Schizophrenia - General Discussion
in Psychology & Therapy ·
I have a buddy who lives with paranoid schizophrenia. He’s incredibly disciplined now—takes his meds religiously and hasn't had a relapse in quite a while—though, to be fair, it wasn't always this way. There were a few times in the past where he ended up being hospitalized against his will because he just wouldn't follow the doctor's orders. Back then, things got pretty intense; he’d be convinced there were spies lurking under the tables at local coffee shops, or he’d be marching and shouting in front of apartment buildings, acting out some sort of soldier persona. 😁 I used to distance myself from him, honestly, but I’ve come to realize how wrong and cold that was—not to mention completely inhumane. Lately, we’ve been hanging out more, and man, he seems like a totally normal guy. If you didn't know his history, you'd never guess he deals with any kind of struggle
.
At the end of the day, we shouldn't be pushing people with these kinds of conditions to the fringes of society; instead, we should be focusing on helping them reintegrate. Now, I'm certainly no clinical psychologist, but I suspect that having a steady job could actually serve as a form of therapy for people like him—it gives them a sense of purpose and keeps those "dark thoughts," as folks often call them, from just piling up and overwhelming the mind
.
.
At the end of the day, we shouldn't be pushing people with these kinds of conditions to the fringes of society; instead, we should be focusing on helping them reintegrate. Now, I'm certainly no clinical psychologist, but I suspect that having a steady job could actually serve as a form of therapy for people like him—it gives them a sense of purpose and keeps those "dark thoughts," as folks often call them, from just piling up and overwhelming the mind
.