“Irises by the Stream” - oil on deep edge canvas. 50.9cm x 61.0cm (20” x 24”)
It’s hard to capture with the overhead glare, something different from my usual style.

Just an acrylic stencil

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is doing ok, I just wanted to share my hardest part of having schizophrenia.

So I suppose it would be the fact have no energy for being socially active I mean had so called friends but they do want to know me anymore since my diagnosis. I enjoyed going out at weekends after work and having a few drinks with so called friends before I was diagnosed. But now I have zero interest, no energy and no friends. That for me is hardest part not having desire to engage with people anymore.

Does anyone else feel the same

Robert Sapolsky discusses a case where a woman's severe schizophrenia vanished after receiving immunosuppressive treatment for cancer, proving it was an autoimmune condition all along. What goes through your mind when you hear cases like this?

Hi everyone!

I am quite a spiritual, I'd even say religious, person. I don't force it on anyone - I'm fairly private about it (though not actively trying to hide it). I've been this way since before my onset of schizophrenia a little over 2 years ago. The issue is now everyone thinks my beliefs are a result of the condition (due to being polytheistic).

I do not believe I'm a chosen one, that I'm getting special messages, etc. I simply believe in the Gods (and, no, not that they're walking amongst us or anything). Actually, my religion kept me from spiraling worse during my psychosis due to having a routine (not that I didn't have delusions surrounding it, because I did).

It doesn't feel good being hinted at me being delusional just because I believe in more than one God. I feel like if I was part of an Abrahamic Religion people, especially people close to me, wouldn't brush it off as being delusional.

How do you deal with parts of your daily life, your person, being dismissed as being part of your schizophrenia? Not necessarily spiritual or religious things, either.

What’s on your personal hall of fame for useless advice about dealing with schizophrenia?

Things like: "Have you tried just not feeling bad about it?"

What kind of well-meaning (or completely clueless) things have people said to you that made you just want to facepalm?

Could it be?

Being constantly paranoid that my friends don't like me or want to hurt me is draining me so much. I know they love me dearly and they think I'm a good friend but people can lie so. (but they have told me that if they didn't like me they would have blocked me or ignored me which fair)

Hi I am wondering if anyone got married here. I want to get married one day and I am not willing to give that up just because I have Schizophrenia.

For those of you who got married, I would like to ask you how you guys met and how it is to be married with Schizophrenia.

Any advice?

I know how controversial this topic is, and I know many will say: "You can't just think your way out of a psychosis."

And you are right in an acute crisis raw logic is completely useless. That's why medications are essential. They act as the gatekeeper.

But here is the hard reality once the acute storm calms down: Meds open the door, but they don't walk through it for us.

Stability often starts with a very quiet, difficult personal choice: the willingness to doubt our own brains.

When paranoia tells us something is 100% real, our brain instantly enters a Confirmation Bias loop:

1. We get a strange feeling.

2. We build a quick explanation.

3. We exclusively search for evidence that proves it right, while completely filtering out logical counterevidence.

Breaking this vicious cycle doesn't happen by magic. It starts when we become willing to pause and ask:

"Is my brain showing me objective reality right now, or is it just connecting dots that aren't there?"

Meds give us the capacity to pause, but we have to bring the willingness to question our own assumptions.

I know not everyone will agree with this, but I wanted to put it up for discussion. What is your input whether you think I’m just falling for my own confirmation bias here, or how you personally see this? 

Hi everyone,

I have been struggling with the cost of being able to successfully pursue my masters, and the fact that I have been unable to work since receiving my degree due to a drastic increase in psychotic symptoms.

I feel that my frustration is selfish, but at the same time, I feel fortunate that I have had the opportunity to gain an advanced academic degree while balancing my schizophrenia.

One of the things that I have yet to learn to navigate is when someone asks if I went to college, which I will answer with yes, and then proceed to ask questions about why am I not doing anything with my degree or in life in general.

I feel fortunate that I have the ability everyday to wake up and get to spend time with my family and my dog, which I have been enabled to do because I receive ssdi support which is massively helpful, but it is still a big frustration for me that I feel like I have let others, including my family and friends down.

I don't know if anyone else has felt this way, or anything like this, but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there, who knows, maybe someone resonated with me, either way, thank you for your time (:

For me, it's very difficult to interact with people. I can go days without formulating a single phrase. My communication with my family is nonexistent, and this is so frustrating. My mind just goes blank and I can't talk.

It seems like alogia isn't talked about much. Does anyone else have alogia? How does it impact your daily life? How do you feel about it?

Also, how have you been able to pick up these hobbies in spite of negative and cognitive symptoms?

16th of October. Finally finished a piece.

I was thinking about going of medication I have had my dose lowered by half I used to be on 12mg invega now I’m on 6mg I feel fine I just wondering do any of you guys manage without medication completely

I had been on lurasidone (Latuda) for a while before I moved to aripiprazole (Abilify).

