briskgull27 said:I sometimes feel like I should be ashamed because I’ve had to take Haldol in the past. Honestly, the worst part is that I truly do feel that shame. But then again, isn't it true that people dealing with psychosis often struggle with a fractured sense of self? Still, I can't help but fear a world where I am inherently viewed as less valuable.
Tell me about it. It doesn't sit right with me either when people ask what I do, and I have to admit I'm still a junior in college after three years. And look, the fact that I've been in mental hospitals—honestly, I got lucky because everything in my neighborhood is crawling with alcoholics and addicts who end up there "on official business" all the time, plus a ton of PTSD cases. That's why I joined this association; I wanted to be around "people like me" just so I don't feel so isolated. It makes living in Washington, D.C. easier than back in my hometown. Once, we were at a group meeting over some Popovača, talking about things we aren't proud of, and I blurted out that just the fact that we’re all here is already a disgrace. Some lady absolutely tore me apart for that, and to this day, I cringe thinking about it. I'm sick, and it's not my fault, nor does it make me worth less. But that uncomfortable feeling stays. Sometimes it gets under my skin so much that I just lose it. Like that time I told you I ended up wearing my pajama shirt from Popovača on the subway because of a conductor. Seriously! I wore that damn shirt all day across all of Washington, D.C., believe it or not. When we were doing that outreach near the flower market, everyone was suggesting we use "Mental Health Association"—you know, sounds classier—but nope! I went ahead and had four massive two-meter banners printed that just said MENTAL PATIENTS. Then, we were over by that church (the city gave us the space, though we were looking for something closer to a park), and some believer or maybe even the priest shows up on a Sunday, Palm Sunday, and starts preaching that this whole thing is just some political stunt to make them, the religious folks, look like lunatics. Then, as if by pure coincidence, some woman walks by to buy something. She pulls out her wallet, and tucked right in the slot is some Press ID. Anyway, luckily nothing actually came of it. And so on...
vividskipper15 said:Even though she’s been given a diagnosis, I honestly have my doubts. That whole PMS thing sounds bizarre—being perfectly fine all month and then suddenly crashing for three to five days? I've never heard of anything like that before. Although her symptoms were intense at first—she was practically carrying knives around with her—I wasn't scared. I've known her my entire life and just didn't think she was capable of hurting anyone. You’re incredibly lucky to have your husband; her own father completely cut her off. And he won't stop talking trash about her because of it... acting like she somehow disgraced the family name or some other bullshit.
First off, if possible, someone needs to get her a new psychiatrist immediately, as for everything else... I don't know.
Look, if anyone’s sitting here feeling let down because I don't spend my time trashing asylum workers or psychiatrists... well, too bad. That's just not how I roll.
Look, I truly feel for anyone who went through hell in psychiatric wards or dealt with terrible doctors. Honestly, who hasn't had some kind of mental breakdown? But listen, that’s not on me. I can't fix what happened to other people. Before I was even institutionalized, my life was a complete wreck. They basically dragged me into the hospital against my will, but at the end of the day, they patched me up as much as they could—and I’m actually grateful for that. When you're stuck in a psychotic episode, everything feels like an enemy. The hospital, God, the devil, everyone and everything. It’s constant warfare. But once you finally crawl out of that mess? You realize you were being a total idiot. Just a complete moron. I got lucky during my first stay because I ran into some decent people. It’s like anything else in life, really. You’re going to run into the absolute worst people, the best people, and a massive spectrum of weirdos in between. Luck of the draw, I guess.
I’ve got this gut feeling, and honestly, it’s kind of terrifying. It just feels like... The first hospitalization is everything. Seriously. It sets the tone for the whole damn experience. You can't just wing it after that.Either you drop the act, or you lose the access. It's that simple.
I got stuck in my own head today. I actually went down a rabbit hole and spent some time digging through old threads on various forums since I haven’t been around here in forever.
Anyway, I started spiraling into this thought:
Maybe there's actual merit in looking at mental illness like, "Yeah, okay, so what? It's intense! Who gives a damn! You and your schizophrenia can kiss my ass!" And honestly, the best way to kill any social stigma is just to lean into it: "Yeah, I've been checked into a psych ward, big deal. Sometimes I lose my mind—so what? It's probably better for you if I'm not around when that happens anyway, because I'll just end up making a complete fool of myself. So, what's your point?"
I have no idea why this just popped into my head, but here we go:
Societal perceptions of mental health vary across cultures. Take certain rural areas in the United States and Canada, for example—sometimes they don't even have a specific word for "depression." People there might just see someone as being deeply distressed rather than having a clinical diagnosis. Because of that, studies showing rural populations recover faster from mental illness suggest that without those heavy labels, people actually get back on their feet and return to work much quicker than those in big cities.
