Topic Tuesday // What it's really like to live with schizophrenia // Tues 22 May, 7pm AEDT

[Former-Member]

Welcome @Imzen and @winter2018 

[zandibrot]

Hi folks. Good to join you all. My voices are just thoughts. Some of them appear to originate from entities other than myself. I dont think of the voices as being internal or external, rather I believe our mind in its true nature is isomorphic, that is, all pervading. 

Also, I believe the voices are just like a dream, a bubble, an illusion,  or a shadow.

Ive been diagnosed as having schizophrenia. But my point of view is that schizophrenia is a scientific delusion, as stated in the clinical psychologist Mary Boyles book "Schizophrenia a scientific delusion"

[Sandy1]

@winter2018

My friends are good at reality checking with me. But I am the last person to know that I am having delusions. This is the tragedy of schizophrenia. there are no easy answers. If the delusions are distressing the person mneeds to know that this will pass. That they will not be like this forever. Voices are my big problem and i have my strategies to deal with them. sometines it works, sometimes not.

[Shaz51]

Hi @HayleyC, @Former-Member, @Sandy1, @greenpea, @winter2018 , I haven't previously had any experience with delusions or hallucinations myself,

but my cousin was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia

[greenpea]

@Shaz51 Hi Shaz51 hope you had a restful day after yesterdays workout 😛 xx

[Sandy1]

@greenpea

yes, I take medication and i still have my voices at night time when i go to bed. i think medication helps me manage them. but i do have thjing i do to ameliorate them.

[MelbourneWoman7]

Okay. Mine r my own inner voices. I dont really understand my diagnoses. I look up and research. Can a delusion be an inner voice too?

[zandibrot]

• Joy Division

[Sandy1]

strategies for coping with voices/delusions (not that i have any that are fool proof)

I use music to fill the spaces of my mind where the voices seek to inhabit. My voices are worst at night in bed. So, I plug in my MP3 player and fill my head with music. I also compose letters to the editor and do mental arithmetic to try and fill the space. I have team Sandy which I use to keep me in the world intact. Team Sandy is my friends, hockey team, orchestras I play in and the things I do to help me stay centred. I work hard on making sure my friends stay around me.

[Former-Member]

welcome along @zandibrot!