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My husband was diagnosed with OCD, anxiety disorder and schizophrenia several years ago. He suffered for many years "hearing voices" which caused him to be OCD and anxious. He is also an alcoholic because being drunk helped drown out the voices. He no longer drinks and he has been able to work in a highpaying professional job all this time. However, in the past few years his mind has become fuzzier and fuzzier, he says he can't think, and his job performance has suffered tremendously. He takes a lot of medication, so he no longer hears the voices, but he is reluctant to trying new meds or doses because he is literally terrified to hear those voices again. He is at a point where he cannot keep his job, but still needs to make a living for his family. He would love to work in a completely different industry but I don't know how he can jump from 26 years in the computer industry to a job that requires far less stress and still provide for our family. He doesn't even know where to begin. How have others dealt with similar circumstances?
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was a computer programmer for the past 8 years (on and off) until I decided to change job industry because of stress and failure to keep myself up-to-date with fast-changing I.T. tools. I have successfully to make the change and now I am a Clerk in an NGO. As article elsewhere pointing out, the schizophrenic cannot work in competitive workplace. The NGO is "enclave" and I feel comfortable with it even though the pay is low.
I'm a little confused. Did you mean to say that patients involved in supported employment have LESS occurance or MORE occurance of relapse. Please clarify as I am a mental health professional about to embark upon this process with several clients.
Would you be interested cross country mental illness study with me for schizophrenia patients? I have a background as clinical psychology and I am helping a friend of mine to obtain her employment in my homeland. Few years ago I have worked on medical research for rare disease for children. I am working on long term study by following up schizophrenia patients regarding employment for their life. It would be wonderful if you can join me.
freedom_writerr
Rently I have received a letter from my Schizophrenia friend whom I knew since she was in high school. After 16 years passing by, she wants my help to obtain a job that she used to work for department store. I wonder how it would be possible. Your blog mentioned to talk to her doctor. I don't know if that is helpful since she did not communicate with her doctor much. Do you have ideas where I should start? Thanks.
Freedom_writerr
Three of the jobs I held in my past caused me to go into psychotic episodes and I had to leave the jobs. All due to work stress. In each case I had to struggle to find a new job.
In my last job (5 years ago), the job stress caused me to go into a psychotic episode and I was hospitalized for 7 days against my will. That was fun. Have you ever been to prison before?
I am now on Geodon, Lithium, and Social Security Disability. This mix of meds makes me extremely aggitated if I have to get up before 9am and don't get enough sleep. I wouldn't be able to get up and report to a job every day at 8am. I learned this lesson the hard way.
Even with the meds, stress makes a big impact on me and job stress is just too much to handle (based on my experiences).
I'm OK with being on disability. My wife is a successful teacher and sometimes we go to parties where I have to mingle with other successful teachers. If they ask what I do, I tell them I work in construction. If they ask how business has been, I tell them, "great".
They don't have a "need to know" that I am on disability, and they certainly don't have a need to know that I have schizophrenia.
I'm just not on any crusade to win over my town with schizophrenia. It's personal and I keep it to myself and my wife. It works out great for me.
I also have a broken neck from an accident long ago. I don't tell everyone I meet that I have one. I just blend in like I am normal and it works just fine.
There is a huge stigma with schizophrenia. There always will be until they find a cure.
I won't be working until they find a cure. They haven't found one yet.
With these meds they took me from 0% to 50%. I'm looking for 100%.
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I couldn't agree more, Paul. I found that after 15 years of not working, getting a job was a life-changing experience, It was very difficult at first, but it's been 5 years now and I'm about to embark on a new journey of work. And that's the way I see my illness. I know I will never recover. I can;t get too excited about fitting in with society or functioning to someone else's defined norm of who I'm supposed to be. The only person I'm responsible for is me. And that takes up all my time.
Though I can appreciate the guides to recovery on this site, it's nice to read the facts about the rest of us.
Thank-you
Don Fraser
Would you mind to share how did you obtain your first job? Thanks.
freedom_writerr