Mark Agius, MD
Or, if you want the "common sense" version: schizophrenia, right? Whatever. I was at the dentist yesterday! Get lost with that nonsense! Dammit.
The closest thing would be if they just kept handing me refills on my omega, lecithin, and CoQ10 on a silver platter But whatever. From what I can tell, even that wouldn't actually match what the article is trying to say
Here’s the thing: when I say I spent time in a Small town in rural USA, you lunatics just assume I’m the biggest nutcase in the group. Then, when I try to tell you that hospital isn't actually all that special, suddenly it looks like I'm some kind of fanboy.
My pride in that Small town in rural USA just flared up a bit, that's all.
Alright, I'll jump in too. I get the feeling people hype up that Small town in rural USA hospital way too much. Anyone who’s actually been there knows it’s just your run-of-the-mill neuro-psych ward, just like any other facility in a small town in rural USA or a neighborhood in a major US city. Personally? I’d say the quality sits somewhere behind the place in the small town in rural USA but ahead of the one in the neighborhood in a major US city—though honestly, it doesn't really matter.
The main reason it stays "under the radar" is probably because it’s a bit far from downtown Chicago. I mean, seriously, if you live in Chicago, who’s actually going to trek out to the middle of nowhere to visit someone? You can get to Person via streetcar in no time, so maybe psychiatrists at the small town in rural USA facility—or wherever else—just use the "scary" reputation of this rural hospital to spook patients. Maybe it’s because they have a sort of lockup ward there (which I think they have in the small town in rural USA location too), or those wards for "chronic" cases (which exist everywhere, really). Maybe it’s because for a long time it felt more tied to different regional systems rather than being part of the Chicago medical scene. Or maybe it's because, back in the day, work therapy for severe cases meant working on a farm—digging up tomatoes or radishes—but they did that stuff at the neighborhood in a major US city location too. Also, they don't host lectures for med students, but that's just because it's a bit of a drive from the medical school (maybe 70-50 miles miles away), not because they lack PhDs...
Ultimately, the biggest factor is just the distance from Chicago (about 70 miles), but personally, the trip from Indianapolis feels more manageable to me than driving into the city. It's only about 20 miles, plus there's zero traffic. Honestly, getting from Indianapolis to Chicago often takes me longer than dealing with the nightmare traffic in the city center.
Besides, that rural hospital is what actually pulled me out of the gutter, not Person or Person—I mostly see Person for checkups now simply because I spend more time in Chicago than I do in Indianapolis lately.
And man, the folks over at Person really grind my gears when they try to scare patients (usually by mentioning the small town in rural USA facility), acting like they're some kind of gods. Sure, they all have PhDs, but that doesn't automatically make them good with people—we saw that clearly enough with the example of Person. In fact, it's often counterproductive when they want to play scientist and experiment on patients just to have something to write about—like how they're still obsessed with electroconvulsive therapy, or God knows what else. They need data for papers. But they can be absolutely terrible therapists even without that.
Taylor Campbell4 said:In that case, this article/interview regarding PTSD would be a perfect fit for you. Once I stumble upon anything else that might be relevant, I'll let you know (and would it be okay if some were in English, so you could translate them yourselves? This one on PTSD is already translated—not sure if you've seen it).
I just don't quite get why it has to be restricted to a single A4 page... PS: If you need help with the website or any tech stuff, feel free to ask around here on the forum; check out the IT or web design sections if you haven't already.
I'll take a look. It doesn't have to be just one page. It can be as long as necessary. I only mentioned the one-page limit before so I wouldn't scare people off, since I brought it up once already.
I tried typing in www.psychologytoday.com but it's just contact info. It’s not heavy-duty clinical psychiatry; it's more like pop psychology.
briskgull27 said:@stormylynx23, who actually picks up that magazine? I'm curious about the price point, where you can grab a copy, and what their typical circulation looks like.
Look, Google isn't actually affiliated with the Special Olympics. It's just that the editor happens to be my psychiatrist—he's also the guy who pushed for the creation of both the Special Olympics and the Make-A-Wish Foundation here in the States.
It costs about $10 and you can grab it at any newsstand. It's basically a journal for psychological medicine. You might be able to track down some back issues, but since their website is totally down right now, I honestly have no clue.
Taylor Campbell4 said:EDIT: fixed a bunch of errors Actually, I was going to ask you what kind of topic might work for an article 😁 Though, writing isn't exactly my forte—I’ve hit a massive writer's block, which doesn't help since I'm swamped with other gigs, like translation work and stuff. There's definitely some pressure to get something written. It's a bit of a bummer because I actually have openings at a few places—both print and online—if I could just... pull myself together a bit 😁
I wanted to ask you that, but I clicked the link first, so now I have a general idea of what's going on. Are you an active member of that organization? Do you maybe handle the website or something like that?
