#positive and negative symptoms

[clinically-kitty]

Ppl who have issues with hygiene ily. Ppl who cant brush theyre teeth regularly. Ppl who dont shower for months. Ppl who wear the same clothes for days.

If all u can do is brush or shower once every few weeks or months ily. If all you can do is change into a different pair of pajama pants today ily. Or if you cant do any of it ily.

Ik ppl will be like “its not healthy to spread positivity now my teeth are rotting bc I didnt care” which I understand to some extent for some ppl but no amount of scaring me about how my teeth health will suffer is going to make me do it more, my brain quite literally can’t foresee the positive outcomes and will refuse to make it a daily habit no matter how much its barked at me over and over.

Sometimes its not something that can be helped. And its not bc I dont care or i like being disgusting or dont understand the risks I literally just cant.

[friendofthecrows]

Hey I know I focus on low empathy disorders (esp. because I have ASPD) and this sometimes extends to talking about how many empaths demonize us but:

Shout-out to people with high empathy/hyperempathy that aren't perfect angels 24/7

I can't talk on it much because I'm Literally The Opposite but the people who have been most accepting about my lack of empathy have been people with "too much" of it.

Whether you *are* super sweet or whether your empathy manifests in difficulty controlling anger or pain you feel from others (or both, as is common) you have just as much of a right to your struggles as all of us without empathy. You're not overemotional, you're reacting proportionally to what you feel. Even if you were, you deserve to be treated with kindness and without judgement!!

Solidarity between people with low/no empathy and people with hyperempathy forever (つ˘◡˘)づ💚

[rxttenfish]

what will it take for people to realize that schizophrenia isnt just hallucinations + delusions, or like, just a way of saying "severe psychosis"

when will people remember that negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms also exist and are, like, important

[pocketgalaxies]

C3E31 || C3E32 (requested by @sharkodactyl)

[valiumgf]

ok so! coping with schizophrenia/schizoaffective on low dose/no antipsychotics (I do use mood stabilizers still) info under the cut

1. process your emotions as they come!! (you've gotta figure out how you process best, journalling, visual art, talking things over with someone you trust, exercise, nature walks, yoga, writing poetry, whatever works best for you!) by as they come I mean: literally ASAP!! don't let it have time to marinate and get lost in your subconscious without properly addressing it! something that helps this is really paying attention to where and how you feel emotions (example: I feel guilt and anxiety like a ball in my chest, when I notice I feel it I know I gotta talk to someone ASAP!)

2. OK you're recognizing something you hear/see might not be there think about what stressful events have occurred recently, how does it relate? is there a common trigger (feeling, memory, situation, even a passing thought that occurred before the experience!) try to write down the contributing factors and what the experience was if you have the time! (writing in your phones notes app can quickly work!) acknowledge the experience: i saw this, it made me feel this. next try to redirect your thinking to something else! (I'll explain what I mean by this in 3)

3. OK so the experience happened, but I don't know why? acknowledge it, acknowledge what things it made you feel! now think of something unrelated that doesnt evoke a strong emotional reaction from you, redirecting thinking allows me to not ruminate and not increase emotions related to the experience which just makes me personally spiral!

4. you have better insight!!! congrats and if u dont have better insight we will talk,abour redirecting less intense experiences!!! now you can treat the mild experiences you may still have akin to intrusive thoughts! once again, acknowledge, redirect! or, if you're able to, you might be able to just redirect and not use the mental energy to acknowledge them every time when you're confident!

5. if you struggle with going outside due to paranoia, try to focus more on your feet and listen to some music or talk on the phone! I know personally the less I focus on my surroundings on bad days the less my surroundings seem looming and threatening, also if you're afraid of other people and have the confidence: offering a smile when you pass by someone helps me feel less afraid of others and from all the bs I learned in DBT "wide smile open hands" DOES work, open body language and smiles do make me feel more at ease in public!

6. STIM!! my main one in public is closing my hands tight then opening them, sadly some stims are stigmatized but if you feel comfortable it does make it easier to be out of safe spaces!

7. delusions, this gets tricky! for me, it's not about "changing the belief" because let's be honest, it's basically impossible! what helps me, in, the beginning: was "ok so there's two possibilities, 1. your belief is factual, 2. it's not factual" you want to operate your decisions and actions under meeting in the middle, and not doing anything extreme! (example: "my neighbour's are always talking about me and it distresses me": ok! maybe say hi and ask them how they're doing next time you see them, maybe it could improve their view of you! and if not, you're building a little connection with someone you live near!) (example 2: I am being targeted: "I should maybe tell someone I'm feeling anxious (for whatever reason you feel comfortable sharing) and tell someone to keep in touch with me!" it does not confirm that you actually are being targeted but sets up a safety net which can help with the pain of being persecuted without feeling believed) also recommend looking into double bookkeeping!!

[pastafossa]

Confirmation of life. Covid predictably triggered a flareup of my chronic pain and now even the air hurts. And I can't take what I usually take for pain cause it'll interfere with the cough meds and paxlovid. So I just gotta do my best.

