Life A.D. [After Diagnosis]

It seems people who are diagnosed with SZA are expected to resign themselves to what others believe is good for them since it is believed that they are not capable of knowing what is good themselves. I suppose this is somewhat of a sensitive topic as people who are diagnosed are encouraged to take what is prescribed to them. My intention is not to challenge the opinion of the medical community but if alternative solutions are found to be just as effective or more effective, we could benefit from that. Treatments are not written in stone. They always seem to be changing so new information about the condition that produces good results can't be such a bad thing. The prevailing opinion seems to be that there is a defect or a problem of some kind with the way the mind is functioning. My approach is to suggest that the mind is reacting the way it is supposed to react and we just do not understand how to make the mind work as it should. If we do not accomplish anything in life, there is good reason to be depressed. The line between regular depression and "clinical depression" could be finer and more closely related than we realize. There are likely cases where medication would still be useful or needed but there could also be cases and situations where counseling and education could help a lot of people. There is a tendency for medicine to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of those symptoms. Yes, there is an “unbalance” that has occurred in the mind but there is very often a good reason for that imbalance.

Self-stigma is a huge problem. When I was 18, just discharged from the state hospital, I thought I had "mentally ill" written on my forehead. I thought that just by looking at me you could tell.

 

Years later I stand I say "I have a mental illness." I am surprised how people reacted. I told my dentist, explained the voices, and she was amazed. She said she would never had known. There is no way to tell I have an illness unless I tell.

 

I cringe at words that are defamatory. I am working on not using words like, crazy, psycho, lunatic, looney...etc. I wrote once that I wanted to change the language. A person responded by saying "you cannot change a leopard's spots." I do not believe that. I believe that by standing and saying "enough is enough" change will come about.

 

I have changed the way I describe my illness. I first used "I'm mentally ill", then "I am a scizophrenic" then I used "I have a mental diganosis", now I use "I have a mental disease." In seeing them on print, I don't like any of them.

 

If I use positive words, change will happen. There's a song that goes "do what's right and let the consquences follow."

 

I also want to make a choice, illness or recovery. I've had enough illness and now I choose recovery.

 

Dave