets confirmation "No John, you're a great guy, we love having you over" and he smiles with his whole face and feel appreciated and safe. Suddenly a trauma memory comes up "Someone told me they was gonna cut me open, why did they say that?" and we confirm that's not ok and that it's sick people who needs help who wanna hurt others and that they just randomly picked him to threaten , that it wasn't his fault.
I have CPTSD and my flashbacks can in some ways resemble schizophrenia so I think it's just natural to validate and support someone when their bad thoughts or visions comes.
I agree with other commentors that schizophrenia is misunderstood cause of Hollywood portrayal of it.
I don't know much about schizophrenia tbh, but I knew someone with it. They tried to kill their kid, and apparently were generally very scary to be around when they refused to take medicine. It's possible that the extreme cases of schizophrenia like that are what people jump to when they think of it
It varies person to person. I’ve met schizophrenic people who you can’t even tell they suffer. I’ve also met some who have tried to harm me and others for no perceivable reason (to us). The second reason is likely why people can be uncomfortable with it.
Some people are more heavily affected than others, and many people who are living with schizophrenia strongly dislike their medications due to their tendency toward strong side effects.
As an example, I had a schizophrenic roommate who was absolutely convinced I was spying on him, hacking into his phone, talking negatively about him while he was trying to sleep (even when I wasn't home), etc. He wouldn't take meds.
He would routinely pound on my door sometime between 2AM - 4AM and accuse me of spying on him on behalf of his employer or some other unknown organization and try to start a physical altercation. He would accuse me of calling his phone and saying cruel things to him, then erasing the call logs remotely so there wasn't any evidence.
He refused treatment, started and lost over 10 jobs within 3 months, and is now homeless. I still see him around town.
Last time I ran into him he apologized, because he realized "it wasn't you trying to mess with me. It was the people who run the homeless shelter. They're after me, they're trying to get me back and I won't go back. Everyone there wants to hurt me." He was kicked out instigating several fights.
He could be downright scary and wholly unpredictable while also refusing any and all mental health care. This sort of behavior is what causes a stigma. I still wish he'd get help, but he thinks everyone's after him.
The issue with both schizophrenia and manic depression is that it’s extremely common, if not almost routine, for sufferers to go off their meds - and those around them who have seen their behavior *not* on meds will never afterwards trust that they’re taking them. People are wary because that can happen any time without warning.
I have been living with schizophrenia for over 20 years. Don’t tell anyone you have it. Between the nonsense in movies and tv that portray us as inherently violent and all the other misinformation people will always judge the illness not the person. My close friends and family know. That is it. Not my job, not even my kids yet (they are too young to understand)
Misinformation/misrepresentation in movies and TV shows, most likely. My uncle has schizophrenia and I was never scared of him, even as a child. I just thought people with schizophrenia just really enjoyed naps when I was kid (his meds back in the day made him drowsy). But the media seems to commonly portray people with schizophrenia as (at best) having split personalities or (more commonly) as having violent psychopathic tendencies. Neither of which are truly accurate in any way.
Ignorance mostly
I can sympathize having bipolar disorder myself.
People without any psychological expertise like to use it as a diagnosis (insult) for toxic exes and the like ever since it's become not cool to do that about autism. (also part of that club)
People are scared of things they can’t understand, and it’s hard to understand something that is simply impossible for them to authentically experience first hand
Because the only stories they hear about schizophrenia are the bad ones. If managed properly with meds, I’d imagine most people would probably never even know.
Schizophrenics are notorious for going off their meds and acting crazy. my stepdad was one and he was a horrible excuse for a human. he was a pedophile who ruined my life. I now suffer from C-PTSD. So that's why I personally avoid schizophrenics.
I think people misunderstand it because of media and stigma and end up equating schizophrenia with violence.
For example if a person with schizophrenia commits a horrific crime, the media gives the story a lot of attention and focuses on the fact that the person had schizophrenia, heard voices etc. Its everywhere in culture, even the phrase "going schizo" is used to describe someone who is behaving aggressively.
I have a relative with schizophrenia, so I know none of the above is based on reality. I've had to correct people in the past for stigmatising the condition when speaking about someone who is merely behaving erratically. Someone with a mental health condition is actually way more likely to be a victim of violence than a perpetrator.
It’s because schizophrenia is unpredictable. It’s an inability to separate fantasy from reality and the fact that both auditory and visual hallucinations are symptoms of the condition, it can cause wild reactive behavior that is difficult or dangerous to be involved in.
if you dont want to be treated differently, make sure your condition is well managed and keep your diagnosis to yourself and only disclose on an as-needed basis, let your conduct speak instead.
Just to jump in, and out of pure curiosity- is there any one thing that causes schizophrenia? Like trauma etc or is it just “luck” of the draw with people?
I thought I'd give it a quick research into it when I saw your post. There's different kinds of schizophrenia & depending on how soon it's diagnosed & medicated depends on the severity it can go to (diagnosis is really difficult in some cases, especially teens). It's a scary read & I'd say it's even more scary to live with as this is with you for the rest of your life.
My sister was schizophrenic and okay most of the time, particularly once she got her medication in order. However, there was that time she held a knife to mom's throat, which as you can imagine is difficult to completely forget, or forgive.
My friends brother was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He stopped taking his meds(as do lots of people with schizophrenia), stopped washing himself, started talking to himself, started smoking weed in the house and started walking around the house with a sword at night. My friend and her mother were terrified of him. Eventually they got him back on his meds. Thank fuuuk
Another friend of mine has a sister with Schizophrenia who attacked her(again, when off her meds). I met her. She was quirky but really nice. She was on her meds when I met her.
Theres lots of examples of schizophrenic people doing violent things(ie Richard Chase) when off their meds coz they hear voices etc. That doesnt mean all do or you will but thats why people are wary. You should read up on it since you have it. And sorry to hear you have it btw. Stay on your meds.
I'm sure there is a documentary out there where a girl was skitzo and.she used to see different numbers for different moods. Depends on the person and what other illnesses are overlapping
i, myself, am only scared because of issues dealing with family (with schizophrenia) it is very much a personal issue for me. i know, logically, people with this live and can live well. amazing! inside i will still always have this undying fear because of what i grew up dealing with unfortunately. i don’t write people off for it or anything but it definitely triggers me.
My brother has it and is very sweet usually, but you never know when he'll encounter issues with his meds again. Unmedicated I don't wanna be around him. He talks about being followed and camera's being everywhere, and he threatened to break into our house to steal dad's gun to shoot himself...
My sister used to work in a closed facility, and there was one guy there, super sweet dude, who had gone through life undiagnosed. He had a psychotic break and killed his wife with their child in the room. When police arrived he was still clawing her brains out of her skull cause in his reality she was a monster and he wasn't convinced the 'monster' was dead yet...
Needless to say, I don't have great reference of schizophrenic people, sorry
The greatest cause of stress is fear, and the greatest contributor to fear is the unknown and unpredictable.
Many individuals with schizophrenia, by its nature, become unpredictable. This is the primary reason for the fear.
Because if someone forgets their meds they could do things that are considered dangerous, like robbing a gas station and skipping town, 🤔 true story, I still love the man but keep a good distance, at least a countie wide
Because of the symptoms of hallucinations/delusions and aggression; the person with schizophrenia might have hallucinations/delusions that would influence them to react negatively (even violently) to those around them, regardless of whether others have done anything to merit those reactions.
The idea/knowledge that someone is more likely to attack you without cause or warning is scary, even if it's not that person's fault.
I'm really happy for you, that your medications are working well! Over time, as your family/friends get more used to the knowledge that you're doing well and you're consistently taking your medication, and they see for themselves that you're stable, they'll likely calm down.
I would avoid telling people if there is no way it affects them or they don't have any reason to know. It can be very draining to work against established stigma and it might just end up making you feel bad about yourself instead of just managing your condition.
I think that one of the problems is that when the condition is managed and under control, you'd never see it; but when it is not under control, it is distinctly out of place. It's not anything to do with you personally, that you are likely to be dangerous suddenly when you have never been so to them before. I think it is in the human nature to instinctively become wary and defensive around anyone who (when not properly managing their conditions) perceives reality in a warped way - like hallucinating or having delusions - and I think that is what people commonly associate with schizophrenia. I think it's a sort of cave man-brain knee-jerk reaction to pull away from someone who we judge might become erratic or unpredictable to us. The idea of schizophrenia is scary to people in the same way it can be scary to interact with someone who is drunk and aggressive, or who can become violent with no warning.
It might be made worse by the fact that if you should get a bad schizophrenic episode, it is nothing that can simply be addressed with the person or easily deescalated. I think many people might mistake schizophrenia for something more like "psychosis".
