#SCHIZO SCHIZO SCHIZO SCHIZO

[schizopositivity]

Things I'd love for the Internet to leave in 2023:

• misusing the word "delusional" or saying "delulu"

• public freakout videos that are just someone displaying psychotic symptoms

• "I'm in your walls" and other paranoia triggering "jokes"

• schizoposting

• misusing the word "psychotic"

• baiting and triggering people online who are openly psychotic or displaying psychotic symptoms

• excluding schizo-spec and psychotic people from any neurodiversity/mental illness awareness

Let's just all try to be better to schizo-spec and psychotic people. And hold others accountable as well.

[trans-axolotl]

idk i think a lot of people sort of build up schizo-spec diagnoses in their head as this example of a "clearly biomedical disease that is the scariest possible example of mental illness that is always a crisis no matter what." and i'm not going to sit here and say that schizoaffective is always pleasant to live with, or pretend that it's something that I can manage perfectly-it does cause me distress a lot of the time, and makes some things very difficult. but for me, psychosis is by far not the most difficult symptom i have to deal with, compared to some of the other things that have brought me distress. And yet it's always the symptom that is reacted to with the most fear, confusion, and disgust by other people. I hate it when people generalize psychosis as always and inherently and forever a crisis, and ignore the fact that everyone who experiences psychosis is going to have their own experiences, perspectives on how it impacts them, and that treating psychosis as a super scary, inherently dangerous symptom is incredibly stigmatizing and prevents us from receiving support and care from our communities.

idk. i just really wish people would realize that for some people, psychosis can sometimes be a neutral or even positive experience (i've had some incredibly lovely psychosis experiences), and that by positioning psychosis as a "super scary disease that has no quality of life" and only offering carceral solutions, it perpetuates a pattern where we get continually pushed into harmful treatments. Instead of a situation where our autonomy is respected, where we're offered a wide variety of treatments from meds to therapies to peer support like Hearing Voices Network to material community based support and where we're allowed to define our own experience of psychosis based on how it actually affects us. like, i don't want to deny that psychosis is often distressing for many of us--but I do think we have the responsibility to evaluate where we've learned about psychosis, what societal messages we've internalized about psychosis, what kinds of knowledge about psychosis do we not have access to, and just actually think in depth about how our biases impact how we communicate about psychosis.

[schizoetic]

Being permanently mentally ill doesn't mean you'll be permanently unhappy

[villain-disorder]

Unfortunately, I think stigmatised disorder (personality disorders, psychotic disorders, etc) culture is realising something you experience has a name and finally feeling seen, but you go to google it for more resources and only find people talking about how horrible and morally evil you are for daring to have that symptom you never chose in the first place.

[rigormortisangel]

"what if schizophrenics are the only ones seeing the real world and theyre kept medicated by the government so the rest of us dont know the truth" what if i beat you to death with a shovel

[baphometaverse]

[madpunks]

please include schizospectrum people in your mental health positivity post. please actually include schizophrenic, schizoaffective, schizotypal, schizoid and other psychotic people. still to this day, i get called dangerous for being schizophrenic. my last ex told me they "knew" i would lash out and become dangerous and that they shouldn't have dated me specifically because i'm schizophrenic. i never lashed out to hurt them, by the way, but they routinely hurt me.

schizospectrum disorders do not make someone inherently dangerous. people still believe this firmly. our fight isn't over we still have to continue to speak about schizospec people and how unfairly we are treated. we are dehumanized instantly the second people find out about our conditions. we are treated like ticking time bombs. people openly admit that we are scaring them when we talk about our psychosis and how it affects us.

people tell us to calm down and that our delusions aren't real and that we're overreacting. people give reality check us and force us to try to think in ways that scare us. people refuse to trust our own accounts of our own lives and what is happening to us, even when we are not actively delusional or hallucinating. people infantilize us and treat us like we're stupid and have zero autonomy.

we are not dangerous. we are not scary. we are literally just existing in a world that refuses to accept us. please keep talking about schizospectrum struggles and how we need to be seen as just another human, just like anyone else. we can be as unique and varied as anyone else with any other neurotype. we are not all the same person, and we are not inherently dangerous or scary.

[neuroticboyfriend]

Shoutout to people who speak "overly formally." You deserve to express yourself in whatever way feels most natural and fulfilling for you. The way you speak isn't pompous, annoying, or mockable; it's just how you communicate, and there's nothing wrong with that. Your voice adds creativity and diversity to this world, and I think that's amazing.

[schizopositivity]

It's interesting that when the topic of schizophrenia or psychosis is brought up (especially on the internet), people who don't have it are so often willing to dole out the personal information of someone who does have it. It's usually a family member of the person talking. And these people seem to have no problem revealing this person's most sensitive and embarrassing information.

