“People with schizophrenia can take an active role in managing their own illness. Once they learn the basic facts about schizophrenia and the principles of schizophrenia treatment, they can make informed decisions about their care.(3)” I have gained strong control over my thoughts. If I don’t want to hear it, I block it out. I tell myself I don’t want that again so I don’t even dwell on it. Eventually it goes away and the right pills help me increase my control.
“The cognitive therapist teaches people with schizophrenia how to test the reality of their thoughts and perceptions, how to ‘not listen’ to their voices, and how to shake off the apathy that often immobilizes them.(3)” It really helps me to test it by asking my husband about the reality. I know that my husband tells me the truth. These thoughts get stronger when I listen to them, and they get weaker when I don’t pay any attention to them. I have learned how to deal with it. These are some to the defense that I have used over the years of my schizophrenia.
Mental Illness and Media
“Mental illness and the Media… In today’s program we explore the links between the mainly negative portrayals of people with mental illnesses in the media and widespread discrimination against those affected by these illnesses.(7)” The media is good at taking the extremes and portraying to the public that this is how a mentally ill person acts.
As a side note…Yes, some movies do play the role correctly, but treatment makes life easier dealing with these traits than you would think it would seem. When I am watching a movie that has some symptoms right they seem harder to deal with. There are times when they don’t play the emotions as strong as real life. They are more entwined, more involved with your senses. Although when I was convinced that I didn’t have it the voices would tell me that if I had it they had it too because they were talking to me in the same realm that I was communicating with them. So even though they discovered it, I followed the doctors because I was told to, later I learned that the voices were just voices even though they still seem real. Sometimes I would go to this person who would see these spirits with me. She would cast them out of me and would also have my dad use the priesthood to remove them from me. Sometimes it would take several tries before they would be cast out. Now, looking back, I wonder, if it was both spirits and the illness, because I got more control over my body with meds tells me that maybe it was both, maybe they came to me because I they could tell that I was struggling, so they helped me out (like Satan’s followers do) by giving me less control over my own body.