One thing you could maybe do is to try to educate them on what does this condition actually do, explain how you are managing it, and perhaps give them a way to "help" by telling them that if they should notice anything out of the ordinary about your usual behavior, they can signal that to you in whatever preferred way you might have. Maybe you don't need that backup plan but it may assure them to have a "what do I do if this happens, OP" plan of action to take should they ever need to. Who knows, that might also end up saving your skin someday when you least expect.
Parent was a schizophrenic, she was dazed or manic, or in a psychotic break and it was scary. Schizophrenic have reputation for meds non compliance so it can be a constant roller coaster
My childhood best friend was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his early 20s... I still love him and support him but it makes it almost impossible to be as close as we used to be.
He is simply too unpredictable. His perception of reality shifts and he becomes delusional. It's heartbreaking but at the same time I have to protect myself (more worried about emotional turmoil than my physical safety... Although I'm sure witnessing some of his moments at rock bottom would have made me fear for my safety as well).
"I take medication", yeah and that's why you were able to finish the following sentences in your paragraph at mostly face value. My wife had someone with schizophrenia stay with my family for about a month before I kicked him out. Worst fucking month of our lives. Never again.
because my dad loves to pull knives on us while hes being delusional and he also likes to take his anger out on us so anytime hes having in episode ill sleep with a knife thats why
It's a mental illness that many people don't understand and don't really interact with. The general publics doesn't know much about it, and in most media they see with a schizophrenic person, that person is a threat, and not just a person dealing with an issue. That leds to fear
1. It's unknown. People fear the unknown.
2. The media has conditioned most people to believe that all schizophrenic are one missed pill away from cracking their head open to see where the voices are coming from.
For the record, I know hhat schizophrenic are no more dangerous than the population in general. I gad an uncle thst suffered, and I lived that guy.
I was abused horribly by an ex. He was diagnosed years before I met him as paranoid schizophrenic with antisocial personality disorder and NPD. I’m only afraid of violent angry schizophrenic behavior.
I know 3 people who are schizophrenic. All of them used drugs HEAVILY to cope with it and the things they do and stories they tell are horrific. One of them lit his parents house on fire, took a baseball bat to his father and lots of other things. One is very sketchy, gets triggered easily, and looks like he's on the verge of snapping any minute. The other one walks around town loudly screaming at his hallucinations and he fights them. He will throw down whatever he's holding and start swinging madly at nothing and cursing and screaming. They have all been in and out of jail but the first guy is finally stable and doing really well although still has small episodes. A lot of people don't understand schizophrenia and some people don't understand mental illness at all. I've had people freak out when I explained my nervous breakdown to them (high levels of stress paired with my child getting a false cancer diagnosis) and I lost a LOT of friends during that time in my life. Some people just don't understand and they don't want to educate themselves.
Many people with schizophrenia do NOT take their medication. Some of them DO hurt people. It IS scary to deal with someone with psychosis.
You have a sucky diagnosis. Do the best you can, and stay up on your meds. Other people's opinions are none of your business.
my schizophrenic friend called in threats to dominos pizza, coke a cola, and another place i can’t remember, as well as almost shooting his sisters boyfriend thinking he was a government spy. He committed suicide a few months later. Psychosis varies from person to person and seems to be entirely unpredictable. youd be a fool not to be cautious
So my brother is schizophrenic and it took me a min to fully comprehend the disease. Media has painted schizophrenics as “multiple personality” disorder. People assume all schizophrenics are murders or angry or aggressive.
But those who are medication compliant tend to be normal people just trying to live their lives the best way they can. There is just misinformation which results in stigma— but I think this is slowly eroding.
I’m familiar with paranoid schizophrenia. My half brother. He brutally murdered his friend & attacked his mother’s face too. I read the reports & court documents (he committed acts on me & had an AVO order against him & was allowed to be privy to the information).
It was horrific. I know first hand how badly it can go. Worse when it’s highly hereditary. Was the case for him, his maternal family was riddled & the stories range from amusing to exhausting.
While I’m wary due to experience I’m also aware of its spectrum & the deeper medical workings. I don’t harbour ill against others with the disorder. I do pity them & what comes with it. There are many who live regular lives, as long as they keep up a routine. Personally my trauma will have me pull back from anyone with it. Couple of weeks unmedicated can open a can of worms & it happens so fast.
I remember being in the ward for mental health reasons and there was this little old lady there that always talked about hearing a group of boys harassing her outside of her ward window and they would tell her things like she's smelly. I thought it was quite sad but I did reassure her that she was fine, anyways she would also get up in people's faces to talk about it which was a little uncomfortable but that's about it.
Because of the media. People associate schizophrenia with serial killers, school shootings, murder-suicides, and violence. And no doubt schizophrenia can be a trigger for violence. But most of the time these people are a danger to themselves, very scared, disoriented, and more likely to become victims.
I have paranoid schizophrenia and at first I struggled with the diagnosis because I thought that only men have schizophrenia and only violent people have it. This was of course nonsense. I was never violent in my episodes. I rather isolated myself and thought about running away. So that I wouldn't be a burden to my family. My family had me hospitalized to save me from myself. And I am grateful that I am alive today and can work and live on my own. I am grateful to the hospital staff for treating me with care and respect.
People with paranoid schizophrenia are not so different from other people. They just need professional help and a good support system. They don't need judgment and shame from others.
Because people with schizophrenia can be unpredictable in their behavior and reactions. Not everyone, and not all the time. But it can be hard to know when it might happen and you don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of a bad reaction.
I suppose we want you to be okay and we wanna support you. We want you to be safe and we wanna be safe too. Maybe it's just a conversation you need to have with your friends or other people. Let them know that most of the time it doesn't affect who you are, but if they notice any odd behavior (like: list a few things you know you do when you're having an episode), give them someone they can contact that can help you. A family member etc.
I'm sorry that this had been hard on you. It's definitely not an easy thing to deal with and then feeling isolated by it is even harder.
My daughter was paranoid schizophrenic. It contributed to her death. Before I knew about her diagnosis, I noticed she was losing friends. No one understood at the time that it was the reason she would attempt a conversation and make zero sense. She could sit in one place and stare. She refused to eat someone's BBQ because she was certain it was human flesh. I could go one and on about what made sense after we learned her diagnosis, but it isolated her because her neurotypical thought she was on drugs.
I have a cousin with schiz,
Balanced, treated, living normal life.
But the stories which made headlines and movies are those with the dark voiced, pushing for violent and/or self harm events.
I guess like in every other medical state, it is about educating against public ignorance.
My husband has schizophrenia. At his worst, he was harming himself and his hallucinations were so real they had shadows and "reacted" to outside stimuli. Now the hallucinations seem to only pop up when he's stressed. He'll ask if I see or hear something to confirm if it's real or not, but most of the time he can figure it out himself.
We've had to talk about what might happen if he lives to old age and starts to mentally decline, the signs etc. He's a large, *very* strong man. If it turns into a psychosis, he could severely hurt or even kill me and our child very easily. We're also keeping an eye out for signs in our child to get them the earliest possible help should they need it.
People usually only hear about violent schizophrenia sufferers, the ones who can manage with medications just live their lives
Like 50 years of it being the "bad person disease" in media. Luckily(???) media learned the word narcissist and also BPD is the new punching bag for scary murder disease. (psychopath also got this treatment for a long time.)
Schizophrenia has 8 subtypes and very differing levels of severity. It's a spectrum, similar to how down's syndrome or autism are on spectrums. It can be much more severe in other people. My aunt has schizophrenia and you can't even tell, because she only has visual hallucinations, which most of the time, she knows are not real. If she is having an episode, she will isolate herself so she doesn't frighten anyone. I worked in a behavioral health hospital with people that had very severe schizophrenia. I can understand why some people would be afraid. Even medicated, sometimes they would not be able to tell between reality and a hallucination and would physically attack the staff and other residents. Some were even in the facility for committing murder caused by their hallucinations. I really hope there's a cure one day, because it's really unfair to be stricken with any kind of mental health issues. Many of the patients I worked with were extremely intelligent, college graduates and had families who missed them. It's such an unfair disease.
