In the beginning stages of the illness, training myself to think logically was hard. I was hearing things that were not there in actuality. So, the problem became "what is real?" A lot of times, I would hear things. At first, when I would hear things, I would get freaked out. But, then, in therapy, I heard all these people who had the same problem. It finally occurred to me that it was a symptom of the illness. I got less freaked out.
So, when I hear a voice/voices, I now stop and think. Am I really hearing someone whisper about me? Or is it my illness starting with me again? Most of the time, I've had to say, it's my illness. And then, move on. Training myself to ignore the voices was hard. But, as time went on, I got used to it.
And, training myself to think logically was hard. When I thought I was thinking irrationally, I would stop and ask myself, "Is this reasonable?". If the answer was "no", then I had to re-think my thought. It's doing extra work in your mind. But, it improved my decision making and also my life. Today, it's referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy.
