[newtus]

heres some stuff people said to me. and then some stuff ive seen people say to other people with this dx:

i hate when people say "no your not schizophrenic. my (brother/sister/friend/friends friend/etc) would get arrested/attack people/yell in their sleep/ENTER SOMETHING REALLY OVER THE TOP ....all the time. so you must not be schizophrenic."

"you type really good. you dont have schizophrenia or not psychotic"

"you speak well"

"you dont look/act weird"

"you look clean"



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[Nessa213]

I get this all the time for bipolar. all... the... time. I'm not ragey enough. Or I'm not selfish enough. I don't cry enough. I'm just too "normal".

I mean, like, if you see a diabetic person eating a candy bar you wouldn't say "oh you must really not have diabetes". Or if you see a cancer patient that looks well and has all their hair still say "oh you must really not have cancer".

Come on, no. People wouldn't say that. Of course.

For whatever reason people think it's perfectly acceptable to do this with any kind of mental illness. I'm not sure yet if I find that sad or outright sick.

[FireBird]

I get that kind of thing all the time about being normal. They are shocked to hear the truth of what is really going on, that I have schizoaffective disorder. They say, "you are too normal for that." I don't dress inappropriately or anything like that and I look clean. I change my shirt everyday. I don't always talk in word salad. My hallucinations are not continuous. I AM more minor than others with the disorder. That is the truth.

[faerie_moon_x]

When I was first diagnosed I had someone tell me I wasn't erratic enough to have bipolar. It's so dumb people don't understand we're all different. Just because you knew one person who was over the top and happened to have MI doesn't mean everyone is like that. Stigma causes this. People get a "movie character" type idea in their head adn think that's what all MI is like.

[Atypical_Disaster]

This is a great thread.

The most common one I get is that I'm "too smart" to be sza/bipolar/whatever. I get told my behavior isn't extreme enough, that I don't "act crazy" so it can't be that bad, and all kinds of random idiocy.

[newtus]

its harder when im told that by family.
not that im usually am.
but its been said & by cousin "your not like that. my brother does ______ all the time and he gets crazzzzyyyy".
but then she says hes an alcoholic as well and may not have sz. but ptsd. she says. althgouh after thinking about what she said to me she may be wrong about her thinking her brother has ptsd. he prob does have sz.

[faerie_moon_x]

I agree, it's worse when someone close to you says it.

[faerie_moon_x]

Yup, this sounds like my dad. "Everyone is depressed so just deal with it." And "what do you have to be depressed about?" Also being told I was just a moody teenager. I never bothered to tell him I have bipolar. No point.

If you ever have a friend say something like that again, just say, "Oh, I didn't realize you'd graduated from medical school." Haha. People take one thing and run with it, I swear.

[Atypical_Disaster]

Originally Posted by faerie_moon_x

Yup, this sounds like my dad. "Everyone is depressed so just deal with it." And "what do you have to be depressed about?" Also being told I was just a moody teenager. I never bothered to tell him I have bipolar. No point.

Exactly, it's so pointless to even bother trying to engage in a conversation with people like that.

If you ever have a friend say something like that again, just say, "Oh, I didn't realize you'd graduated from medical school." Haha. People take one thing and run with it, I swear.

HAHAHAHA, I'm so saying that if that ever happens again!

[faerie_moon_x]

Every so often I come up with a good response. Too bad it's when it's too late.

[Atypical_Disaster]

Originally Posted by faerie_moon_x

Every so often I come up with a good response. Too bad it's when it's too late.

Exactly! It's always a delayed reaction, like a day or so after a conversation I just had I'll think of some amazingly witty response and it's like... well, that's a bit late... hahaha

[newtus]

i once told someone who has a B.S. Degree on their wall

"What did you get your degree in? Bull.Sh_t.?"

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by newtus

i once told someone who has a B.S. Degree on their wall

"What did you get your degree in? Bull.Sh_t.?"

Haha! That's a good one! I think I know a few people with that degree actually.

[newtus]

i just KNOW...somewhhere in the usa someone with schizophrenia will be told "you dont have schizophrenia. amanda bynes set stuff on fire..." blah blah blah. i already feel bad for that person.

[Atypical_Disaster]

Originally Posted by newtus

i just KNOW...somewhhere in the usa someone with schizophrenia will be told "you dont have schizophrenia. amanda bynes set stuff on fire..." blah blah blah. i already feel bad for that person.

Ugh, unfortunately I think you're right about that.

People give suggestibility a lot more power than it actually has. They'd rather say "oh it's just because of *insert influence here*" than admit that something is going on with someone that they have no control over.

[newtus]

Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster

Ugh, unfortunately I think you're right about that.

People give suggestibility a lot more power than it actually has. They'd rather say "oh it's just because of *insert influence here*" than admit that something is going on with someone that they have no control over.

its that - plus that people dont have a clue about serious mental illness. if there people that think depressed folks need to just do something who knows what they think of people with sz...