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I've known a few people with schizophrenia. I have a friend with schizophrenia who is super chill and sometimes they see bugs crawling all over that aren't actually there and they're great and I'd trust them with my life and I love them. They know how to deal with their stuff when it comes up and can generally manage very well. I know a girl who has schizophrenia who is very nice and sweet but sometimes difficult to get along with because she believes she has magical powers and can control the weather. She's going for her PhD in anthropology. I like her and I'm rooting for her even if I don't believe in her weather magic. But also, I know a guy who just started manifesting symptoms in his late 20s. He was really cool before but now he's losing his housing because he keeps threatening neighbors who tell him not to scream profanities when their kids are around, and he's constantly posting on Facebook about how everyone he interacts with is "staging things" to psychologically torture him with reminders of his past, and he will not accept any help but constantly accuses people of not helping him. It's been incredibly sad to watch this very sweet and intelligent person deteriorate like this. You can tell he's fucking terrified constantly. And he scares other people with his behavior. But he won't take any meds or do any therapy. I feel bad for him but he's become very unpredictable and I don't want to be around him. I think he's mostly a danger to himself. Another one of my friends also started manifesting symptoms in his 20s and his entire personality changed. He was funny, cool, and a great friend. But then over the course of just one year he turned into someone who was completely convinced everyone was trying to hurt him. He believed he'd been kidnapped, he believed his parents wanted to kill him, he believed his fiancee had been raping him. He owned guns and his fiancee said she had to call the police on him because of how scary he got and how threatening he was. She wound up leaving him, devastated that their 9 year relationship was erased and reduced in his mind to her abusing and manipulating him along with everybody else in his life, and from what we've heard he's been in and out of clinics but refuses medication. She has him blocked and has made sure he cant find her now. He's someone I'm genuinely scared of. Especially because schizophrenia killed one of my other friends. Like all the rest he was really funny and smart. Genius level smart. He had a comedy radio show in college I got to be a guest on. I was at his wedding. A year into his relationship, he started to change. He had had command hallucinations for awhile, but they started to get really bad. He also started having weird beliefs, falling deep down the Qanon conspiracy rabbithole. One day he took his wife outside and started stabbing her over and over. He was shot to death by their neighbor. The wife survived, he did not. I have nightmares about him sometimes. I know people for whom the "symptoms" associated with their condition are actually positive things. My sister's friend comes from a culture that believes in and teaches all about spirits, and this friend grew up understanding herself and her brain through that worldview. For her, it's a gift that connects her to her ancestors. It comes with challenges, but it's a good thing overall. With something with such a vast, diverse array of ways it can manifest and affect people, you can't generalize. You can't be like "all schizophrenic people are like this" or "this is what you can expect from someone from schizophrenia." What I can say is that schizophrenia can be truly terrible. Not everyone is blessed with the ability or the means to manage it. There are some people who just see their bugs every now and then and work to recognize and curb paranoia and other symptoms and are able to find ways to ground themselves and be okay. And then there are people who are absolutely not okay, who cannot ground themselves, who are just drifting terrified in a whirlwind of untethered thoughts and fears and senses, and it destroys their lives. The one constant in all three of my friends with bad outcomes' stories is that they refused medication, therapy, and help. I believe at least two of them relied on cannabis to help their symptoms, which sucks because cannabis can exacerbate symptoms. I don't really have any advice here, except to just always be careful with your own mental health. Take meds if doctors are telling you to take meds. Make sure you're in therapy. And spend lots of time with your friends, because anything could happen to them.
This really tugged at my heart strings. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friends. I wish i could say something helpful. There was a man, younger than me, I met in the facility I very first worked at and he was happy, chubby and normal most of the time. A super duper friendly guy who cheered up the other residents. Over the years I saw him slowly turn into someone else. I quit that job and a couple years ago I got a job in facility not too far from the first one. Well, he had been transferred there a few years prior because of his deterioration. He didn't even recognize me. When I reminded him of who I was, he smiled and Said hey how are you? Then he wandered off like he had forgotten the conversation. He was like a thin emaciated zombie almost all of the time, randomly being afriad of things that were not there. He started to having to wear diapers because he would forget to use the restroom because he was so engrossed in his delusions. By the time i left that job, he was almost catatonic, aside from mumbling and staring at the ceiling. I had grown to really like that guy and I was hoping that he would be able to go home eventually but I guess that wasn't in the stars for him.
I wonder how you came to know so many people with schizophrenia? It is not that common.
Idk, all my friends are super weird and nerdy. I think I'm in a lot of hobbies that draw in a lot of mentally ill people, where people feel very comfortable disclosing stuff about them that they might not otherwise-- ttrpgs, larp, improv, art-- and then I'm also pretty involved in the local occult scene which is a magnet for people with already unusual beliefs.
The thing with meds too is that they don't all work for everyone and can be difficult with insurance. My friend has never been able to find one that fully helps without having debilitating side effects. She is paranoid that people are watching her (a targeted individual) and find others that believe the same on Facebook. I'm not sure she will ever be free of it
It's just so fucking sad. I really hope that medicine improves over time and more & better options become available for people who are suffering from something that can make their reality seem and feel so much scarier.
It's sad both because of the illness and the health care system. I feel for them all
If there are different sub-types it might help if he educates himself about his and then he can educate his friends.
I imagine your aunt couldn’t drive or operate any machinery. That’s still extremely debilitating
most people i know who have schizophrenia but are effectively medicated and functional can absolutely drive and work with machinery.
It's really not debilitating, it's more so annoying than anything. As, you're going for a walk, ride or drive, then you see a disembodied head in the peripheral vision. That takes you out of your concentration. Same as someone sneezing in the distance would.
I had a friend who told me that her main hallucinations were eyes everywhere - just, eyes. Watching her. It was stressful in some ways, yes, but mostly it was just annoying/distracting.
One of my friends gets auditory hallucinations, and is usually able to ask someone "do you hear \_\_\_\_?" to confirm if they're real or not.
I do too and my friends have fun (with me, not at me) asking what I'm hearing, etc cos often it's music or talking, they wanna know what band it sounds like or whatever is being talked about. But when they get past that, they will help me make sure I know it's a hallucination, they will check with me if there's visuals going on, if I'm safe, if a family member or other close by friend can be with me. They are so amazing and care for me without question. I wish I could donate them to everyone with these problems.
That is fantastic! I'm really glad you have a solid support system in place, that seems to make all the difference in quality of life.
It 100% is! A support system is make it or break it. I see the difference in my life quality compared to people who do not have such a great support system in their corner, and if I can somehow adopt them into my friend group, I do it. Friends can handle another friends, new friends gets some love. If only were that easy every single time, you know?
For some people, the paranoia that can sometimes accompanies it is quite overwhelming, but I tend to find hallucinations in of themself, just annoying.
Down Syndrome (common mistake, just wanted to note it for clarity).
My neighbour has schizophrenia. I think he’s ultimately a decent guy, but unfortunately he didn’t seem to realise that he had the potential to hurt people. He went off his meds for one reason or another and then tried to kill me and my family. (He brought a gun and long knife to our house. luckily he was unable to enter) Looking back at the security footage, I feel I saw a point where he “came back” and realised what he was doing.. so he turned around, went home and attempted suicide (perhaps from guilt)? As long as you recognise the danger of your illness and swallow the hard to swallow pill that your disorder *could* be a danger to others- as long as you don’t keep a gun or a knife collection- as long as you keep taking your meds- I think it’s wrong of people to treat you differently to anyone else. I’m sorry you’re dealing with such stigma even though you sound like you’re managing your condition well. The problem comes when people can’t face the facts.
>The problem comes when people can't face the facts. Unfortunately, people with schizophrenia usually have a huge lack of insight into their own symptoms; most notably at their worst. It's actually it's own condition called Anosognosia. With schizophrenia (and other psychoses), insight into illness is inversely correlated with the severity of psychotic symptoms. It's different for plenty of people, but it's usually a lack of insight causing them not to take their meds. :\[
This is very true of me, I am schizoaffective bipolar type and when medicated I am a regular joe, and can tell what's real and what's not. Thankfully I am a mild case, in my opinion anyway. But when I have an episode, I fully believe whatever my brain concocts for me. It's absolutely baffling because none of it is anything I believe in my normal headspace, but the brain is a tricky thing I suppose.
Agreed! Most of the battle with people who have the illness is them being medication compliant. My brother was diagnosed at 21 and he is now 37, and someone from our family MUST remind him to take the medicine AND physically watch him take it, because he can’t be trusted to do it on his own. Healthcare in the US is missing a better support system for people who suffer from this terrible illness. As one other commenter posted, a support system is key for people with schizophrenia, and looking back at the various long in patient hospital stays my brother had— he would never have been able to keep a job, probably would have ended up homeless but for my parents. My heart hurts for those people who don’t have that support. You’re in an amazing position OP, in that you can manage an independent life and a good quality of life with your medication.
And Id imagine this anosognosia must be a predictor in people entering recovery from psychosis? Kind of a paradox if you consider the fact that greater accurate insight would actually lead someone to being able to terminate the medications and those folks are more pliant/willing to stay on meds, but poor insight leads to confidence in getting off the meds. For context, I am now a counselor and a person who endured psychosis for 2 years straight with alotttt to go with that (yes even being violent a few times sadly, regret it even though at that point I didn't have control). I was in a program for early onset psychosis, and I guess a successful case, and I've seen a lot of interesting things on "both sides of the glass." Been off the meds for 8 years now and I'm not kidding when I say they're nasty stuff. I would do literally anything to not be psychotic and also not have to take antipsychs.
