schizophreniaawareness

Most people when they hear schizophrenia think of a person hearing things or seeing things. They also may think of them believing strange things like the government is after them. While hallucinations and delusions is a big part of schizophrenia there are other things people might not be aware of.

Schizophrenia is broken down into positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Positive symptoms don't mean something good, it means something added to the person with schizophrenia life like hallucinations or delusions.

Negative symptoms are difficult to deal with and arent talked about as often. They include things like lack of motivation, not being interested in things, not taking care of hygiene or important things like paying bills or even eating. These symptoms can look a lot like depression. The negative symptoms I deal with the most is lack of motivation, lack of interest and poor hygiene sometimes.

One way I've found that helps negative symptoms is sticking to a routine even when it is hard to do. I keep reminders on my phone. I wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. I wash my face and brush my teeth and take my medicine. Then I make my bed and eat breakfast and exercise. I get dressed even if I want to just wear the same thing every day.

Cognitive symptoms are difficult too. It is difficult for me to focus for too long on anything. This makes reading and even watching tv difficult. Even writing this is a challenge because it's hard for me to find the right words because sometimes my thoughts feel jumbled and jump around.

Everyone with schizophrenia has different experience and these are just some of mine. I hope this is helpful to understanding schizophrenia a little better

#SchizoaffectiveDisorder
#Schizophrenia
#MentalIllnessAwareness
#schizophreniaawareness

Holidays can be a tough time for anyone, but for those of us living with a mental illness it can be harder.
I live with schizoaffective disorder. A serious mental illness that combines symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood disorder, in my case bipolar.
Even though I'm well medicated I still can get symptoms especially when I'm stressed and the holidays can be stressful.

I sometimes have a hard time making eye contact due to feeling like people can read my thoughts, this makes people think I'm being rude if they don't understand. This can make socializing uncomfortable for me sometimes. One way I deal with this is to say in my head "if you can hear me blink twice" this reassures me that they can't read my thoughts because they never do what I ask them to.

Another symptom that makes holidays gatherings tough is I can hear voices when I get stressed. In crowded places it can be hard to tell the voices in my head from the chatter of the room. This is harder to deal with for me, but I find if I focus completely on one person talking I can quiet the other chatter both in my head and in the room. Another thing that helps is to step outside or to the bathroom.

When I get anxious or overwhelmed just stepping away to the bathroom helps I usually splash my face with cold water to ground me and bring me back to reality. I also have a small stuffed sloth that I bring with me in my purse. Holding it helps ground me.

Also, having a plan helps when getting ready for holiday get togethers. I plan how long I'm going to stay, bring my as needed meds in a pill case so they don't stand out if I need to take one, and know where I can "escape" to like knowing where the bathroom or back yard is.

What are some ways you cope with holidays?

#SchizoaffectiveDisorder #schizoaffective #schizophreniaawareness #Anxiety #Holidays