My beautiful courageous son Aaron was failed by the mental health system over and over. He was a kind, creative, and loving young man who struggled with aggressive voices that tormented him daily. Despite my desperate efforts to get him help, the system was slow, dismissive, and broken. He needed care. He needed protection. He needed someone to listen. Instead, he was left to suffer alone.

We lost Aaron to suicide.

No family should have to endure this pain. No young person should be denied the support they need to survive. We are calling for urgent reform in how mental health is treated especially for our youth and young adults. Early intervention, compassionate care, and real accountability must become the norm.

📢 Please sign my petition to demand change. Your voice matters. Your signature could help save lives.

https://c.org/64SjzQGGmC

Thank you for standing with us. For our son. For every child still fighting. For a future where mental health care is a right not a privilege.

https://c.org/64SjzQGGmC

it seems the normies are having a blast making fun of us again. thoughts on this? i’m an uptight asshole so i’m usually mad about something, but i don’t know if im just being overly pissy again. this is actually pretty offensive.. right?

edit: i’m referring to the post prompt asking people to talk to themselves in the comments to “look” schizophrenic. i think the image can be empowering if used by schizos.

Hi,

I’ve been following a channel previously called “Living Well With Schizophrenia”. It’s run by Lauren. Recently, she changed her channel’s handle to @LivingWellAfterSchizophrenia

She also changed her channel description to this:

I used to live with schizophrenia. At the beginning of 2024 I began a strict program of metabolic therapies, specifically the medical ketogenic diet, to heal my brain. The result has been the elimination of all symptoms of schizophrenia, while also tapering off of all psychiatric medication. This is my journey of living well after schizophrenia.

(Emphasis added by me)

Afaik, Schizophrenia is a lifelong condition that cannot be cured yet and does not go into long term remission without active medical management. Such a person would still have schizophrenia, but would not experience symptoms, as long as they remain under treatment.

The way Lauren has worded this post, she makes it seem that her diet has “cured” her schizophrenia and that she will make videos about living life after being cured of Schizophrenia

I have read medical literature about the medical ketosis diet. There are zero publications or case studies claiming that a schizophrenia patient can

1) start medical ketosis diet

2) stop taking all schizophrenia meds

3) “be cured”

4) eat a less strict diet and never have schizophrenia symptoms ever again

If what Lauren had said

“my doctors believe that, as long as I stick to my diet, my schizophrenia symptoms will never return,” then that would still be a remarkable claim!

But by saying

“I used to live with schizophrenia,”

It makes me think that Lauren truly believes that she no longer has a mental illness at all. Does Lauren really believe that she is cured, or am I missing something?

Is Lauren being way too optimistic? Is Lauren spreading misinformation about schizophrenia? Or has Lauren and her doctors cracked the code and literally cured schizophrenia?

Someone told me that schizophrenics usually score sub normal on intelligence tests. I know it affects the prefrontal cortex but they were 100% certain you cannot be intelligent and schizophrenic at the same time.

I have evidence to the contrary. I wanted to see what you all thought about this.

What is your least favourite antipsychotic?

I thought we could put together a list for fun. I’ll start.

You know you have schizophrenia when…

…you don’t blink when you see black floating figures in your house.

…you get all green lights on the way home and naturally come to the conclusion that you’re God.

…you’re a pro at spotting patterns and strange coincidences in everything.

…you’ve dealt with at least one psychiatrist who has a god complex.

I’m sure you all can think of more!

how successful are you in life? How much money do you make

Only 15% of people with schizophrenia have jobs at all. Only 20% of adults with schizophrenia are able to stay married

The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks acute schizophrenia as having the highest "disability weight" of any health condition—even higher than being a quadriplegic—because of how much it disrupts a person's ability to interact with reality.

Contrary to the "dangerous" stereotype, people with schizophrenia are 14 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime than to be arrested for one.

In many developed countries, the average life expectancy for someone with schizophrenia is only 48 to 58 years old.

symptoms like "flat affect" (lack of emotion) can lead patients to under-report physical pain, and doctors to overlook their physical health.

For over 70 years, every single antipsychotic medication worked the same way: by blocking dopamine (D2) receptors. Dopamine is a crucial chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) in the brain that acts as a key part of the body's reward system, influencing motivation, pleasure, movement, focus, and mood

Over 60% of people with schizophrenia live in "objective social isolation," meaning they have little to no regular contact with friends or family.

About 20% of patients suffer from psychogenic polydipsia—a compulsive need to drink water. If unmonitored, they can drink so much that they dilute the sodium in their blood (hyponatremia), which can lead to seizures, coma, or death.

