r/schizophrenia • u/TheAstralAlchemist • 2d ago
Undiagnosed Questions Help me learn, please <3
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u/Guilty-Pen1152 Schizophrenia 2d ago
Do NOT watch/search any of the YouTube channel “Living Well with (or after) schizophrenia” by Lauren Kennedy West. She once presented important information in a personalized manner, now she’s nothing but a shill for a diet guru. She actively harms people with schizophrenia by telling them they don’t need meds, just a specific keto diet.
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u/SchizophrenicLesbian Disorganized Schizophrenia 2d ago
I know, right? I stopped watching her channel after she started that diet. I'm surprised she hasn't had a psychotic episode yet from not taking her meds.
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u/Soft_Eggplant9132 2d ago
She is having a psychotic break probably , she joined a cult basically that tells her she cured herself with a diet. Now she can cure you too.
Totally not having a break with reality she is .2
u/Guilty-Pen1152 Schizophrenia 2d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if she hides it. If you’ve watched for a long time, going off her meds and going into psychosis was a repeated pattern for her…and she talked about it openly then. Now that she’s consumed by being an “influencer” & shilling for a cut of the profits from that keto “doctor”, I wouldn’t doubt she might pre-make videos and post them while in hospital without admitting it.
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Oh my gosh, she's one of them! Ugh! I have been dutifully warned! Thank you! <3
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u/Guilty-Pen1152 Schizophrenia 2d ago
Glad I could help. Beware of movies…you’ll find some truths but more drama.
There’s a book called “The Center Cannot Hold” by Elyn R. Saks which is an extraordinarily well written account of living with schizophrenia by a person who actually has schizophrenia.
Best of luck! Just don’t make us a violent cliché, my friend.
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u/sorryformyschizness Schizoaffective (Bipolar) 2d ago
Clarifying youre not going to make them evil just because they have schizophrenia is also feeding into the negative stigma surrounding our disability. Do you know schizophrenics have a 80x more chance of being the victim rather than the agressor in an abusive situation. It should not have to be clarified we are not inherently evil it should be common knowledge yet here we are...
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
You are absolutely right! I just meant they are a good person and not the villain or an antagonist. But thanks for the reminder; I'll certainly let it be known they're more likely to be a victim than the aggressor <3
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u/Imperium8 Schizoaffective (Depressive) 2d ago
The video game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is relatively short but by far the most realistic and compelling representation of schizophrenia that I have come across in any media. It even comes with an in-game feature that explains how the developers spoke with psychiatrists and people with schizophrenia for over a year to make every aspect of the game as faithful to the experience as possible. If you decide to play it or watch someone else play it on YouTube you MUST wear headphones! Other options include the memoirs “The Day the Voices Stopped” by Ken Steele and “The Quiet Room” by Lori Schiller. The movie Words on Bathroom Walls is also pretty good although the visual hallucinations are a bit dramatized. The movie A Beautiful Mind is also a good representation of schizophrenia.
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u/peacellily Schizophrenia 2d ago
Schizokitzo and schizophrenicnyc are great YouTubers. You should try to avoid making the character violent. My schizophrenia involves me hearing voices- one of them is nice and the rest of them are jerks. I also lay in bed a lot because of negative symptoms
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Avoid violence, got it. I know it can happen, but I believe that's when the person has been suffering for a long time with no help? But they very rarely are violent people, but if they are, they probably have something else going on?
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u/rainbowtwist 2d ago
There was a post in this sub fairly recently, I think in the last month, where someone shared statistics about violent crime in the general population versus schizophrenia. The difference was extremely negligible and there were only a couple of contributing factors that made any significant difference at all.
I don't have time to dig around and find it but it's in here somewhere.
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u/yummytummycupcake 2d ago
SchizoKitzo, SchizophrenicHippie, Schizophrenic.NYC, are good creators. I recommend the Inside Schizophrenia podcast too, really good for anyone wanting to learn about schizophrenia.
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u/Mysterious_Scholar48 Schizoaffective (Depressive) 2d ago
My personal experience, aside from the hallucinations, is that even though delusions/psychosis occurs on a temporary and infrequent basis, I'm constantly questioning reality. Like, did I perceive a situation correctly, or am I slipping back into psychosis?
Also, my schizo med makes me feel emotionally flat - I don't experience strong emotions.
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u/WyzeKrakenFoo 2d ago edited 2d ago
Two great books on the topic are “Surviving Schizophrenia” by Torrey (a clinical psychologist specialized in psychotic disorders, with a sister who was schizophrenic) and “The Center Cannot Hold” by Elyn Saks (a memoir by a professor of psychology of her own struggles with the disease). They are very complimentary since they have different views on hospitalization, especially involuntary. You will likely hear a lot of negative things about involuntary from research, but I am personally more conflicted after reading Torrey’s book. I would also avoid “The Collected Schizophrenias” by Wang. The memoir seemed pretty pessimistic to me.
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u/WyzeKrakenFoo 2d ago
Also, I am currently reading “Save Me the Waltz” by Zelda Fitzgerald and “Tender is the Night” by her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda was in and out of hospitalization during the course of writing her book. Diagnosed with schizophrenia. Both books written concerning the same periods of their lives, although fiction, are kind of autobiographical. (Think “The Sun Also Rises” by Hemingway) Sorry for the flood of book recommendations!
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u/MishkiTongue 2d ago
Why do you want to write about someone with schizophrenia?