Look, I edit the American translation pages for the Shareholder magazine; there's a great article over there about Black Lives Matter that you could just copy and paste. It’s a really compelling read. (Though, you'd need to cite the source, obviously.) There's another one too, but it focuses more on children—specifically abandoned kids and their psychological struggles and recovery. That Black Lives Matter piece would be a solid choice for you guys to post.
Now that I'm looking closer at what you wrote (sorry if I'm being a bit frantic, I'm rushing to finish something), were you actually looking for someone else to write a text on your behalf? If so, then what I suggested won't work—feel free to shoot me a PM if you want to chat. (It would be wild to list all the combinations we're thinking of here 😬 )
It's not about having someone write *for* me. My whole goal is just to get as many people involved as possible—whether they're part of an advocacy group, outsiders, healthy folks, patients, or even psychiatrists—all contributing to the conversation on mental health. More voices, more perspectives. Total anarchy, really (think of it like a grassroots assembly). At the end of the day, the point is to actually help people struggling with mental illness.
I’m not exactly the most active member right now, but yeah, I’m building a website (doing everything for free so there's no confusion about money) P.S.: The technical side is still kicking my ass
briskgull27 said:Look, I should probably give you a fair warning: I’m pretty much the only person on this entire forum who shares your specific way of looking at things.
But honestly? My advice is to just start a new thread. There's no way anyone is going to track down that address here.
Oh, there are others out there, believe me. They just hide better than most people I know.
It doesn't have to be about schizophrenia or any of that weird stuff, either.
Could be about how Maitreja helps folks dealing with mental health issues (Goranbo)
I’ll start a thread, and then who knows? It might just vanish into thin air.
So, I was wondering if anyone here feels like drafting something for a column. If you're up for it, just shoot your pitch over to info@udruga-sjaj.com.
Keep it to about one A4 page in Word, roughly.
And hey, if you play your cards right and the editor actually digs it, they might feature you in an upcoming issue of Promente—and who knows, maybe there’s even some cash in it for you.
Look, it's honestly hard to pin down specific diagnoses like that because the symptoms overlap so much. It's all a blur. Most of this stuff is still basically "fringe science" to psychiatry anyway. I feel like I read somewhere that Britons are thinking about scrapping schizophrenia as a standalone diagnosis entirely, just because the term is way too broad and covers too many different things.
For instance, my current psychiatrist won't give anyone a final diagnosis unless they absolutely have to for official paperwork.
Taylor Campbell4 said:Look, I don't know, honestly. If you didn't know that one hundred percent, then fine, but even I—a total layman—read somewhere a long time ago that people with schizophrenia perceive reality in this really weird, distorted way. They can't tell the difference between their inner world and the outside world. (Actually, there isn't much of a difference to begin with, but they just somehow fail to distinguish them.)
That happens during an episode (psychosis), not during the gaps between attacks when you're in what's called remission.
Just look at how people fear those with schizophrenia—honestly, I’m more afraid of people. I’m so wary that I don't think I'll ever be the one to reach out and start a friendship. I'm even afraid of life itself; if my liver or kidneys eventually give out, I'll just pack up and head to Ethiopia, joking about it all the way. I’m scared to do anything because I'll always be told I'm wrong, that it's my fault, while everyone else is "right." Even though there's a whole crowd of idiots out there who are just like me, they weren't the ones sent to the psych ward.
My biggest question is really this: why choose chronic illness over death? And honestly, I'm even afraid of being "happy." "Misery" feels much safer—a little bit of chaos, sure, but at least it's *my* chaos.
So, that’s the situation—I don't really have a goal.
I totally feel that part, though the rest? Not so much.
From what I’ve gathered looking at the data, the percentage of killers among people with schizophrenia is actually about the same as it is in the general population.
And honestly, regarding all this talk about stigma—if you ever run into some guy riding an MTA bus wearing nothing but the top half of his pajamas with "Mayo Clinic" printed on it, it just means I’m scaring the hell out of the bus driver. 😁 😁 😁 😁
Look, it doesn't have to be strictly about schizophrenia. Anything related to psychology, psychiatry, the psyche—whatever—works. I mean, as long as it fits the theme of the column.
I haven't been on this forum for very long, but it’s pretty obvious there are some sharp, articulate people hanging around here. So, if anyone feels like putting together a piece on this topic, send it my way via email (use a pseudonym, obviously) and I'll try to get it featured in the 'Column' section over at the Sjaj Association website.
Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty wired—just constantly on edge—and since I spotted Taylor Campbell4's link in their signature, it got me thinking. Does anyone else here have actual experience with meditation, autogenic training, yoga, or any of that stuff? Honestly, I’ve only managed to get through the part where you tell yourself "my right arm feels heavy"... my psychiatrist is way too busy to walk me through the rest of it. Pills might take the edge off for a second, provided they don't completely knock me out, but even then, they rarely do much.