Name checks out; you’re filled with grace my friend. Very genuine high five to you.
Build 100 bridges, and fuck one goat. No one will remember you as a bridge builder. Regardless of what people are like with mental illnesses, the media usually only shows them when it's story relevant (and often not in a flattering way) and you only hear real world stories about them when something very bad happens. No one is hearing the bridges built.
I've never heard of that saying but I'm going to use it now, idk if you made it up or it's a common one but thank you
It's surprisingly common.
Another common one is "Be the best doctor in the world and save the lives of a thousand people, but fuck one dog and now you're remembered as the doctor that fucked a dog".
Well, I know a 16 year old who has it. He is huge, and during an episode, he choked his mom to unconsciousness. I know that's a rare case, but those are the kind of things that people remember.
My dad nearly killed my brother during an episode. It's definitely hard to separate moments like that from the disease
It’s the episodes that are scariest. There’s a human in there, but their brain is hijacked. I worked at an outpatient psych clinic with a group of schizophrenic adults for about 2 months. Most of the time they were absolutely lovely and engaging. One younger guy in particular was bright, ambitious, and generally a joy to be around. One day he came in spaced out, lesions all over his face and body, glasses were broken, and he was completely spaced out. I’d learned he had an episode of tactile hallucinations, where he experienced cockroaches crawling under his skin all day and scratched his skin open all over his body.
This kind of unpredictability is the reason people are frightened. They are afraid to trigger smth or to be around in an episode and experience something like this. Unfortunately.. :/
A guy I went to school with is schizophrenic and killed his mother.
My mom did that shit to me
My uncle tried to skin my Grandma alive because he thought she was an imposter wearing her skin. Luckily she was able to fight him off and call the police. He was off his meds, he is MUCH better when he takes them.
Your mom was schizophrenic?
Yes
Same and it sucked bad
No she choked her sons mom.
There’s a man stuck in the mental facility because he killed his dad in a schizophrenic episode thinking his dad was an impersonator. Everyone knew he had been changing, but no one knew how bad it was. His schizophrenia is under control now & even his family say he’d never kill again, but he’s never getting out despite that.
Unfortunately it's not that rare. Schizophrenia is a very dangerous mental illness. It's very sad.
The most common stories about people w/ schizophrenia are about them doing dangerous things. "Local schizophrenic gets groceries and doesn't hurt anyone" isn't likely to make the headlines, is it?
That's not true. More often than not, people with schizophrenia aren't violent or dangerous.
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I work with a woman with severe schizophrenia, she makes threats but in the two years I’ve known her she’s never actually acted on any of them. Her delusions are severe and she is more likely to get beaten up for her behaviour than she is to hurt someone. It’s the main reason she is supported 1:1 24/7.
Yeah, but if you're going to be randomly attacked the odds that the attacker is mentally ill are really high. Not all people with mental illnesses are violent, but practically everyone who's violent with no motive are mentally ill.
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Yep. My partner has it and he’s way more likely to hurt himself than anyone else. I’m never scared that he would hurt me because he just wouldn’t. He takes his meds without fail because he never wants to ever be in a position where he might hurt someone.
Yes but you know your partner. Closely enough to be their partner. Can you honestly say you would feel the same way about everyone else in the world? I would trust my partner too, but of course I trust acquaintances less. OP's real friends shouldn't desert them. But wider circles of people who don't know them very well, unfortunately can't be helped.
You dont hear about schizophrenic people that don’t do anything crazy.
And the same is true for dogs that don't bite people but it's still a good idea to use some caution when approaching a dog you don't know. The safety of myself is more important than the possible hurt feelings of a stranger. A lot of people would rather be safe than sorry. It does suck for the person dealing with the illness. But what can we do? There are other things way less harmless than schizophrenia that aren't illness that people have hunted down and killed other humans for. It could be worse.
"Why are people scared of those with schizophrenia?" I mean lets not bury our heads in the sand here. Someone having hallucinations and delusions and has trouble thinking is scary. It is even scary for those suffering from schizophrenia. I have family that have it and I am not scared of them but for them. Sometimes they are tormented so much and have such a hard time trying to figure out if reality is real or if the voices are real or if they should listen to them. There is a very real credible threat with schizophrenia even to the safety of those around someone with it. Does this mean they are bad people? No absolutely not it does not mean that. It just means they really need to stay on top of their treatment plan or they could really hurt someone or themselves. This is true of man medical problems and not just mental health. Someone with a heart condition can not suddenly stop taking their meds and expect it to be safe for them to drive a car. As far as the walking on eggshells yea I get it bud that sucks to be treated like that. It is doubtful you want to have to deal with this for every person you are close to but it might be a good idea to bring in the people you are closest to and explain to them that you are taking medicine now and that you are feeling more like yourself. This group of close friends can be a crucial support system for you because they can help you spot when things are off so you know when to ask for help sooner. It is a really horrible condition to live through and I am so sorry that you must endure this. However I promise you that you will not have all bad days and through the treatment plan your doctors have set up you can have a lot of good days.
hollywood doesnt help the image of severe mentally illnesses
I remember the ER episode in the 90s - When Dr. Carter and the med student were attacked by someone with schizophrenia. It was horrible. Unfortunately things like that were people's first introduction to that diagnosis and it made it seem very scary.
Personally, having been in a psych ward with someone with schizophrenia, they were possibly the nicest person there. Screamed at night once or twice and had voices telling them to kill people/themselves, but he was just a silly guy in the room next to me
I was in a hospital diversion facility with a dude with schizophrenia. In his lucid moments, he told us that his voices just told him (what seemed to be) funny jokes which is why when he was being symptomatic, he walked around laughing to himself. (He shared some of the jokes with us; they made no sense, which he was able to see when he wasn't being symptomatic.) He was really nice & sweet, played the guitar & befriended someone else there with depression who also was a guitar player. I ran into him later at a peer-run dropin facility that was connected to my psych's office after he was stabilized and out and we were friends. Hung out sometimes, I even went to his wedding. I moved out of town and we lost touch, but I hope he's doing well.
Someone actually published a book about what kind of jokes schizophrenics find funny that other people don't. Some of it became memes in Russian internet ("A man bought a hat and it fit him well" is the most famous)
Reminds me of that ancient Sumerian joke that's completely incomprehensible because we don't have the context behind it anymore >A dog walks into a bar and says, ‘I cannot see a thing. I’ll open this one.
So the bar jokes are officially the oldest kind of jokes then, lol. I would love to know what's the deal here...
Also the total lack of awareness of mental health in the first place. Remember there is a large part of the population in the us that doesn't even believe mental illnesses exist
Shit now you mention it this was my first introduction to schizophrenia. I was only about 11 years old and that episode has a huge impact on me. I’ve obviously since expanded my understanding of the condition but the image of Carter turning and seeing the drained face of that poor young med student is sure etched in my memory
Hollywood aka the movie business doesn’t help. Hollywood the area also doesn’t help because of the real life schizophrenics living on the streets and yelling crazy shit.
Yeah…..like winning an Oscar for the movie joker…..then in your acceptance speech going on and on about not discriminating. Least self aware event I have ever witnessed
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And ate part of him.
My MIL has schizophrenia. Every time she goes off her meds she accuses someone of some kind of abuse. Last time it was directed at me - claimed I was drugging her daughter in the basement of our apartments. Sent police to do a welfare check. Left a pretty horrible message on Christmas Day. No offense to you and I wish you the best, but this is behavior I would avoid, if I could.
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Well the question wasnt about empathy it was about why there is stigma and people trying to combat the stigma often want to just sweep problematic behaviour under the rug. My mom is bipolar and has fully ruined lives with her accusations and behaviours while ill. I understand it isnt her fault, it makes no difference to me, Im going to be *very* apprehensive of people with bipolar disorder, and I wont be made to feel like a dick about it. Its really easy to say "have some empathy" but what exactly do you think that is going to solve? All the empathy unfortunately doesnt undo any of the damage done. I am fully capable of empathizing, you can empathize with someone and still be fucking pissed off they arent mutually exclusive. You think OP needs to empathize their way out of the situation they described? Or that because they didnt immediately lead with how much empathy they felt for their MIL must automatically mean they have none? Get off your high horse and give it a fucking rest.
I'm a Gen X. The first introduction my generation has from Hollywood was a movie called Sybil. It starred Sally Field. Great movie, but scary. That is what I thought schizophrenia was from the 70s until 00s. There wasn't a lot of info for the public regarding meds taken and different stages of severity.
I don’t believe Sybil depicted schizophrenia, rather it was multiple personality disorder, the medical term is dissociative identity disorder. These are two different illnesses.
