Overcoming Schizophrenia

I appreciate Jacqlyn Charles, host of The Women Are Worthy Show, for bringing attention to mental health challenges, such as mine. On September 16th, Jacqyln and I held a conversation about mental illness and its stigma.  Jacqyln referred to the "Acceptance" chapter of my book, What's On My Mind? Volume I. The opening statement was a question: "Is accepting mental illness the beginning of recovery?" Initially, my recovery was court-mandated. In other words, I had no choice, but to accept forced treatment due to the legal circumstances as articulated in my book. However, I gained acceptance quickly by the support of my treatment team and family. I recalled my mother's approach to my condition which was something I could learn how to manage because of my awareness of the diagnosis. My mother said: "At least you know what you have so that you can do something about it. Some people do not know what is going on with them." The stigma of men...

One of the strongest taboos in our society is suicide- I've heard that ministers do not want to preside over the funerals, and families do not want to discuss it with outsiders... I admit, my faith prevented me from investigating suicide because I thought it was bad. I never attempted suicide however, I felt like my illness could have made me a victim of it. I am not so judgmental about individuals who attempt suicide. Now, I have a different perspective on suicide, here's why: Since my diagnosis of schizophrenia I have encountered people of diverse backgrounds- careers, families, faith, and experiences with mental illness, etc. Having a mental illness was my beginning of not being as naive as before about life experiences, and ignorant of understanding our differences. Like being diagnosed with mental illness, the suicide attempt of my family member came unexpectedly to me. When I found out about it I was overwhelmed with a range of emotions- disbelief, guilt, grief, helple...

Here is a link to the one hour long  radio interview from June 1st I had with Jackie Charles on Women are Worthy. Also, check out Women are Worthy facebook page . Please listen to this interview- a range of situations are mentioned here- myths, dating, diagnosis, and suicide, etc. To learn more about schizophrenia visit NAMI , Choices in Recovery , Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia (Canada).

A person on a chat group said he read an article that said people living with schizophrenia are more likely to commit suicide within five years of their diagnosis. I cannot find the article, however, I did find a book called 50 Signs of Mental Illness by James Whitney Hicks, M.D., that said, "Approximately one out of every ten patients with schizophrenia commit suicide, usually during the first ten years of illness". Hicks gives some reasons why people with schizophrenia commit suicide: 'the person is experiencing psychosis and believe that the world is against them, or they are confused by their symptoms'. Another explanation is that 'they are disturbed by their diagnosis'. There is hope, Hicks recommends a drug called clozapine to reduce the risk of suicide. In general, people with schizophrenia should take medication reduce to the risk of suicide. Here are some tips if you think someone is suicidal (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)): Do not leave...