[Atypical_Disaster]

Originally Posted by newtus

its that - plus that people dont have a clue about serious mental illness. if there people that think depressed folks need to just do something who knows what they think of people with sz...

Exactly. There's so much stigma around MI in general. Depressed people need to just *insert stupid suggestion here*, bipolar people "just need to calm down and stop acting crazy because they can control it", and people with sz/sza "just have an overactive imagination"... I could go on and on... people are so ****ing stupid.

[newtus]

yea these people truly dont know. they dont have a clue. honestly some people dont try to be hurtful. they just flat out have no clue about MI. then many are really trully hurtful/dont care.

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by newtus

yea these people truly dont know. they dont have a clue. honestly some people dont try to be hurtful. they just flat out have no clue about MI. then many are really trully hurtful/dont care.

Yes, exactly. Like my co-worker who always sends me this bullshyt like "Abraham Lincoln led this horrible life but he wasn't depressed, so depression is just a state of mind. If you just be positive it will all go away." A) I think there's evidance taht Abe Lincoln was depressed. And B) Shut the hell up you have no idea what you're talking about!

I think there are those that truely think it's fake to get "free money," not realizing that if you're on SSI disability you make less than half of what it costs for a single person to live for one month. We had a patient once who was on SSI for mental health and she was a former psychologist. A judge told her she was faking it and new how to fake the system, so she could get a free ride. And she said, "Really? I used to make $100 an hour in private practice and was brining home in profit around $80,000 a year and now I get $840 a month. How exactly does that work out in my favor?"

Yup. People are ignorant assholes that's the truth.

[newtus]

wow
a judge said that?
thats really...disheartening...

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by newtus

wow
a judge said that?
thats really...disheartening...

Yeah, horrible isn't it! This was 4 years ago or so and she'd been on SSI for a quite a while. We haven't seen her in a long time. You'd be surprised how jaded people get.

My boss.... she has no tolerance for people canceling their appointment late. If they say they are sick she automatically accusses them of lying to get out of it without having to pay the $25 late cancel fee (I hate that fee so damn much! **** happens!) Anyway... once she accussed a lady then we found out she was extremely ill and she felt horrible and said working with the public makes you bitter. And it's true.

I work with so many people who think everything and anything to do with SSI is fake lazy people who don't want to work. It pisses me off. One of those ladies got lieukemia about 2 years ago. She used to be anit-medicaid and complain about the "lazy." Well.... sadly she ended up having to go on Medicaid and deal with the BS like they lost one of her payments (something she ahd to deal with working in billing in collections, and she was the type to accuse the patient sadly,) and she had to deal with billing departments that treated her as she once treated others. Well.... Karma.... but sadly, she has passed away and I just see that sadly, she had to experience all the things she accuses people of at the end of her life.

Yes, there are abusers in the system. There are abusers in all systems. But not everyone who needs help is an abuser. That's one thing I hate about this society.

[newtus]

i truly believe working with the public makes people bitter. it makes people dont work with public bitter. thats why i firmly believe that no matter HOW someone got to how angry they are or how hateful they are - it still is fed....like a cycle. i saw this one movie about how one person helping another person made THEM help someone else and so on.

you are so much like me in how i feel about society.

i admittely am like that. im one of those people who was given anger and hate and i feed. i try hard not to but i do a lot. also ive seen that with my parents. and so on and so forth.

[The_little_didgee]

Originally Posted by newtus

heres some stuff people said to me. and then some stuff ive seen people say to other people with this dx:

i hate when people say "no your not schizophrenic. my (brother/sister/friend/friends friend/etc) would get arrested/attack people/yell in their sleep/ENTER SOMETHING REALLY OVER THE TOP ....all the time. so you must not be schizophrenic."

"you type really good. you dont have schizophrenia or not psychotic"

"you speak well"

"you dont look/act weird"

"you look clean"

Yes, I have heard many times that there is nothing wrong with me, because I shower, look clean and can express my thoughts well even with a speech impediment. My friend says this to me a lot, even though he knows I have bad anxiety and "perceptual slippages". It hurts because my struggles are reduced to nothing. I want to be heard and acknowledged not compared to others who are a lot worse then me. My struggles are very real. I guess he says this to make me feel better.

Like schizophrenia, Asperger's Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorder is generalized. People think we must look and act like a nerd, have no fashion sense, say stupid things and talk incessantly about our interests. Apparently we are all supposed to be engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians. We are not supposed to be artists and interested in anything mainstream. This is BS. There is no Asperger's Syndrome stereotype. The same applies to schizophrenia. Both these conditions are on a "spectrum".

[faerie_moon_x]

Yes, we produce what we are fed. When surrounded by anger we become angry. That's why I don't like hate groups. Anti this or anti that. We're all human and we all have our own way to see things. Hating someone for being different is pointless. It's like your hand hating your foot because it's different, you know?

I became angry from too much bad things happening to me. Something inside of me broke. I'm trying to fix it, but it's not so easy.