Mental health challenges have long been stigmatized in popular culture, media, and within social constructs, and schizophrenia tops the list. Individuals with schizophrenia face unique challenges that others in their community should strive to understand. By educating yourself, you can support those around you and reduce the stigma surrounding the disorder impacting millions worldwide.
1. It’s Not a Joke
Individuals impacted by schizophrenia often have symptoms that are more visible, making it one of the most stigmatized diagnoses. People often label off-color behaviors or outbursts as “skitzo” or “crazy” when what’s really happening is poor self-regulation. While these behaviors can be surprising or abnormal, it doesn’t mean the person doing them is doing so intentionally.
The way we speak about mental health can have a devastating effect on a person’s already challenging experience. When slang terms for real mental health disorders are tolerated in regular vocabulary and used as slurs, everyone loses. People experiencing the disorder are marginalized, their humanity reduced to a label. Professionals treating those with the disorder are stigmatized, their life’s work dismissed as a joke.
In reality, schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that may cause individuals to seem like they’ve lost touch with reality. Hallucinations, delusions, abnormal physical behavior, and scattered thoughts disrupt typical behaviors, which is often distressing for the individual and those around them. Diagnosing schizophrenia requires a comprehensive medical assessment and treatment may involve mental health rehab, medication, and therapy. People with schizophrenia should be treated with empathy and supported as they seek diagnosis and professional support.
2. It Can Be a Disabling
In some cases, schizophrenic symptoms can take over a person’s life, keeping them from participating in it fully. Persistent delusions and hallucinations tell a person one thing while reality is different. The result can be an inability to participate in typical activities like school, work, and relationships. When one’s condition is at this level and treatment isn’t pursued or able to restore average function, disability is possible. Even if treatment protocols are adhered to, people may experience difficulties with memory and attention, which makes finding work difficult.
The Social Security Administration lists schizophrenia as a potentially disabling mental health condition however, certain criteria must be met. In general, a person must have a valid diagnosis, be unable to work, and have medical confirmation of their limitations. The process of receiving disability wages can be arduous, but it represents an important component of how one can receive support.
Individuals with schizophrenia are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and cannot be discriminated against. While employers may require people to be able to function in a job, they must also provide reasonable accommodation. This protection should give people with schizophrenia hope that they can find work and thrive.
3. Individuals With Schizophrenia Can Lead Fulfilling Lives
When a person’s schizophrenia is well managed, they can enjoy the best life has to offer. People they share their lives with can help by understanding the condition and reinforcing their treatment protocol. For many, medications help manage symptoms and should be taken as prescribed to realize the best benefit. Therapeutic support is crucial, too, and works with medication to improve social function and coping skills when stressors arise.
Coordinating specialty care like therapy and occupational training in a mental health treatment facility can help individuals build healthy habits. If a person’s formative years were traumatic, it’s possible that their condition worsened, especially if another family member experienced schizophrenia. Stepping away from the old way of living can teach a person how to support and protect themselves. By resetting one’s way of being, one can create a lifestyle and social circle that reinforces what rehab taught them.
4. With Support, Schizophrenia Can Fuel Creative Breakthroughs
Admissions of deficiencies in one’s ability to keep up with the dominant cultural behaviors can be seen as weaknesses. However, “normal” is a fallacy; many people are impacted by mental health challenges that make daily life and tasks difficult. Schizophrenia may bring on hallucinations, but it can also be a component of creativity, innovation, and even genius. John Nash, the renowned mathematician,revolutionized game theory and partial differential equations. Vincent van Gogh was believed to have schizophrenia, as was actress Veronica Lake, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
While a mental illness diagnosis may not be what a person wishes for, understanding how your brain works is enlightening. The symptoms of schizophrenia can be alarming, but they can also expand a person’s worldview and unlock creativity. Treatment and medication can help harness the symptoms of schizophrenia, improving daily life and function. This difference in brain function can even be an advantage when one’s pursuits are channeled productively with a good support system.
Understanding Mental Health Challenges Reduces Stigma and Improves Lives
All people deserve compassion and respect, and everyone plays a role in creating a world where mental health is prioritized. Make a point to learn about mental health challenges that your family and friends experience so you can support them. Speak up if others use damaging slang terms, mislabel mental conditions, or mistreat others. When you do, you’ll create an environment where people with schizophrenia and other diagnoses are treated with compassion and respect.
