A Pill Bottle 💊

Cover the cameras, cover the windows, unfollow ppl who make you feel bad/paranoid/make fun of u just dont worry about being weird and put urself first.

Seriously, unfriend, unfollow, block, just get rid of those who make you feel bad. 

Its ok to take a break from ppl. dont push yourself too hard. long-term stress can trigger an episode.

When an episode is over and you regain insight, write down what happened, your feelings about it now and that you’re ok, in case it happens again and you need reassurance.

Doctors aren’t always good. don’t be scared to change your doctor if they’re unhelpful/bad/rude/abusive.

Its okay not to wash for weeks. wet wipes are your friend.

Its ok not to brush your teeth for weeks. mouth-wash is your friend.

Drink any fresh water within your reach. its best to get yourself a big bottle and just re-fill it once a day or so.

Hoard some snacks in your room/wherever you spend most of the day in in case u cant move to the kitchen.

If you want to check if something’s a hallucination, try recording it. beware you might hallucinate it in the recording too tho.

Text: psychotic people deserve access to medical care designed to meet their needs

I’m schizotypal and one of the most difficult parts of treatment was merely finding a therapist with a proper understanding of the schizo spec disorders. The nearest one was 25 miles away, and no adequately trained therapist was covered by insurance.

It took months, but I do have a therapist now, and she’s actually been incredibly helpful. Drawing from my own experience, I can say this:

Therapy is still better than no treatment at all. You just need to be sure you’re with the right therapist and your time is of value.

I’m frustrated that I don’t have access to properly trained specialists and the fact that so few exist. But with the right general therapist and best regimen of meds, it’s been of some help.

The ignorant one: “So… schizophrenia? Do you mean you’ve got like, a second evil personality?” This person has a completely incorrect idea of what schizophrenia is that they’re very unwilling to give up.

The scared one: “Schizophrenics… aren’t they dangerous? Have you hurt someone? Are you violent? Should I be scared, haha?” This person will likely change their behavior towards you after hearing about your diagnosis and will generally do their best to keep their distance.

The fascinated one: “Wow, that’s SO interesting… What’s it like? Do you hear voices? What do they say? Are they saying something about me?” This person will treat you as a human science experiment and will ask you a 100 invasive questions about your illness if they get the chance.

The edgy one: “We’re all a little crazy… I’ve got a pretty dark mind too, haha. Normal people scare me, you get what I mean?” This person will act like their fascination with serial killers and horror movies somehow equals being schizo spec.

The incredulous one: “But you really don’t LOOK schizophrenic… You seem completely normal to me? I mean, I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if you had something like that. I’m pretty sure you don’t have that, actually. If you do have it you must be very high functioning, right?” This person seems to think that mental illness is immediately visible to everyone and will likely continue to invalidate you if you don’t fulfill all the horror movie stereotypes.

The spiritual one: “But what if it’s actually demons or ghosts or gods? What if you really have special powers? What if you can see everything as it really is and I’m actually the crazy one?” This person will treat your delusions and hallucinations as interesting thought experiments or as props for their own spiritual beliefs with zero regards for how their “interesting theories” might affect your mental health.