Cato tried to make me feel better. Woke up to about twenty socks on and around the bed that he had apparently brought me while I was sleeping, because he knows I think it's cute when he brings me a sock.

[the-masquerade-council]

Schizophrenia (Symptom) Holder flags

(Please note in the context of schizophrenia symptoms positive/negative refer to addition/subtraction of experiences, not "good"/"bad". Also these are intended to be specifically for schizophrenic systems, rather all systems with psychotic disorders or all schizo-spec systems)

Schizophrenia (Symptom) Holder

Schizophrenia (symptom) holders are alters that hold either specific symptoms, multiple symptoms, or all/most symptoms associated with schizophrenia. For example a system may have hallucination holder, who only holds hallucinations, or schizophrenia holder who holds all/most symptoms, this flag can be used for both.

An alter holding schizophrenia symptoms may mean that they experience them more than anyone else in the system, they started fronting to handle the symptoms so other don't have to, they hold memories or trauma related to the symptoms, etc. They may do a combination.

In order for an alter to be a schizophrenia (symptom) holder, the system as a whole must have schizophrenia, even if not everyone in the system experiences the symptoms of it.

Positive Symptom Holder

Positive symptom holders are alters that hold either specific positive symptoms, multiple positive symptoms, or all/most positive schizophrenia symptoms. Positive symptoms are those symptoms that are often present during a psychotic episode including: hallucinations, delusions, as well as disorganized thoughts and speech.

An alter holding positive symptoms may mean that they experience them more than anyone else in the system, they started fronting to handle the symptoms so other don't have to, they hold memories or trauma related to the symptoms, etc. They may do a combination.

In order for an alter to be a positive symptom holder, the system as a whole must have schizophrenia, even if not everyone in the system experiences the symptoms of it.

Negative Symptom Holder

Negative symptom holders are alters that hold either specific negative symptoms, multiple negative symptoms, or all/most negative schizophrenia symptoms. Negative symptoms are characterized by defects of normal emotional response or other thought processes the five recognized domains of negative symptoms are: flat-affect, alogia, anhedonia, asociality, and avolition.

An alter holding negative symptoms may mean that they experience them more than anyone else in the system, they started fronting to handle the symptoms so other don't have to, they hold memories or trauma related to the symptoms, etc. They may do a combination.

In order for an alter to be a negative symptom holder, the system as a whole must have schizophrenia, even if not everyone in the system experiences the symptoms of it.

Colour meanings

These are primarily based off of this flag, with a bit of inspiration taken from this flag.

Purple is used to represent positive symptoms. Silver, black, and white are used to represent negative symptoms.

[villainanders]

my company is very sillily obsessed with working in office but my boss has been letting me wfh while I have covid as long as I give her a heads up in the morning that I'm still testing positive/have symptoms but this whole week I've been weirdly nervous that she thinks I'm lying to her about still testing positive to wfh. she's said nothing to make me believe she thinks this btw I've just convinced myself she thinks I'm lying

[johnschneiderblog]

Positively negative

Finally, after 12 days of positivity, a single red line came my way Saturday, freeing me to rejoin society.

Sharon, however, is still testing positive; she's a couple of days behind me, we suspect.

Meanwhile, our symptoms, though fairly mild, never followed the normal steady trajectory of improvement. They were up and down. Just when we thought they were gone for good, they would sneak back and ambush us.

I'll admit it - up until 12 days ago I was behaving as though COVID had disappeared. I think a lot of us are in for a harsh reminder this winter

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[fanotastic]

FUCK I'm srill positive and my job kicked me out. I need TOKEN to participate in MONKEY CAPITALISM

[clown-around-and-find-out]

please please PLEASE stop treating autism like it's some "life enhancer" that only makes you take things literally and means you are "honest to a fault 🥺" like i get those can be symptoms. but im tired of seeing a disorder that has made my life and so many other's lives so much more difficult now being turned into "i like using the :3 emoticon a lot and i say silly all the time! omg autistics how do you feel about this spoon?"

[rachymarie]

Some education/symptoms list about "schizophrenic rambling":

Hi, howdy folks. Today [edit: 2 days ago now, on Friday NZ time) I am once again experiencing a flare-up of schizospec symptoms after a day of overexertion yesterday, and I somehow managed to be organized enough (yes, baffling, I know) to group these similar symptoms all together. So I thought it might be nice to share. A little pre-amble (or rather pre-ramble, amirite ;) )/foreword of thoughts:

If you ever witness "schizophrenic rambling", please be considerate and don't make fun of them!! - as this person may be experiencing something that they can barely help, because of their brain wiring. Please think about what we are going through. And it can really be embarrassing enough for us rambling in public, feeling like we have little to no control over it when it takes over. So without further ado, (before I really do descend into a ramble, because this is just me getting started lol) the aforementioned symptoms:

Logorrhoea:

In psychology, logorrhea or logorrhoea (from Ancient Greek λόγος logos "word" and ῥέω rheo "to flow") is a communication disorder that causes excessive wordiness and repetitiveness, which can cause incoherency. [x]

Graphorrhoea:

In psychology, graphorrhea, or graphorrhoea, is a communication disorder expressed by excessive wordiness with minor or sometimes incoherent rambling, specifically in written work.[1] Graphorrhea is most commonly associated with schizophrenia [x]

Idiosyncratic speech:

What is the psychiatric term for excessive talking?