I understand you are trying to find connection in some way. And you have a loved one with schizophrenia/psychosis so you feel that you should chime in. But tbh I don't want to hear about a stranger's most vulnerable moments. And I don't think the person who experienced it would be happy to hear that their family member/neighbor/etc is just spreading that around online. And it rarely adds anything helpful to the discussion, just an anecdotal story that is typically used to generalize an entire group of people.

So if you know/knew someone with schizophrenia or psychosis and you want to tell their story for them, please consider these things: Would they be alright with me sharing this publicly? Does this add anything meaningful to the discussion? Am I speaking over people who have experienced schizophrenia or psychosis themselves? Am I using this as a justification to generalize a group of people?

[irrealisms]

tired of medication positivity posts that assume everyone has a positive relationship with medication

here’s to people who don’t take medication that their doctors want them to take. here’s to people who get marked noncompliant. here’s to people who get sectioned or hospitalized bc they won’t take their meds. here’s to people who self-medicate w nonprescription drugs. here’s to the people in withdrawal. here’s to the people who would rather deal with their symptoms than medication side effects. here’s to the “treatment-resistant” people who have never found medication that helps at all. here’s to the people who are only on meds nonconsensually. here’s to people who refuse meds for “irrational” or “stupid” reasons. here’s to people for whom taking meds is a trauma trigger. here’s to people who are disabled from past medications. here’s to people who are constantly being pressured into taking meds they don’t want and having to defend their “no” over and over again

yes, lots of people need their meds. yes, meds can be important. but don’t forget us

fuck everyone who calls us anti-science or anti-recovery. who says we are hurting other ppl by talking about our choices. bodily autonomy includes the right to say NO. even to medical treatment.

[doomsdayradio]

btw shout out to people with disorders that are stigmatized as dangerous killers who actually have homicidal thoughts and urges. people with DID, ASPD, schizospec disorders and psychosis, ect. you're not perpetuating stereotypes or ableist by existing and having your personal experience and anyone who blames you for that is an asshole. take care.

[schizoetic]

Some ways people helped me while I was in psychosis:

Remaining calm since everything was amplified to me. Yelling at me could do something like trigger my mind to think nuclear bombs are falling

Listening to me without intentionally confirming my delusions or feeding them. This kept me safe from spiraling

Being kind. No matter how unwell I was I could still detect kindness

Having someone to advocate for me

Simply keeping me company. A silent distraction from a mind full of delusions goes a long way

Letting me vent however I needed to (as long as I wasn't an endangerment to myself or others)

Talking to me in good spirits. In psychosis a bad mood is contagious

Reminding me to take my medication or softly reinforcing their importance

Not acting like I'm unruly and viewing me with eyes of compassion

Providing me with basic comforts like food, drinks and clothing

Playing calming music

Laughing with me and not at me

Gently encouraging personal hygiene

Accepting that nonsensical ramblings or writings happen

Understanding that delusions may hold very big power over someone and can persuade someone to do things out of "character"

Being supportive of my being sober

Guiding me away from toxic individuals who don't have my best interest at heart

Not holding grudges no matter how embarrassing I may be when I was lost in my mind

Joining me outside to feel the comforts of the outdoors (once I was stable with mental health support)

Providing hugs as long as it was consensual

Most importantly I was seen as a person. Someone with as many complexities as anyone else

[dysmotility]

please please please don’t forget to include intellectual disability, psychosis / schizospec disorders, level 2-3 autistics, folks w dissociative disorders, and others with “severe mental illness” from ur conversations about mad liberation.

these are some of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised mad people, and we need to give them a voice.

these are the places where liberation is needed the most

[schizosupport]

Wishing a good day to the people who aren't sure if their experiences count as full-blown psychosis, but who still relate heavily to psychotic experiences.

Psychosis IS a spectrum, and sublinical experiences of a psychotic nature are still often very difficult, distressing and potentially disabling to live with.

It can be very confusing to simultaneously feel like you aren't psychotic bc you never had a full-blown episode, but at the same time most people with anxiety look at you confused when you share the type of things you fear.

Psychosis flavoured anxiety is absolutely a thing - and quasipsychosis is a real thing. Diagnostically, we have clinical high risk for psychosis, schizotypal and more. But whether you relate to any of these specific diagnoses or not, if you have psychosis-adjacent experiences, you are welcome in the schizo and psychosis spec communities.

[madpunks]

i don't know what psychotic person needs to hear this, but it is in fact okay for you to be psychotic. it's not your fault. you're not asking for it. it's something that's occurring to you. trying to force it to stop happening ALL the time is going to drain you way too much. some days you just have symptoms and it's alright. sometimes you just have to go with the flow. you're not a fuck up if you have episodes, days, weeks, months of not being able to hold it together and mask your paranoia, intrusive thoughts, delusions, hallucinations, catatonia, confusion, etc. it's alright to just be mentally ill for a bit. i love you

[grendel-menz]

a section from my comic the anti parking lot committee - you can find the whole thing here