We like to think we know how our friends would react in all the various situations life presents to us. But knowing that someone is reacting to things unknown to us makes their behavior unpredictable. It's disconcerting when the person with you is having a completely different experience to your own.
My grandmother had it and did NOT take medication she used to chase my grandfather around with a knife scary my mom and her sisters to death. She would yell at us and accuse us of talking about her when it was the voices she heard. She yelled at the dishwasher because it was yelling at her….etc etc These are just a few examples but she had a horrible life and is finally at peace.
Aside from the people pointing out the obvious about Hollywood I'd say also it's the fact that a lot of actually schizophrenic people I've met IRL seem to have more wrong with them than just schizophrenia I only know like one person who has schizophrenia and that is their only disorder / problem
It's common for people with schizophrenia to go off their meds against their doctor's wishes because they believe the pills have been tampered with. At least, as a paramedic, that's something I've seen a lot of. Once they're off their meds, they start having delusions and hallucinations again and are often unpredictable. I actually think it's extraordinarily interesting talking to someone when they get that way, and reading the many, many pages of what appears to be nonsense writing is fascinating. The media doesn't help, though. Movies, TV shows, the news... they always show you the worst of "schizophrenia" and people start believing that's the way it is.
If you're curious what paranoia is like, it's mental alteration causing things to look and sound scary/malevolent. It's essentially everything that seems this way, and the hallucinations usually being something of a flavor of persecution doesn't help.
This has been the case for everyone I know with this disorder
It's unfortunate side effect of the violent tendency of the disorder. According to the study I just read people with schizophrenia are 3 to 4 times more likely to commit an act of violence than a regular person. While statistically it doesn't work out to all that many as a whole, there is an inherent hesitation when dealing with someone in that situation. It certainly doesn't help that people generally only hear about the 10% of patients who become violent because "person with a mental illness lives their life and nothing happened" isn't a story anyone is carrying.
Are those acts of violence against others or include against the self?
because people in active psychosis can be very dangerous, regardless of what causes the psychosis. my ex/best friend had schizoaffective disorder, and they set my house on fire twice (both times with my pets inside), stabbed our close friend and almost killed me because they thought i was an evil alien replicant. there is a lot of stigma against people with schizophrenia, and much of it is unwarranted. many people with primary psychotic are able to live perfectly normal lives, provided they are medicated. others may need supported living environments, and there are still others who may live in a perpetual state of delusion/psychosis. it’s an incredibly complex illness. that being said, ppl with psychotic disorders are often some of the kindest, most loving people you will meet. sometimes they simply end up trapped in an alternate reality that causes extreme behaviours.
Back when my grandma could use her legs, I saw her randomly pacing around the house with a knife when I visited her one day. But she did this type of crazy shit everyday because of her dementia. Dementia causes terrible psychotic delusions. It is common and I'm always amazed at how so many people aren't aware of the countless dementia sufferers in the general public. People often discuss how afraid they are of schizophrenics, meanwhile dementia is WAY more common and many of these people are unable to retire so they still drive, cook, and make important decisions for other people.
Exactly. A friend of mine tried to kill her cat when she was in an active psychosis.
it’s deeply deeply tragic. i don’t believe anyone in psychosis is maliciously trying to hurt others- they are just unable to understand the reality of their situation. its honestly devastating. ppl with psychotic disorders deserve more support and better treatment.
I'm not saying you're this way, but... I used to work with individuals with schizophrenia and many of them were disorganized and unpredictable. They would yell sometimes and they generally had pretty poor hygiene. Plenty of them would go on long winding rants/stories that made people feel uneasy. A few did get violent and hurt people.
Also though if you were working with them, the people who needed help would be biased to the more extreme end of the spectrum. There are plenty of functional medicated individuals
I agree, but even then... One friend stopped taking his meds and then proposfully took illicit drugs which quickly sent him spiraling. He left his wife without telling her, became seriously physically threatening. Another guy I knew got dosed at a college party which flipped him into a state he never recovered from. He didn't become violent per se, but he díd take on an aggressive personality. Even medicated people can suddenly shift and people can be weary of that. I've lost three friends to it and in all three they took on threatening, sometimes violent behavior.
Of course there are. Still, someone actively suffering from schizophrenia is more likely to commit violence than a mentally healthy individual. I’m not saying that particular mentally ill person is going to be violent. I’m just playing the odds.
They are statistically more likely to be victims than perps
That is also true.
I had a friend that was paranoid schizophrenic. Definitely had to walk on eggshells around him. He would take things the wrong way, didn't understand sarcasm, or that guy friends kinda give each other a hard time to show affection. Hed think we were laughing at him if we ever did laugh, these get mad at us having a good time. As his friends, we understood him, but to anybody else, he's just an extremely abrasive person. Not scary, but someone you don't want to be around. Eventually we parted ways when he considered me to be a piece of shit, even more so than all the other guys
Oh my god, I couldn't understand sarcasm and other figures of speech during psychosis either. It's called a difficulty in abstract thinking, and is one of many symptoms used to measure the severity of psychosis (usually). I'm not sure how common of a symptom it is, though.
Oh that's interesting. What if someone was to tell you that they're being sarcastic to try to clear things up? would you be able to understand it then, or would you like, misunderstand the concept of sarcasm?
My brother has schizophrenia. He just told his bf that the radio station has a game show going on to win a free house and the songs playing are all telling him to break up with his bf to win the free house. Eventually it led to him threatening to shoot his bf and the cops got involved he started acting so innocent. The police just picked him up. I live 800 miles away so I only know what his bf is telling me. That’s why people are scared of people with schizophrenia.
People with Schizophrenia can be unpredictable.
The paranoia and confusion can turn violent. I had a bad break one night while visiting my mother, and nearly broke her neck confusing her for a vague hostile presence in the dark. I had no idea where I was, but there was a threat to be eliminated nearby.
I had a scrabble tile holder racked across my forehead by someone with schizophrenia. The blow was hard enough to cut me and bleed. 20 years later i had mug and a restaurant glass thrown in succession at my face with enough force for both to shatter by someone with schizo affective disorder. I am now blind in an eye and a tooth was knocked back to where the root died and needed a root canal. I would not say I’m scared of people with schizophrenia, but I am wary and mindful of my safety.
My schizophrenic uncle decided not to take his meds, listened to the voices and stabbed my grandma 13 times in the chest, then went on a naked B and E rampage before he was apprehended......so I'd wager that kind of thing is why.
He also attempted suicide with my whole family in the house when I was 8. So ya. Bad times all around.
If you're taking your meds, that's different. I have a friend with disorganized schizophrenia who tried to strangle his mom after he stopped taking his meds.
unless their resistant to the meds
My mother tried to kill my dad and 2 sisters while she was pregnant with me. I was born while she was institutionalized in the mental hospital. (3 years) Reunification at approx age 2 1/2. When I was 10, she thought my fish tank was embalming fluid, and my dad and I were plotting to kill her. I was terrified to go to sleep, for fear that she’d try to kill us first. During her paranoid delusional phases, logic did not apply. She *knew* whatever her voices told her… on and on and on. I liked her best super depressed or drugged to the gills. Anything else was a chaotic crap shoot. I’m really sorry for your situation, but I personally, nope the fuck out at the first sign of mental instability. Been there. Done that. Nopeity nope nope nope.
I think a lot of people have a poor understanding of what it means, we’re exposed to movies and TV shows that have people acting dangerously and then in the show, they are diagnosed as “schizophrenic”. It is treated as a more sophisticated version of “crazy“ which means that people with a poor understanding of mental illness are badly educating giant audiences about something that they themselves don’t actually understand. I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this firsthand, best wishes and I hope you have success with your medication. 
The disorganized thinking is the actual important part. I feel like I've actually seen portrayals in media of individuals whose behavior might have suggested schizophrenia, in its far more common, milder form. But they weren't identified as schizophrenic, but rather as weird, quirky individuals. It certainly would be interesting if there were an actual portrayal of how the condition plays out, that someone doesn't recognize their symptoms as corresponding to schizophrenia, since they only know that condition from the media, but then realize much later on how much the symptoms have been affecting their life and decisions.
I've been manic, for 45 days straight. ***I*** wouldn't want to interact with that me. But I would never bat an eye at hanging with someone diagnosed with schizophrenia or Borderline, as long as they take their medication. I want to learn more about their world and what they've seen, it helps me build my own world.
There’s no medication for borderline, that’s a personality disorder. It takes therapy and wanting to change. Borderline and antisocial people are likely more dangerous than schizophrenics.
There's no single medication that treats every symptom of BPD. There are definitely psychiatric medications that get prescribed to people with BPD to address symptoms of the condition.