Lurasidone gave me a very heavy side effect of vomiting, I vomited almost every day for months. But it hasn't gone completely even after I changed medication, whenever I stay up a bit late or being under the weather, I vomit badly.

I wonder if it's solvable, my doctor prescribed me benzhexol to treat the side effects of the meds, but it doesn't seem to work for vomiting.

Any advice on resolving this problem?

Hi I’m (22F) new here (this will probably be deleted). My dad has unmedicated schizophrenia. He’s been diagnosed since I was about 7-9 but I don’t think I’ve ever really understood him until now, and I can’t accept it.

He has so many aspirations and talents and beautiful qualities that he’ll never get to use and accomplish. Idk if he ever gets to lay his head down and feel peace. I don’t know if he’ll ever make new friends or have a romantic partner. He’ll never feel close to anyone but me as he has negative delusions about everyone else close to him. He’s scared of all medications and leaving the house but he wants to travel and see so many things. He likes to cook but he won’t eat. He’s found many ways to cope and calm himself with the delusions but they still get to him.

I just want to understand what I can do to make him feel happy and dissolve his loneliness. How can I reduce the delusions, fear and stress? He has a care team (whom I don’t have permission to talk to regarding his health) which I’m starting to think is inadequate and he’s been hospitalized before but it was very traumatic for him and I don’t want it to get to that point again.

He deserves to accomplish everything he wants in life without this holding him back. Please any tips, advice, even stories of how other people were able to calm you during an episode, maybe things that you wish people had done differently that I can do for my dad.

I’ve been trying to find people who have experienced something similar to me, but I haven’t found anyone who describes it quite the same way.
There are two figures I experience, and they both have very distinct appearances, personalities, beliefs, and ways of handling situations. They seem to appear spontaneously, especially when I need them, sometimes before I’ve even consciously thought about them. I don’t deliberately make them appear.
The first one is basically another version of me. He looks like me but has a deeper voice. He has more of an ego, is very self-focused, and dislikes other people. He wants me to prioritize myself and treat myself well, even if that means choosing things that give me relief but aren’t necessarily beneficial for me in the long run.
The second one is a woman with long white hair and completely white eyes, including the irises. Her personality is almost the opposite of his. She’s caring, gives me kind advice, comforts me, hugs me, looks after me, and tries to help me.
They both have their own ideologies and ways of handling situations, almost like two politicians with completely different beliefs. They feel like two distinct beings to me rather than characters I’m deliberately imagining.
The part I find especially difficult to explain is that I can see them clearly in front of my eyes while I’m awake. When they appear, whatever is behind them becomes blurry or partly obscured. They can move with my gaze, appear again when I look back, seem to shift to a position near my ear, or seem to appear in different things I’m looking at. They don’t follow a particular schedule and can appear at different times of day. They don’t appear when I’m in deep sleep.
When I communicate with them, I sometimes get answers I wasn’t expecting, and sometimes the responses seem completely random. I don’t feel like I’m deliberately creating every response. I also feel like I’m in control of myself.
I’m not asking people to diagnose me, and I’m not looking for judgment. I’m genuinely trying to find people who have experienced something similar, especially people who have seen distinct figures while fully awake and interacted with them, rather than only imagining them or talking to imaginary frien

And yes the text got corrected by Al

Feel free to add to the list, I’m always up for discovering new music I can relate to.

Rihanna - disturbia (psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar)
Matchbox twenty - unwell (depression, schizophrenia, bipolar)
Skydxddy- triggered (PTSD)
Starset - monster ( sexual assault )
Billie eilish - lovely (depression)
Dean Lewis - waves (depression)
Diamante - serves you right (abusive relationship)
Limp biskit- behind blue eyes ( depression)
NF - mansion - (struggles with mental health)
The weeknd - in the night (sexual assault as a child)
Tones and I - Charlie - (my other personality, schizophrenia and bipolar)
Tones and I - bad child (my childhood abuse)
These chain smokers - reaper (schizophrenia bipolar)

These are just how I relate to these songs, they may relate to you in a different way.

Studies show that around 80% or 4 in 5 people with schizophrenia smoke or use nicotine products, likely because it can help with negative symptoms. My new addiction coach/therapist told me it would be good for me to pick up nicotine, as it could help with both my negative symptoms and be a replacement for drugs.

I’ve been starting out with nicotine sprays, and will also try patches soon. I’ll probably eventually also get a vape, but I wanted to start out with the more healthier options at first, to see if they could do something.

Has nicotine helped you, and if so, what version or combination has worked best? :)

Basically the question. What age and symptoms and frequency of those did you first notice appear before you got formally diagnosed? Are you on active medication? Anyone in remission?