Mental health stigma is pervasive across our society, and the internet is not different. Stigma can be on the individual level, such as tone and language policing or the promotion of harmful stereotypes. It can also be systemic, such as the current hashtag suppression being done by Instagram. I encourage you to take action and contact the FTC about Instagram’s harmful behavior.

Growing up with undiagnosed Schizophrenia makes many things very hard, but social development was a prominent area of difficulty for me. Figuring out how to relate and empathize with other people was confusing, as I had to figure out how to connect with people who seemed to be living in another dimension! Like all children in hard situations, I developed my own coping skills at the time, but thankfully (with the help of amazing therapists), have learn proper socialization and empathy as an adult. It’s been a journey, but no one said life would be easy.

Psychotic people don’t all lack insight. Experiencing hallucinations and delusions doesn’t mean you’ll believe them. And let me make clear, Psychotic people who do lack insight and need inpatient treatment deserve respect and decency and to have their rights respected. But please don’t treat all of us like we don’t know what is going on, it’s really obnoxious.

I’ve been a corpse, a simulation, and a princess. Delusions are irrational beliefs held even when presented with evidence to the contrary, and I’ve had many over the years. There are good ways and bad ways to react to someone who is experiencing delusions, and unfortunately people in my life haven’t always responded well. This episode is all about delusions and ways I and the people around me have responded to them.

I’ve made peace with my illness, but it hasn’t always been this way. Finding the meaning for my Schizophrenia has been a long journey, but I have finally found myself able to feel grateful for the life I’d once have done anything to leave.

I’ve had some pretty wild experiences with antipsychotic side effects. Between losing my fertility and having my entire face become paralyzed and more, my body’s taken a hit. I recount my experiences with my worst side effects here. Remember that having side effects is not a reflection on you as a person. Please note this is not medical advice, I am just sharing my story so others feel less alone.

I wanted to go into my thoughts and experiences with psychotic fatigue in greater depth. Here I explain what psychotic fatigue has felt like to me and ways I have thought to cope. Sorry for the static by the way, I didn’t realize there was background noise.

I wanted to collect the various stories I’ve told of doctors and nurses grievously mishandling serious medical conditions. So here’s the anthology of medical neglect and psychosis. We need change in how medical professionals are educated about psychiatric conditions, because this kind of behavior can not be allowed to continue.

Why should police respond to what is at its core a medical emergency? Is there a link between the disproportionate number of mentally ill Black people brutalized by police and the over diagnosis of Schizophrenia in the African-American population? I’m very curious, and don’t have all the answers. Join me as I work through my thoughts and some of the data on police brutality, race, and mental illness in the USA.

Sources:

Sage: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1536504218776970

Census: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219

Paranoia is a chilling and confusing experience. Life can go from sensible to turbulent very quickly without anything actually having changed. I’ve had chronic paranoia for years, and describe my experiences with the condition. As confusing as this condition might be, we are still people.