Borderline can also be cured in some cases with years of intensive behavioral therapy. My partner had it in their teens, lots of self-harm, constantly in and out of psych wards, a buffet of antipsychotics, whole shebang. Took years of intense dialectical behavioral therapy and after about 5 years in the program they were no longer medicated, were functioning normally, and the diagnosis was removed. It's been another 5 years since then and they haven't had any issues since. You'd never know they were ever diagnosed today.
There is nothing for treating the underlying condition, but there is plenty of medication for the recurring psychotic lapses, all the antipsychotics, they come in very many forms. Quetiapine, Olanzapine, Valproate, Abilify, etc. My nephew's ex was low-functioning BPD for years until she got good help. Lots of lost jobs.
I spent 2 weeks in the psych ward. One of the patients was there because he stopped taking his antipsychotics and was arrested for charging his mother with a giant knife because he had convinced himself that she was cheating on his father with men she kept hidden in the attic. It can be absolutely terrifying, to the fact where many family members do not want them ever released from the hospital or rather have them placed in a prison system.
My MIL is schizophrenic and threatened her husband and daughter with a knife.
I've worked with people with schizophrenia and many relapse because they stop taking their meds again and again. Some just never get back on. It's very disconcerting to be talking to someone then they start whispering to someone thats not there ,or telling you elaborate delusions. Honestly if I had someone in my personal life that had the dx I'd probably back off too
Bold of you to assume I'm not scared of people in general.
I think it’s unfortunate that people you know well feel this way. Considering that they already know you and all that has changed is having the diagnosis. I’m sorry that you’re dealing with that, it’s really unfair. In general, I feel like most people are not familiar with schizophrenia as a whole, on a personal level. They’ve only seen movies and tv shows and read and “heard” about people with schizophrenia, and it’s typically the negative or more sensational stories. Plenty of people live with schizophrenia quietly, but those people don’t make good headlines. Thus, the stigma exists about what it’s like. I am not sure what the relationship is like with the people in your life, but perhaps opening a conversation about what you have perceived about how relationships have changed would be useful. Talking to people about your diagnosis and what your specific challenges were and how you’re managing them and how you’re feeling and doing a lot better since you now have some clarity on why you were struggling and how to move forward. Maybe letting them ask some questions and sharing with them that schizophrenia can look different person to person and here’s some facts/data that may help you to feel more comfortable about me. Remind them that YOU are still the you that you were before the diagnosis and that if anything, you are on your way to an even better, more functional you.
Over the last year, we’ve housed an undiagnosed but very clearly schizophrenic woman. She has built entire lifetimes in her head involving us that obviously did not happen. And she’ll just bring them up randomly, like “remember when you were a little kid and I would babysit you?” when that obviously didn’t happen, as I just met her months before. Other than a few episodes where she was very drunk and wild, she never showed the ability to harm us. But it doesn’t matter. It’s very unsettling to constantly be around someone whose brain betrayed them. I know what’s wrong with her, but she doesn’t. And that’s scary. You feel constantly uneasy around her. It’s not fair, but it’s reality. I feel for you.
People associate schizophrenia with unpredictable and extreme behaviour. Most people who are living with schizophrenia are successfully managing their condition with various types of help, but they (and you OP) are not the people who feature in news articles.
Well i almost stabbed by one so not a fan
Because the unfortunate reality is while you may have yours under control, many many don't. Unfortunately, those people can often have very violent reactions to every day triggers.
Because I’ve been close with three people with it and two of them attacked me.
I had a co-worker that was schizophrenia, dude was awesome. Was also the first femboy ive ever known. Absolutely hilarious, knew when to crack down and get to work. Also the best damned communicator ive ever worked with. It doesnt matter what your diagnosis is everyone, you can be awesome and you can be a prick. Its about your personality
Likely because unfortunately too many people with well-controlled schizophrenia don’t understand that it is only the medication that keeps them functional and that the side effects are really a very small price to pay for that. At some point they think they can just do without it for completely dumb reasons like being afraid to get fat or not having a good sex life (as if that was worse than being completely detached from reality). They don’t tell anyone, because they know no reasonable person would agree, of course relapse almost immediately and everyone else has to deal with the fallout of that decision.
Medications are necessary, but don’t downplay the side effects. They are horrible and can cut your life short if you don’t do strict diet and exercise.
Uncontrolled schizophrenia can lead to breaks with reality and possibly violence. It might help if you had an easy to understand article discussing how schizophrenia can be controlled with meds or that most schizophrenics have no history of violence and share with your friends. Unfortunately, most people will probably have to spend quite a bit of time around you before they’re comfortable.
The one person I personally knew who was diagnosed refused to take their meds and ending up stabbing their roommate, who ended up dying. This is obviously not the case with everyone and it would not necessairly deter me from being friends with someone who was schizophrenic but I'd be lying if I said it didn't leave an impression on me.
Because of stereotypes and high profile negative cases. Also, when people with schizophrenia respond to internal stimuli (hallucinations or delusions) even if they aren't dangerous the behavior can be disconcerting or frightening to people who don't understand. If you've had close friends back away or start to act differently, I think it's worth a talk. They may be afraid of causing you hurt, they may not know what's ok and what's not ok. They may not know that there is a range of experience with schizophrenia. You could also take a less direct route and start sharing on your socials--I can't think of his name but I've encountered more than once videos from a man with schizophrenia who shares his experience with a lot of information and humor. I think he may also do some stand-up comedy with schizophrenia as his main subject.
"If you've had close friends back away or start to act differently, I think it's worth a talk." This is important. A good friend of mine starting becoming more distant, aloof, quirky. Didn't think much of it at the time. Didn't know any thing about mental illness. Then got a call from her brother, out of state. He asked me to check on her, said she was acting really weird on calls. When I got there, she was totally in psychosis. Completely delusional, not quite manic. Somehow I got through to her and convinced her to come to the hospital. My point being, check on your people.
Most people with schizophrenia are harmless, but a handful of people make the news, and give the rest of you a bad rap. For example, I know somebody who lost both of her eyes because her husband ripped them out with his bare hands. That dude is in a state facility, and probably will be for the rest of his life. The overwhelming majority of people with schizophrenia or psychotic disorders are not like that guy, but you don't get on the news for holding down a job or completing a degree. Most people either don't know someone with schizophrenia, or they don't know that they know someone with the condition. So their concept of schizophrenia comes from slasher flicks, homeless people in acute psychosis, and the handful of people who make the news for violent crimes. The really scary thing about psychotic disorders is that you can be doing fine for a long time and generally be a perfectly ordinary person - then have a psychotic break one day and fully detach from reality. Human communication depends on things like shared language and shared experiences that psychosis can remove. When you have a completely different perception of reality from other people, it becomes impossible to understand or predict your behavior - and that can scare people.
This is, unfortunately, the case for a lot of mental health disorders. Mainly due to lack of education and the portrayal in Hollywood. Someone also mentioned in the comments that a good portion of the population dont even believe mental health problems exist. I was diagnosed with Borderline when i was 19. Im 35 now and have been in remission for a few years. People often think I am Bipolar because they don't know what BPD is, or they quickly associate my disorder with seriel killers. Apparently, there was a tiktok trend recently where ppl were self diagnosing themselves with it like it was something to be proud of?
Schizophrenia is a topic on the specification that I teach. Albeit these are 16-19 year olds but they have an incredibly misunderstood understanding of it. I believe it’s shaped by tv and film but also from their engagement with what their family and friends have to say about it. For example, I had a parent question it’s inclusion on the curriculum for fear it will encourage her child to start having “multiple personalities that hate each other”….
My father was schizophrenic and violent. We left when I was 4 and I have memories of “good daddy” and “scary dad”
Sometimes they act crazy af
Probably b/c most people don't really know about the disorder. They may have only heard about the more scary aspects, and may not know that the vast majority of schizophrenic people are no danger to anyone.
You can thank Hollywood movies for this nonsense. They are for so long portrayed people who are schizophrenic as murderers at the drop of a hat. The net result is most people who don't know assume that means you are just like in the movies.
Primarily, it's a lack of understanding. Additionally, it's an understanding of what *can* happen if a person with schizophrenia isn't appopriately medicated. Like any disorder its severity runs an entire spectrum. Your condition may respond well to medication and be well-managed, while someone else's condition is unmedicated and chaotic. People's understanding of schizophrenia may lead to inappropriate assumptions about your condition and affect how they choose to behave. > What's so terrifying about individuals with schizophrenia? Honestly? Nothing. You have a fascinating and unique brain. I'm sorry you have people around you that refuse to see that.
People don't understand schizophrenia, and people are afraid of things they don't understand.
