[MtnTime2896]

Does anyone else have this problem:

When I'm going throughout my day, I'm seeing and hearing plenty but it's like my mind doesn't think, "Hey, that's wrong," or "That's a hallucination." It just sort of accepts it as it is. It's rare when I catch it as abnormal. In fact, the only time I realize it isn't right is when I'm taking my meds and I'm realizing it's too quiet or nothing around me is happening. I don't know if this is normal or not. Just thought I'd ask.

[Yzen]

Could your brain be adjusting to it? The mind likes to make order. When you see or hear something surprising, your mind initially views it as strange. When something keeps occurring over and over, it will adjust to treating it as a normal occurrence.

That is what appears to happen to people who work in the ER or are in war. The surprise fades into normal.

Just my guess.

Yeah, I would agree that your brain is normalising your experiences. Brains are 'surprise detectors', as my cognitive psychology Prof used to say, so they're only interested in novel stimuli and then filtered out to focus on the next new thing. Regular hallucinations become the norm. If you think about it, it's weird what the brain gets used to e.g. people who are severely depressed get used to feeling like that and then can start to fear getting better because it will be new/different, even though they feel absolutely awful. Same with psychosis.

You referred to it as a "problem" though. What is problematic about it for you?

*Willow*

[MtnTime2896]

Those are good answers. I sure can't argue with them.

I suppose the problem is the fact that it causes it to be difficult taking the meds. The meds shock my system and make me see (or not see) things that have become normal.

Originally Posted by Só leigheas

I suppose the problem is the fact that it causes it to be difficult taking the meds. The meds shock my system and make me see (or not see) things that have become normal.

Continuing to take the meds will make not seeing things the new 'normal'.

The only issue with that is if you repeatedly start/stop meds, or if your meds lose their effectiveness in the future, and then people seem to have forgotten the ability to cope with the symptoms that they were used to, but that just requires a conscious decision to re-use the coping skills that you didn't need for a while and waiting for the med change to kick in. In a way, meds working for you is a good thing. Not everyone has that option.

Do you miss not seeing/hearing things when you're on meds? That's quite a common experience. Eg Sometimes, people miss their voices, and it is a sign that they are lonely and need to work on expanding their social interaction with real people. Sometimes people miss the feeling of importance that they get from their experiences e.g. that they're the only one who can talk to God, or whatever is it, and then it's about working out ways to add a feeling of importance and mastery at other things. If so, you need to work out what it is specifically that you miss, and whether the benefits of seeing them outweigh the benefits of not seeing them.

*Willow*

[Findingreason]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

Yeah, I would agree that your brain is normalising your experiences. Brains are 'surprise detectors', as my cognitive psychology Prof used to say, so they're only interested in novel stimuli and then filtered out to focus on the next new thing. Regular hallucinations become the norm. If you think about it, it's weird what the brain gets used to e.g. people who are severely depressed get used to feeling like that and then can start to fear getting better because it will be new/different, even though they feel absolutely awful. Same with psychosis.

You referred to it as a "problem" though. What is problematic about it for you?

*Willow*

I can especially relate to the normalcy of my severe depression in the past. It was like I didn't know what it was like to live without it, and thus brought a degree of fear in recovery. When it did begin to lift, it was a bit of a shock at first; I didn't know what to do. But as time went on (over the course of a couple months), I began to adjust to the improving conditions in my mental health.

[Teddy Bear]

When I hear or see things I can usually tell if it's my schizophrenia

[MtnTime2896]

Originally Posted by Teddy Bear

When I hear or see things I can usually tell if it's my schizophrenia

It's not (always) as much as I can't tell vs. that it goes into the "Unimportant" folder in my brain. Like, I know kids aren't playing in the kitchen because I'm alone, but I don't even realize that it's a problem. If anything, it comforts me. It reminds me of my boys. And I miss them so much that I don't mind.

Originally Posted by Só leigheas

It's not (always) as much as I can't tell vs. that it goes into the "Unimportant" folder in my brain.

I feel the same way. Having the real vs not real debate all the time just stressed me out, so I tell myself that it's irrelevant either way, and most of the time I don't even think about it.

Originally Posted by Só leigheas

Like, I know kids aren't playing in the kitchen because I'm alone, but I don't even realize that it's a problem. If anything, it comforts me. It reminds me of my boys. And I miss them so much that I don't mind.

It's only really a problem if you consider it's a problem. That's how I see things anyway. It sounds like a nice thing that you feel comforted by

*Willow*

[MtnTime2896]

Thank you, Willow. And it really is exhausting trying to figure everything out.

It really is!

*Willow*