[job007]

I was diagnosed schizophrenic 15 years ago. I don't think I ever heard voices though. Instead I heard irritating tunes. I also had strange beliefs.
I can converse normally in social situations and have done college courses and stuff since then.
I am still seriously affected by the stigma of my diagnosis. In fact, I stigmatise myself, thinking I cannot be a real friend to anyone despite the fact I am a likeable person.
I wish the world could be more educated about mental illness. The first time I was hospitalised I was terrified of going into a ward full of mental people because of what I'd heard through the media. I soon found found my beliefs were untrue. But this is what the general public think.

[ebonycat]

some of the sanest people I know are mentally ill.

[Invisible]

Stigma can be a terrible thing, but the more people that are willing to fight it hopefully will make a difference.

I made a video about the stigma I get as a voice hearer, I get stigma anyway because of the way I look and my age I do not need more stigma because of my mental health.

Be proud of who you, remember you are not your illness.
If it bothers you then just remember that it annoys you and do what you can to fight it.

Take care and be kind to yourself.

[Admin - Rethink]

Hi job007 - thanks for saying this, I think that a lot of people stigmatise themselves, as well as having to face the stigma around them. Have you talked to anyone about this issue? I certainly hope you confront this successfully, and I'm glad you're taking the issue on by talking about it here.

It's my understanding that things like the Mad Pride movement are very much the opposite of self stigma - but also that some people don't want to be 'proud' of their mental health issues, and just want to live their life.

Can it be hard to strike a balance between pride and shame? Anyone with a view on this?

Chris

[Universal Credit]

I don't need to self-stigmatise with the label I've got. Wouldn't mind if the medical authorities replaced the label with something more supportive, and accurate? Like has happened in Japan with integrative disorder?

[John A]

job007, on 13 March 2012 - 01:53 PM, said:

I was diagnosed schizophrenic 15 years ago. ... I am still seriously affected by the stigma of my diagnosis.

How are you still being affected seriously, by stigma?

[job007]

In reality I haven't experienced stigma on a personal level because I don't tell anyone I am ill. I avoid situations were I might have to disclose my diagnosis because i am too scared to do so. I have not made any new "normal" mainstream friends since I got ill. This puts limits on my ability to integrate in society.
Thanks for all the replies. I will write again soon.

[Tincan]

im schizophrenic too but u no its an illness just like flu or diabetes for example we take tablets and we are well we are not in a permanent state of psychosis . media misrepresent us as something we are not only highlighting extreme cases . we only normally hurt ourselves if anyone if your violent violence would be part of your life illness or no illness . prisons are full of ppl with no mental label who never headline our so called label sells papers cos there is a shock factor . we can only be true to ourselves and change opinions that way by being responsible to the communities we live in and ourselves . ppl will happily live in ignorance without challenging it we can only change opinion by conducting ourselves properly stand up and be proud to say we av had an experience others havent but learned from it to make us better ppl . let ppl make up there minds then and judge on wat they see not their misconceptions .

[ramboself]

Stigma could talk about my experience of work and not in a mental health charity, could talk about the time i told the police, guess what do you expect of the met they're not only institutionally racist

As one frind put it he doesn't tell people he's had a nervous breakdown even anymore because that colours they're attitude for ever afterwards

[Wolfwoman]

Yeah i have been called psycho, schitsco and weird because i have depression and anxiety but out of all the people that i used to hang around with i am the one that does more to help causes like animals and mental health. Maybe its because of being called names like this that i do more good to prove people wrong that i am not a psycho. one day i heard 3 young girls coming home from school saying how they would like to spend a night in our local mental health hospital with all the psychos. we are not horror stories or dangerous people we just have illnesses, there is alot to be done to educate people about this. we shouldnt be ashamed about having an illness.

[Tincan]

Wolfwoman, on 21 April 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

Yeah i have been called psycho, schitsco and weird because i have depression and anxiety but out of all the people that i used to hang around with i am the one that does more to help causes like animals and mental health. Maybe its because of being called names like this that i do more good to prove people wrong that i am not a psycho. one day i heard 3 young girls coming home from school saying how they would like to spend a night in our local mental health hospital with all the psychos. we are not horror stories or dangerous people we just have illnesses, there is alot to be done to educate people about this. we shouldnt be ashamed about having an illness.

agreed wen i was young i was the laughing stock of the school a harmless nutter ppl cud take the micky out of but u are unique we av this experience for a reason i it makes u a better more caring individual it focus ur attention on the hurtful things in life but ultimately a stronger and wiser human being . that is wat u av to utilize to make things better its a knowledge base u can apply to life . i am not ashamed or a patient or a mh statistic im a responsible caring adult u can label me or ridicule me but i av an insight ppl will only understand if u av worn my shoes. forget wat ppl think be true to who u are and who u want to become wen ppl remove the stereotypical label they will see the real u.

[Defiant_fighter]

I think people's illnesses do not define them, though i believe Stigma to be awful at times and to be fair attitudes to disability as a whole are not what they should be in my humble view.