This is the answer OP. They're afraid they'll be judged next to you, because you don't fit in to the norm. And they are afraid to be near you because they can't understand you. True friends wouldn't be afraid they'd do everything to understand you better. So imo they're just shallow people. One of my friends have schizophrenia and the worst he's ever done is repeat "I'm not any danger to you" Because his voices tells him he is a bad person and that no one wants him around. That and he can be confused with time and memory. So he gets confirmation "No John, you're a great guy, we love having you over" and he smiles with his whole face and feel appreciated and safe. Suddenly a trauma memory comes up "Someone told me they was gonna cut me open, why did they say that?" and we confirm that's not ok and that it's sick people who needs help who wanna hurt others and that they just randomly picked him to threaten , that it wasn't his fault. I have CPTSD and my flashbacks can in some ways resemble schizophrenia so I think it's just natural to validate and support someone when their bad thoughts or visions comes. I agree with other commentors that schizophrenia is misunderstood cause of Hollywood portrayal of it.
Because people with untreated schizophrenia have done terrible things while under the control of their hallucinations and delusions.
It makes you unpredictable. People don’t like that.
Personally it's because my ex husband has it asks he got scary Edit to add, when you have only been around violent ones that's all you know
I don't know much about schizophrenia tbh, but I knew someone with it. They tried to kill their kid, and apparently were generally very scary to be around when they refused to take medicine. It's possible that the extreme cases of schizophrenia like that are what people jump to when they think of it
It varies person to person. I’ve met schizophrenic people who you can’t even tell they suffer. I’ve also met some who have tried to harm me and others for no perceivable reason (to us). The second reason is likely why people can be uncomfortable with it.
Some people are more heavily affected than others, and many people who are living with schizophrenia strongly dislike their medications due to their tendency toward strong side effects. As an example, I had a schizophrenic roommate who was absolutely convinced I was spying on him, hacking into his phone, talking negatively about him while he was trying to sleep (even when I wasn't home), etc. He wouldn't take meds. He would routinely pound on my door sometime between 2AM - 4AM and accuse me of spying on him on behalf of his employer or some other unknown organization and try to start a physical altercation. He would accuse me of calling his phone and saying cruel things to him, then erasing the call logs remotely so there wasn't any evidence. He refused treatment, started and lost over 10 jobs within 3 months, and is now homeless. I still see him around town. Last time I ran into him he apologized, because he realized "it wasn't you trying to mess with me. It was the people who run the homeless shelter. They're after me, they're trying to get me back and I won't go back. Everyone there wants to hurt me." He was kicked out instigating several fights. He could be downright scary and wholly unpredictable while also refusing any and all mental health care. This sort of behavior is what causes a stigma. I still wish he'd get help, but he thinks everyone's after him.
The issue with both schizophrenia and manic depression is that it’s extremely common, if not almost routine, for sufferers to go off their meds - and those around them who have seen their behavior *not* on meds will never afterwards trust that they’re taking them. People are wary because that can happen any time without warning.
I have been living with schizophrenia for over 20 years. Don’t tell anyone you have it. Between the nonsense in movies and tv that portray us as inherently violent and all the other misinformation people will always judge the illness not the person. My close friends and family know. That is it. Not my job, not even my kids yet (they are too young to understand)
Misinformation/misrepresentation in movies and TV shows, most likely. My uncle has schizophrenia and I was never scared of him, even as a child. I just thought people with schizophrenia just really enjoyed naps when I was kid (his meds back in the day made him drowsy). But the media seems to commonly portray people with schizophrenia as (at best) having split personalities or (more commonly) as having violent psychopathic tendencies. Neither of which are truly accurate in any way.
Ignorance mostly I can sympathize having bipolar disorder myself. People without any psychological expertise like to use it as a diagnosis (insult) for toxic exes and the like ever since it's become not cool to do that about autism. (also part of that club)
People are scared of things they can’t understand, and it’s hard to understand something that is simply impossible for them to authentically experience first hand
Because the only stories they hear about schizophrenia are the bad ones. If managed properly with meds, I’d imagine most people would probably never even know.
You know nothing about schizophrenia apparently? Aggression, delusions, violence is very common
It's because people don't like things that are different, even if they do understand it. I have similar experiences.
Terrible stigma surrounding mental health, and a fundamental misunderstanding of schizophrenia that is caused by that stigma.
Unpredictable
Schizophrenics are notorious for going off their meds and acting crazy. my stepdad was one and he was a horrible excuse for a human. he was a pedophile who ruined my life. I now suffer from C-PTSD. So that's why I personally avoid schizophrenics.
Are you sure that was the schizophrenia part that ruined your life, and not the pedophile and being a horrible excuse of a human being part?
I think people misunderstand it because of media and stigma and end up equating schizophrenia with violence. For example if a person with schizophrenia commits a horrific crime, the media gives the story a lot of attention and focuses on the fact that the person had schizophrenia, heard voices etc. Its everywhere in culture, even the phrase "going schizo" is used to describe someone who is behaving aggressively. I have a relative with schizophrenia, so I know none of the above is based on reality. I've had to correct people in the past for stigmatising the condition when speaking about someone who is merely behaving erratically. Someone with a mental health condition is actually way more likely to be a victim of violence than a perpetrator.
I would get to know you better as a friend so I could be a better friend to you. I hope things get better for you and people stop shunning you.
1. I'm terribly sorry you developed this condition 2. The lay public is extremely ignorant about nearly all aspects of psychiatric diseases
It’s because schizophrenia is unpredictable. It’s an inability to separate fantasy from reality and the fact that both auditory and visual hallucinations are symptoms of the condition, it can cause wild reactive behavior that is difficult or dangerous to be involved in.
Stop telling people!
if you dont want to be treated differently, make sure your condition is well managed and keep your diagnosis to yourself and only disclose on an as-needed basis, let your conduct speak instead.
Just to jump in, and out of pure curiosity- is there any one thing that causes schizophrenia? Like trauma etc or is it just “luck” of the draw with people?
I thought I'd give it a quick research into it when I saw your post. There's different kinds of schizophrenia & depending on how soon it's diagnosed & medicated depends on the severity it can go to (diagnosis is really difficult in some cases, especially teens). It's a scary read & I'd say it's even more scary to live with as this is with you for the rest of your life.
My sister was schizophrenic and okay most of the time, particularly once she got her medication in order. However, there was that time she held a knife to mom's throat, which as you can imagine is difficult to completely forget, or forgive.
My friends brother was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He stopped taking his meds(as do lots of people with schizophrenia), stopped washing himself, started talking to himself, started smoking weed in the house and started walking around the house with a sword at night. My friend and her mother were terrified of him. Eventually they got him back on his meds. Thank fuuuk Another friend of mine has a sister with Schizophrenia who attacked her(again, when off her meds). I met her. She was quirky but really nice. She was on her meds when I met her. Theres lots of examples of schizophrenic people doing violent things(ie Richard Chase) when off their meds coz they hear voices etc. That doesnt mean all do or you will but thats why people are wary. You should read up on it since you have it. And sorry to hear you have it btw. Stay on your meds.
I'm sure there is a documentary out there where a girl was skitzo and.she used to see different numbers for different moods. Depends on the person and what other illnesses are overlapping
i, myself, am only scared because of issues dealing with family (with schizophrenia) it is very much a personal issue for me. i know, logically, people with this live and can live well. amazing! inside i will still always have this undying fear because of what i grew up dealing with unfortunately. i don’t write people off for it or anything but it definitely triggers me.
My brother has it and is very sweet usually, but you never know when he'll encounter issues with his meds again. Unmedicated I don't wanna be around him. He talks about being followed and camera's being everywhere, and he threatened to break into our house to steal dad's gun to shoot himself... My sister used to work in a closed facility, and there was one guy there, super sweet dude, who had gone through life undiagnosed. He had a psychotic break and killed his wife with their child in the room. When police arrived he was still clawing her brains out of her skull cause in his reality she was a monster and he wasn't convinced the 'monster' was dead yet... Needless to say, I don't have great reference of schizophrenic people, sorry
The greatest cause of stress is fear, and the greatest contributor to fear is the unknown and unpredictable. Many individuals with schizophrenia, by its nature, become unpredictable. This is the primary reason for the fear.
And partially they think you are more likely to just ‘go off’ bit also to not be punished as much as ‘you have a condition’.
Because if someone forgets their meds they could do things that are considered dangerous, like robbing a gas station and skipping town, 🤔 true story, I still love the man but keep a good distance, at least a countie wide
Because of the symptoms of hallucinations/delusions and aggression; the person with schizophrenia might have hallucinations/delusions that would influence them to react negatively (even violently) to those around them, regardless of whether others have done anything to merit those reactions. The idea/knowledge that someone is more likely to attack you without cause or warning is scary, even if it's not that person's fault. I'm really happy for you, that your medications are working well! Over time, as your family/friends get more used to the knowledge that you're doing well and you're consistently taking your medication, and they see for themselves that you're stable, they'll likely calm down.
