SpaceCatDraws

Example:

Me (host) going "Goddammit where are my earbuds?"

Alex, lounging on the couch: "You mean our earbuds."

Me: "Fine our earbuds. They're communizing the fucking earbuds now."

– ☣️, river of denial

Let’s just say, episode 9 changed my perspective of episode 5 and 6. It explains Ragatha’s behaviors towards Jax getting close with Pomni and she said “Jax is corrupting her”. I thought corrupting meant Pomni changing for bad, not literally

So she has been trying to protect her, to not let the history repeat

but in my experience 95% of my hallucinations are getting spooked by very clearly hearing someone knocking on my door or calling my name from another room or hearing footsteps walking behind me which are "just" my brain recreating the horror of an abusive childhood

don’t argue with or challenge the delusion—attempting to disprove someone’s delusions is not helpful at all and will result in that person not trusting you

assure the delusional person that they are safe; be open and honest at all times

encourage them to verbalize their feelings and offer protection to prevent injury to themselves or, possibly, others

start building a trusting relationship with them rather than acting on a desire to control their symptoms

do not confirm or feed into the delusion by asking questions about it when the person is not experiencing a psychotic episode

what it does not mean:

Psychosis is terrifying. Anything that distorts your perception (hallucinations, delusions, cognitive deficits, drug effects) and makes you feel distrustful (paranoia is common in all of these) increases your stress and fear. So as a safe person, you want to reduce that stress and fear, and create a space where the person can ride out what they’re experiencing instead of exacerbating it.

Don’t “correct” the person; you are listening to THEIR CURRENT PERCEPTION, and facts aren’t relevant to that. Be compassionate without affirming the delusion. Validate the emotions, not the delusion: “That sounds really scary/upsetting/etc.” If you believed what they currently believe, you’d be scared/upset. Compassion validates that their feelings are real without reinforcing the delusional belief. This is vital.

Sometimes, when I’m in an episode and especially near the beginning, it helps just being able to talk about what I’m experiencing without judgement and especially being able to vent my feelings of frustration, fear, paranoia, and general wariness of the world and whether anything is real if I can’t trust my senses. Knowing my spouse will not have me locked up for my mental illness and will listen and empathize and offer support helps.

There have been times we have driven around for hours, and I get the aux and just play whatever I feel like, and we observe things we pass through the windows, a form of shared reality-building that is soothing to me because I like riding in the car. Yeah, I’m still having an episode, but it reduces stress and fear, so I don’t get stuck there.

I don't know how often I've heard something described as "AI-generated word salad" in the past couple of years, but did you know! Word salad is an actual schizospec symptom and not something AI can do?

Word salad, which is also known as schizophasia, is a thought disorder seen in mental illnesses like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar mania, or advanced dementia. It stems from a disruption in the brain's ability to process language and organize thoughts logically. As a result, what the speaker says may follow some grammatical rules, but they are semantically meaningless to the listener. The speaker is usually unaware that they are not making sense to others, but not always (I sometimes know).

pressure sores from being in bed all day - to prevent these, change position minimum every 2hrs if possible, and use pillows to support your positions (find visual examples online). you’re especially at risk of pressure sores if you use continence products, so make sure to use a barrier cream and change as soon as possible when soiled.

contractures, especially in the ankles, from being immobile in bed - these can be minimised by doing ankle flexibility exercises, but ONLY if that would be within your energy envelope. otherwise just try to vary your ankle/foot positions. support with pillows if needed.

tinnitus and ear infections from having to wear earplugs so much - i have no advice for this

vitamin d deficiency from being indoors in the dark all the time - supplements and foods rich in vit d can help.

deep vein thrombosis aka blood clots in the legs from immobility - this is uncommon but it’s an emergency if it ever occurs. compression socks can reduce your risk if you can tolerate wearing them, and movement also helps lower the risk, but again, only within your energy envelope.

muscle atrophy - your legs and arms may start to look like sticks after becoming bedbound. unfortunately, as long as exercise is unsafe for you, this is impossible to fix, so it’s something we have to accept, as pushing ourselves is much more dangerous than deconditioning.

vit and mineral deficiencies from dietary restrictions - opt for a healthy diet, supplementation, and regular blood tests to stay on top of deficiencies

dehydration from being unable to sit up to drink - there are sporty contraptions meant for backpackers that let you drink lying down. some water bottles with sports caps also work, i use refilled lucozade bottles for all my water. if you’re too weak to swallow for longer than a day, it’s time to call a doc to see if they can give iv hydration.

dehydration from sleeping a very long time - if you sleep 16+ hours, especially if it happens regularly, you’re probably waking up dehydrated. try to drink water when you wake.