[hartbroken]

If the negative symptoms (as well as the positive symptoms) won't go away and there's no cure for schizophrenia, and stress is big no no for people with the diagnosis, then why do people think it helps us to force more stress on us by making us organize better and want us to socialize more and more?

Organizing has its benefits, but my case manager is a list freak. She herself makes a list of things she has to do everyday, which is ok, but she includes brushing teeth/showering/taking medicine/etc.. when I already can do all that stuff without a list. And she knows I can do those things. But the one thing I have stress doing is creating trivial lists like these.

Social life is critical, but I feel like if I'm invited to a busy social bar with loud conversations from all over the room I'll just end up leaving anyway. And it's caused me more stress.

It's like, leave me alone because I am tired of stigma and stress. If people would willingly educate themselves on symptoms they wouldn't make you feel so stupid and cold and insensitive by their remarks when I'm stressed from a social situation, for instance. We all have computer access now, with internet, and no one should say, "I don't know that much about schizophrenia." Because the only reason why they don't look it up is because they either don't care about you or they care but they don't believe you really have a problem with symptoms.

[hobo2000]

Originally Posted by hartbroken

If the negative symptoms (as well as the positive symptoms) won't go away and there's no cure for schizophrenia, and stress is big no no for people with the diagnosis, then why do people think it helps us to force more stress on us by making us organize better and want us to socialize more and more?

Organizing has its benefits, but my case manager is a list freak. She herself makes a list of things she has to do everyday, which is ok, but she includes brushing teeth/showering/taking medicine/etc.. when I already can do all that stuff without a list. And she knows I can do those things. But the one thing I have stress doing is creating trivial lists like these.

Social life is critical, but I feel like if I'm invited to a busy social bar with loud conversations from all over the room I'll just end up leaving anyway. And it's caused me more stress.

It's like, leave me alone because I am tired of stigma and stress. If people would willingly educate themselves on symptoms they wouldn't make you feel so stupid and cold and insensitive by their remarks when I'm stressed from a social situation, for instance. We all have computer access now, with internet, and no one should say, "I don't know that much about schizophrenia." Because the only reason why they don't look it up is because they either don't care about you or they care but they don't believe you really have a problem with symptoms.

I make my doctors uncomfortable, I'm not sure why. Maybe your doctor thinks you need the distraction of a list to help you manage your negative symptoms better. For example, people with severe anxiety disorders like OCD have rituals that help them deal with their anxiety. I make lists of things I need to do all the time to cope and remember what I need to do.

[neodoering]

Originally Posted by hartbroken

It's like, leave me alone because I am tired of stigma and stress. If people would willingly educate themselves on symptoms they wouldn't make you feel so stupid and cold and insensitive by their remarks when I'm stressed from a social situation, for instance. We all have computer access now, with internet, and no one should say, "I don't know that much about schizophrenia." Because the only reason why they don't look it up is because they either don't care about you or they care but they don't believe you really have a problem with symptoms.

It's funny... Some of my friends have looked up SZA and mental illness in general to try to understand what I am going through, and most do not: they just take what I give them and made broad comments based on that. People who have known me for a while (say, a few years) know my triggers because I have told them what those triggers are, and they avoid stressing me. I think people are concerned, but in all the things they have to do every day, my illness takes a low priority.

As to whether they believe you're really sick or not, well... Certainly President Trump does not believe most disabled people are really ill: Donald Trump on Social Security. This is the message coming down from the top, and it sets the tone for how government officials will respond to disability issues. Mental illness already suffers because it's an "invisible" illness: if you have a leg blown off, people can see you're disabled. With MI, unless you're babbling and running out in front of trains, you're just a phony. Sad, but true...

[VanGore28]

Having to make a list of things such as 'take a shower' is totally belittling you and I bet you feel worse. I would blow my top lol. There are many power trippers in the mental health game I have learned.

You can't avoid stress your whole life
Stress is a healthy part of life, to avoid it just makes it worse

I also have a sensitivity to stress and it makes my "psychotic" symptoms much worse, but I have to learn to manage stress and my symptoms better because stress is always going to be there and you can't keep avoiding it