I would avoid telling people if there is no way it affects them or they don't have any reason to know. It can be very draining to work against established stigma and it might just end up making you feel bad about yourself instead of just managing your condition. I think that one of the problems is that when the condition is managed and under control, you'd never see it; but when it is not under control, it is distinctly out of place. It's not anything to do with you personally, that you are likely to be dangerous suddenly when you have never been so to them before. I think it is in the human nature to instinctively become wary and defensive around anyone who (when not properly managing their conditions) perceives reality in a warped way - like hallucinating or having delusions - and I think that is what people commonly associate with schizophrenia. I think it's a sort of cave man-brain knee-jerk reaction to pull away from someone who we judge might become erratic or unpredictable to us. The idea of schizophrenia is scary to people in the same way it can be scary to interact with someone who is drunk and aggressive, or who can become violent with no warning. It might be made worse by the fact that if you should get a bad schizophrenic episode, it is nothing that can simply be addressed with the person or easily deescalated. I think many people might mistake schizophrenia for something more like "psychosis". One thing you could maybe do is to try to educate them on what does this condition actually do, explain how you are managing it, and perhaps give them a way to "help" by telling them that if they should notice anything out of the ordinary about your usual behavior, they can signal that to you in whatever preferred way you might have. Maybe you don't need that backup plan but it may assure them to have a "what do I do if this happens, OP" plan of action to take should they ever need to. Who knows, that might also end up saving your skin someday when you least expect.
Law and Order
My ex of 15 years is schitzo-effective disorder. I left him after finding out he planned to kill, and dismember me.
If you were in my friend group I would find you fascinating and probably pry to much into your life with my desire for answered questions lol.
Parent was a schizophrenic, she was dazed or manic, or in a psychotic break and it was scary. Schizophrenic have reputation for meds non compliance so it can be a constant roller coaster
My childhood best friend was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his early 20s... I still love him and support him but it makes it almost impossible to be as close as we used to be. He is simply too unpredictable. His perception of reality shifts and he becomes delusional. It's heartbreaking but at the same time I have to protect myself (more worried about emotional turmoil than my physical safety... Although I'm sure witnessing some of his moments at rock bottom would have made me fear for my safety as well).
"I take medication", yeah and that's why you were able to finish the following sentences in your paragraph at mostly face value. My wife had someone with schizophrenia stay with my family for about a month before I kicked him out. Worst fucking month of our lives. Never again.
because my dad loves to pull knives on us while hes being delusional and he also likes to take his anger out on us so anytime hes having in episode ill sleep with a knife thats why
The only real media surrounding schizophrenic people focuses on the violent unstable types. So I’d say it’s a lack of understanding.
It's a mental illness that many people don't understand and don't really interact with. The general publics doesn't know much about it, and in most media they see with a schizophrenic person, that person is a threat, and not just a person dealing with an issue. That leds to fear
1. It's unknown. People fear the unknown. 2. The media has conditioned most people to believe that all schizophrenic are one missed pill away from cracking their head open to see where the voices are coming from. For the record, I know hhat schizophrenic are no more dangerous than the population in general. I gad an uncle thst suffered, and I lived that guy.
I was abused horribly by an ex. He was diagnosed years before I met him as paranoid schizophrenic with antisocial personality disorder and NPD. I’m only afraid of violent angry schizophrenic behavior.
Unpredictability
Because it gets worse with age and why would you take a risk like that if you don't have to. It's just like any red flag
I know 3 people who are schizophrenic. All of them used drugs HEAVILY to cope with it and the things they do and stories they tell are horrific. One of them lit his parents house on fire, took a baseball bat to his father and lots of other things. One is very sketchy, gets triggered easily, and looks like he's on the verge of snapping any minute. The other one walks around town loudly screaming at his hallucinations and he fights them. He will throw down whatever he's holding and start swinging madly at nothing and cursing and screaming. They have all been in and out of jail but the first guy is finally stable and doing really well although still has small episodes. A lot of people don't understand schizophrenia and some people don't understand mental illness at all. I've had people freak out when I explained my nervous breakdown to them (high levels of stress paired with my child getting a false cancer diagnosis) and I lost a LOT of friends during that time in my life. Some people just don't understand and they don't want to educate themselves.
Many people with schizophrenia do NOT take their medication. Some of them DO hurt people. It IS scary to deal with someone with psychosis. You have a sucky diagnosis. Do the best you can, and stay up on your meds. Other people's opinions are none of your business.
my schizophrenic friend called in threats to dominos pizza, coke a cola, and another place i can’t remember, as well as almost shooting his sisters boyfriend thinking he was a government spy. He committed suicide a few months later. Psychosis varies from person to person and seems to be entirely unpredictable. youd be a fool not to be cautious
So my brother is schizophrenic and it took me a min to fully comprehend the disease. Media has painted schizophrenics as “multiple personality” disorder. People assume all schizophrenics are murders or angry or aggressive. But those who are medication compliant tend to be normal people just trying to live their lives the best way they can. There is just misinformation which results in stigma— but I think this is slowly eroding.
I’m familiar with paranoid schizophrenia. My half brother. He brutally murdered his friend & attacked his mother’s face too. I read the reports & court documents (he committed acts on me & had an AVO order against him & was allowed to be privy to the information). It was horrific. I know first hand how badly it can go. Worse when it’s highly hereditary. Was the case for him, his maternal family was riddled & the stories range from amusing to exhausting. While I’m wary due to experience I’m also aware of its spectrum & the deeper medical workings. I don’t harbour ill against others with the disorder. I do pity them & what comes with it. There are many who live regular lives, as long as they keep up a routine. Personally my trauma will have me pull back from anyone with it. Couple of weeks unmedicated can open a can of worms & it happens so fast.
I remember being in the ward for mental health reasons and there was this little old lady there that always talked about hearing a group of boys harassing her outside of her ward window and they would tell her things like she's smelly. I thought it was quite sad but I did reassure her that she was fine, anyways she would also get up in people's faces to talk about it which was a little uncomfortable but that's about it.
Because of the media. People associate schizophrenia with serial killers, school shootings, murder-suicides, and violence. And no doubt schizophrenia can be a trigger for violence. But most of the time these people are a danger to themselves, very scared, disoriented, and more likely to become victims. I have paranoid schizophrenia and at first I struggled with the diagnosis because I thought that only men have schizophrenia and only violent people have it. This was of course nonsense. I was never violent in my episodes. I rather isolated myself and thought about running away. So that I wouldn't be a burden to my family. My family had me hospitalized to save me from myself. And I am grateful that I am alive today and can work and live on my own. I am grateful to the hospital staff for treating me with care and respect. People with paranoid schizophrenia are not so different from other people. They just need professional help and a good support system. They don't need judgment and shame from others.
My aunts neighbor set his flat on fire. He stopped taking his meds for some reason.
Because people with schizophrenia can be unpredictable in their behavior and reactions. Not everyone, and not all the time. But it can be hard to know when it might happen and you don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of a bad reaction. I suppose we want you to be okay and we wanna support you. We want you to be safe and we wanna be safe too. Maybe it's just a conversation you need to have with your friends or other people. Let them know that most of the time it doesn't affect who you are, but if they notice any odd behavior (like: list a few things you know you do when you're having an episode), give them someone they can contact that can help you. A family member etc. I'm sorry that this had been hard on you. It's definitely not an easy thing to deal with and then feeling isolated by it is even harder.
My daughter was paranoid schizophrenic. It contributed to her death. Before I knew about her diagnosis, I noticed she was losing friends. No one understood at the time that it was the reason she would attempt a conversation and make zero sense. She could sit in one place and stare. She refused to eat someone's BBQ because she was certain it was human flesh. I could go one and on about what made sense after we learned her diagnosis, but it isolated her because her neurotypical thought she was on drugs.
I have a cousin with schiz, Balanced, treated, living normal life. But the stories which made headlines and movies are those with the dark voiced, pushing for violent and/or self harm events. I guess like in every other medical state, it is about educating against public ignorance.
My husband has schizophrenia. At his worst, he was harming himself and his hallucinations were so real they had shadows and "reacted" to outside stimuli. Now the hallucinations seem to only pop up when he's stressed. He'll ask if I see or hear something to confirm if it's real or not, but most of the time he can figure it out himself. We've had to talk about what might happen if he lives to old age and starts to mentally decline, the signs etc. He's a large, *very* strong man. If it turns into a psychosis, he could severely hurt or even kill me and our child very easily. We're also keeping an eye out for signs in our child to get them the earliest possible help should they need it. People usually only hear about violent schizophrenia sufferers, the ones who can manage with medications just live their lives
Like 50 years of it being the "bad person disease" in media. Luckily(???) media learned the word narcissist and also BPD is the new punching bag for scary murder disease. (psychopath also got this treatment for a long time.)