Tincan mate you are right in that you have an insight that very few, if any have as everyone's issues/illness is different and people dont understand that either. I myself as a suffrer for quite a few years now would like to see stigma reduced but it wont be easy and i would like to think those with past and current "experience" (those that have had Mental illness in my book that means) of MH problems could join up together to bash and banish the attitudes some have.Will require patience though to defeat stigma eventually.

I suffer heavily and my MH problems affects me day to day but i would still like to help others, as Tincan says you can still be caring, responsible and passionate about good causes etc.

[Able Scribe]

Spartikus Rex, on 14 March 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

I don't need to self-stigmatise with the label I've got. Wouldn't mind if the medical authorities replaced the label with something more supportive, and accurate? Like has happened in Japan with integrative disorder?

I have said elsewhere that a term such as 'Detachment disorder' better portrays the isolating predicaments that migh fit our experience. Any comments on this?

[Universal Credit]

Able Scribe, on 06 May 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

I have said elsewhere that a term such as 'Detachment disorder' better portrays the isolating predicaments that migh fit our experience. Any comments on this?

'detachment' could easily be twisted by the media to imply a lack of diligence. Which is part of the common mans usage and isn't necesserily true to the illness. I can concentrate quite well and focus on those issues which still interest me. It is sensible to go with 'integration' since it is a word already used as a alternative very successfuly?

http://en.wikipedia....ration_disorder

[Able Scribe]

Spartikus Rex, on 06 May 2012 - 07:29 PM, said:

'detachment' could easily be twisted by the media to imply a lack of diligence. Which is part of the common mans usage and isn't necesserily true to the illness. I can concentrate quite well and focus on those issues which still interest me. It is sensible to go with 'integration' since it is a word already used as a alternative very successfuly?

http://en.wikipedia....ration_disorder

My problem with that is the inference of some sort of 'disintegration'. None of these things have the content and complex constructs that make up the original diagnosis. I think we just need to de-stigmatise it all and get the mongrels off our backs! It makes me feel very weary when people are so dense as to mis-construe and wilfully mis-understand what has been in the language for 100 years.

[Universal Credit]

Able Scribe, on 06 May 2012 - 06:51 PM, said:

My problem with that is the inference of some sort of 'disintegration'. None of these things have the content and complex constructs that make up the original diagnosis. I think we just need to de-stigmatise it all and get the mongrels off our backs! It makes me feel very weary when people are so dense as to mis-construe and wilfully mis-understand what has been in the language for 100 years.

With the genetic evidence pointing to a commonality between Sz and a variety of other disperate conditions and disorders, with half of the common descriptors now known to be common across the general population and no biological test, maybe it isn't the word which needs to change? Maybe the diagnosis needs to be dropped entirely and other illnesses/condtions which do have a meaningful explanation need to be more inclusive? So I would be on the autistic disorder spectrum like my son...for instance? Or is that too sensible and would potentially put some shrinks out of work?

[ramboself]

when i was diagnosed aspergers didn't exist, autism was rare, a lot of people got diagnosed schitzoprenic, not that at my age questioning the diagnosis helps

[Able Scribe]

Spartikus Rex, on 06 May 2012 - 08:03 PM, said:

With the genetic evidence pointing to a commonality between Sz and a variety of other disperate conditions and disorders, with half of the common descriptors now known to be common across the general population and no biological test, maybe it isn't the word which needs to change? Maybe the diagnosis needs to be dropped entirely and other illnesses/condtions which do have a meaningful explanation need to be more inclusive? So I would be on the autistic disorder spectrum like my son...for instance? Or is that too sensible and would potentially put some shrinks out of work?

When Bleuler first coined this term it was like a rag-bag of symptoms which did not fit cleanly with other constructs. I think efforts to tidy it up have failed because there are so many elements of it that seem unrelated. Whichever way you look at it, what they came up with must surely be completely incurable, and Really a damning label is its most salient feature. Over-ripe for de-stigmatisation then, and when it is used, challenge people to explain what specific symptoms they are talking about. Nonsense if they do not.

[Universal Credit]

Pyschosis is a feature of bi-polar, and Sz is differentiated from Bi-polar for no good reason I can fathom. Seems if you can 'talk the middle class educated talk' with the shrink you get a bi-polar label but if you are a cultural outsider for whatever reason you get the Sz label? Also I've a pretty good imagination, play with words and seems they still think I see things when they are always asking about it. Never occurs to them to ask me if I've ever suffered 'seeing things' which I haven't or 'hearing things' which I haven't. Being delusional I've had but then considering the circumstances?

[job007]

• The Prevalance Rate for schizophrenia is approximately 1.1% of the population over the age of 18 (source: NIMH) or, in other words, at any one time as many as 51 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia, including;

6 to 12 million people in China (a rough estimate based on the population)
4.3 to 8.7 million people in India (a rough estimate based on the population)
2.2 million people in USA
285,000 people in Australia
Over 280,000 people in Canada
Over 250,000 diagnosed cases in Britain

People with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than be violent toward the public. Violence is not a symptom of schizophrenia.

News and entertainment media tend to link mental illnesses including schizophrenia to criminal violence. Most people with schizophrenia, however, are not violent toward others but are withdrawn and prefer to be left alone. Drug or alcohol abuse raises the risk of violence in people with schizophrenia, particularly if the illness is untreated, but also in people who have no mental illness.