Idiosyncratic speech—sometimes referred to as "excessive talking," "non-stop talking," or "unwarranted talking"—lacks the urgency associated with compulsive speech, which tends to be intense and pressing. Idiosyncratic speech might represent a personality trait, a thought pattern, or a personal preference. [x]

Tangentiality:

What is an example of Tangentiality?

Tangential Thinking

For example: "I really got mad as I was waiting in line at the grocery store. I cannot stand lines. Waiting and waiting. I waited for a long time to get my driver's license. [x]

(this last one I really relate to)

Flight of ideas:

In schizophrenia, flight of ideas may include disorganized speech patterns, fragmented thoughts, and a lack of logical coherence. Common flight of ideas examples include: Rapid speech: Individuals may speak quickly and incessantly, often without pauses or interruptions.

Flight of ideas occurs when thoughts rapidly flow, often involving fast-paced speech, topic jumping, and difficulty maintaining focus.

Flight of ideas are thoughts that go really fast and might not make sense to others. [x]

Racing thoughts:

Individuals’ minds may feel overwhelmed by rapid and continuous thoughts. Racing thoughts keep coming one after another, making slowing down or controlling these thoughts challenging. [x]

Pressured speech:

Pressured speech means individuals talk really fast or interrupt others because they can’t slow down. They may feel like their words are rushing out [x]

Yes I know I know, unironically quoting Wikipedia lol (regardless, I feel I've done a good job and I'm proud and I can verify first-hand that these symptoms are real. The above is still better info than WebMD or a lot of other online health publications aka Dr. Google). But hey I'm disabled and this is the best I can do for now, running out of spoons. I've done what I can, spending hours researching and experiencing first-hand these symptoms, and it is all I can do this morning to put this post together.

So I allow myself to take the burden of proof off of myself for the day, and instead put the burden of further education of oneself onto the non-schizospec (we are tired enough as it is always having to advocate/stand up for ourselves to often deaf ears, please don't expect us or stigmatized disabled folks to always do all the work on abolishing stigma).

Obligatory pre-emptive defensiveness aside, I hope this helped open up your mind a little to just some of the many experiences of severe mental illness.

To non-schizospec/non-psychotics:

It can feel incredibly embarrassing for us "rambling" a lot publicly - but at the end of the day, at least we know we're usually "rambling" for good reason: getting our story/experiences out and actually expanding mental health awareness.

It actually takes a lot out of us to keep doing the full-time job of trying to educate you on having compassion for us and treating us better, so please don't let it be in vain, please listen to what we are trying to say, even if we may come off as incoherent at a glance.

Post-amble ramble:

Collecting and listing names of the symptoms I experience kinda helps me cope and make sense of it all and validates my struggles so I can forgive myself for simply experiencing symptoms. It can feel incredibly embarrassing for us "rambling" a lot publicly - but at the end of the day, at least I know I'm usually rambling for good reason: getting my story/experiences out and expanding mental health awareness. So I'm not just "being difficult" - I'm experiencing symptom flare-ups/disabling features of my disability; I'm not just "lazy" - I'm fatigued as hell and need rest. So if you wouldn't point and laugh at someone in a wheelchair, and find the idea of doing so repulsive, disgusting, unforgiveable, etc - don't point and laugh at us for our disability.

Sorry if this became messy and hard to read/too many words, but as per the point of the post, I am trying my best - and it took me three days just to get this posted/write + edit down all the relevant tags to fit within the 30-tag limit. If anyone knows more about these symptoms please add.

On Schizophrenia + Psychosis Awareness Day on 24 May (NZT, or New York time or later depending on my capacities closer to the time) I'm planning to do a bit more of a master list of all the symptoms I can think of off the top of my head that I have experienced, so stay tuned. Already wrote it for mother's day but missed that so figured it's more natural on Schizospec day lol

Extra keywords:

Idk if this works but, extra keywords for visibility/reach and possible other conditions to experience these symptoms:

anxiety, depression, autism, actually autistic

(Also the communities that have tended to speak over us in the mental health and neurodivergence discussion/community. I say this even being autistic myself. Please let other conditions into the discussion and not just the "cool/trendy" ones)

[adhdo5]

In one of those classic Glycie maneuvers I think Rosie (D&D) has been schizophrenic the whole time

[oscill4te]

she has varied interests .... >.>

[anti-transphobia]

Forever annoyed that "don't speak over marginalized people", the notion that marginalized people are already spoken over, and their oppressors need to actually listen and learn before speaking about complicated topics and need to do so in support of not OVER them, so quickly turned into "I'm not x so I can't speak on x issues". Like the "don't speak on this if you're not this" started out so well meaning because it was about people needing to actually take the time to learn before talking about issues they didn't previously understand! Now it's just an excuse for people to never learn about the issues minorities face or to actually stand up for them in any meaningful way