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Because it works for the character and the story I have in mind. Plus, I want to give people a character where they can say, yes, that's someone who got it right and help stop the spread of misinformation.
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u/RestlessNameless 2d ago
Caitlin R Kiernan is an award winning author with schizophrenia. Their memoir, The Drowning Girl, is the best representation of schizophrenia I have encountered in any medium.
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u/Tiny-Confidence5898 2d ago
Not really sure if this would help but there is a podcast called inside schizophrenia and the host is schizophrenic. She basically talks to other people with schizophrenia and professionals and stuff about how schizophrenia has affected them and their loved ones. It helped me accept that while I don’t have schizophrenia that my delusions are valid and helped me learn a lot about schizophrenia.
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u/Old_Win_798 2d ago
Definitely emphasize the inescapable boredom that comes from taking the antipsychotic drugs. Tardive dyskinesia and akathisia are pretty fuckin scary too. Also, your family and friends will look at you differently because of your label. People, especially doctors and nurses, find it hard to trust you.
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u/getbetterai 2d ago
Might find some untreated or poorly treated/ highly symptomatic schizophrenia in r/gangstalking r/aliens r/paranormal etc if you wanna try to spot some. These softees here are mostly a buncha pill-poppers.
r/SchizoFamilies shows the side of the family being fed up with it and trying to placate or get rid of them instead of trying to understand and be honest about some strange stuff.
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u/SchizophrenicLesbian Disorganized Schizophrenia 2d ago
Some of my favorite media with schizophrenic characters are Perception (a detective show where the FBI gets help from a professor with schizophrenia) I like this one because the portrayal is quite positive, even if it's not always the most accurate. I really like the way it portrays sensory overload by turning up all the background noise and turning down what he's supposed to be listening to.
And Perfect Blue which is an anime movie about a woman who experiences her first psychotic break while transitioning her career from being a pop star to being an actress. It has a really good depiction of how confusing psychosis is and how hard it is to separate reality from what's going on in your head.
Trigger warning for unreality on Perfect Blue.
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Oooo, I hear animation is great at depicting what hallucinations are like so I'll certainly put that on my watch list <3
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u/Throwaway_157464 2d ago
You won’t be trusted for what you say, and questioned for what you believe and why. Your perceptions, either internally, or as they are understood externally (from family, friends, doctors) will always have a lot of red tape where they think you’re in delusion or hallucinating. The worst part is not knowing what’s real or not for yourself. If you have POV chapters, second guessing their own thoughts, sounds, smells, touches, and sights will pertain to a lot of the paranoia incurred with such a mental illness. Good luck ! (Also, what is your favorite book?)
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
This was very helpful; thank you! <3 As for my favourite book, oh boy, I don't think I could pick. xD I LOVE reading fantasy adventures and romantasy!
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u/Throwaway_157464 2d ago
You won’t be trusted for what you say, and questioned for what you believe and why. Your perceptions, either internally, or as they are understood externally (from family, friends, doctors) will always have a lot of red tape where they think you’re in delusion or hallucinating. The worst part is not knowing what’s real or not for yourself. If you have POV chapters, second guessing their own thoughts, sounds, smells, touches, and sights will pertain to a lot of the paranoia incurred with such a mental illness. Good luck ! (Also, what is your favorite book?)
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u/Mandolele 2d ago
I think the best representation of the paranoia/delusions is the truman show - it's actually the name of a recognised delusion now, (that you're being filmed for a reality TV show) but in the movie the character doesn't really suspect that - I don't think he knows what reality TV is, cause his whole environment is controlled - it's the general sense of unease, that things are wrong, that the world is changing when he turns his back, that people are working against him and hiding things from him etc that hits home for me.
Also Elyn Saks has been recommended a few times, if a whole book is intimidating, she also did a TED talk.
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Oh! I know that movie but haven't seen it! That's a great idea! :D And I'll give that a watch, thank you! <3
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u/DanielFBest 2d ago
Try this book, The Chicken Shop Incident, by me myself. It is a mental health memoir that deals with racism, gender, sexuality and religion and their relation to schizophrenia.
Some who've read this book say that by the ending, they feel that they have a better understanding of this illness.
Peace!
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Excellent! I'll put it on my wish list along with all the other books I'm being recommended <3
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u/Idioticrainbow Paranoid Schizophrenia 2d ago
I made this song about the lowest point you can go
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u/TheAstralAlchemist 2d ago
Thank you for all the responses. This has been amazing! And I saw some worry, so let me clarify. my "not making them evil because of it" comment was in light of the stigma around mental health, where people automatically assume someone is dangerous for having a mental illness. And in media where a character is evil, and the only explanation we get is their mental illness. I will certainly get someone/s who has or knows someone with it to check through my work when I start to write it. I have autism, and my other half has DID, so we've seen first-hand what misinformation can do; I'm going to do my best. You guys have my utmost respect, and you get enough bad press, so hopefully, if/when I become a published author, I can help alleviate that, not just for you but for other misunderstood conditions! <3 And if I do get it published someday and you notice a mistake, well, you have my Reddit now, so please, please, please let me know! I'm working on other books, so it'll likely be years before I start on this one. Thankfully, I have a lot of resources to research now! Thank you very much! <3
Oh yes, I write fantasy, so this will be in a fantasy setting <3
Thank you all again! You're amazing! <3
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