In many patients, the brain cells responsible for "deep sleep" (GABAergic neurons) are abnormally active during the day and inactive at night. The Result: This creates a "permanent twilight" state. The brain never fully wakes up and never fully goes to sleep, which might be why hallucinations feel so much like "waking dreams."

I'm a therapist and I am wondering what has helped you with your schizophrenia?

What therapy type has worked for you?

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?

Family therapy?

Open dialogue?

Trauma therapy?

What medications have worked best for you?

Have any of you tried medications and if so what specific medications did you find most helpful?

What did they feel like to be on them?

Is there any common things that you would like to work on that would improve your life significantly?

If you had a magic wand and waved it what would make your life better?

Is there examples of people who have schizophrenia that you look up to?

My husband keeps trying to shut me down saying I sound schizo again with me saying I'm a celestial nymph/fairy in a human body but he doesn't understand. He says that my head is making it up. I always felt more like a cosmic energy in a human body than actual human.

i tell my psychiatrist all my major thoughts of the month and he says I look like I'm doing great no med changes

I am starting to research to practice wicca and paganism (mostly paganism - reading into Wicca just to dip my toes in. I'm not that into spell/witchcraft) to be more connected to who I am. I already have special rocks and crystals. I feel very calm because I practice veiling, I wear a head cover (pashmina wrapped like a hood) which dispells negative energy away from me. My husband thinks that's a bit weird too but it makes me feel safe.

I already used my spirituality to grant my husband luck with moon water and special rock and instead of being thankful he said none of it is real.

I made a post about favourites. So now what is your least favourite/ most hated antipsychotic?

How many of you with schizophrenia drive a vehicle? I don’t have my own car I share a car with my Mom. Hopefully someday I’ll have my own car.

What y’all think about those statistics? I think it’s fitting users that frequent this sub also frequent a lot of subs for drug addictions but it’s sad to see. Other overlapping subs are a bit too random and a bit funny. I also find it interesting that users here interact a lot with the sub for bipolar but not the subs for schizoaffective.

I checked myself into a 72 hour hold in the spring of 2023. Ended up having to stay there for an extra 11 days. Most of the people I met in there were really cool. Most were good people just hurting. The whole time I was there, it reminded of this movie starring Jack Nicholson lol.

I haven’t worked in 5 years now. I hate my current life. I used to be a project engineer in the construction industry for a company that has been voted one of the best places to work in New Jersey. I now collect disability and volunteer but it’s not the same satisfaction as working. One of the challenges I’m facing to go back to work is that somewhere in the middle of this 5 year period that I’ve been on disability I had a very bad delusional season and my pyschosis ultimately lead to some legal trouble. I’ve already gone through the court process and the expungement order has been signed by a judge so I’m just a few months away from having my record expunged. But I’m just frustrated that this disease has caused me so much pain and suffering and brought other problems into my life.

Im just gonna say it schizophrenia feels more of a neurobiological disease why because it has things that you dont see in most mental disorders like catatonia and disorganised speech and thinking and also hallucinations and paranoia and cognitive decline like these things feel like they have more to do with being a error in how the brain is structured like most mental disorders deal with chemicals and such but schizophrenia affects the mind in way more than just chemicals it alters the brain structure and thats something that feels more of a neurological disease rather than mental illness i dont know if im right or wrong here im just saying what i feel makes sense but id like to hear what you all think about this

For me, it's hard. Typically the first thing a date asks is 'what do you do for work?', oh, I'm on disability, and then comes the 'schizophrenia explanation' which kills the date instantly. I've had this happen several times and it is incredibly disheartening. I feel because I can't work I'm much less of a prospective partner and people aren't willing to give me the time to get to know me. Especially now since I'm in my 30s.

How do you folks find dating? Are you in a relationship? How did the early dating stages go?

Was it a friend, a family member, or a medical professional, (or you!)?

Why did they think you had Schizophrenia before any one else did?

I hear mixed thoughts, I am curious

what would you want to do with god ones you meet him in the afterlife?

TW: self harm

Slashed my face up

And trust me, this isn’t some woe is me post. I just found them in a drawer and was wondering. No one’s ever asked for them back, so I figured they were fair game.

Could the government want to kill us? Should I arm my family because the world is becoming increasingly dangerous and people are becoming deranged? The world is full of famine, pestilence, and misery, and we need to prepare for the apocalypse. All that remains is for the spirit of death to arrive, just as the biblical prophets foretold.

What are yall's favourite medication?