Im struggling with my psychosis and depression

Hi @Former-Member, thanks for your response.

I have similar delusions with thoughts regarding the energy sensing, I believe people can read each other's thoughts to a certain extent. It took a psychiatrist to actually say it out loud to me one time, a while ago, he said "so you think people can read your mind? Or you can read theirs?" And it kind of made me realise how unrealistic that sounds! But when I am unwell those thoughts tend to run through my mind.

Im glad your treatment ended up working. That's great news. I know my depression is treatment resistant. There was a doctor that told me he can't actually do anything for me anymore. There has been a few doctors and therapists that have said that to me. So that's disheartening.

But ill keep soldering on.

Yes, my cat is a great solace for me at times like this. And I think moving house really is the key to feeling better. But then again that could be my illness telling me that. However, the paranoia has been going on for the last couple of years, so usually moving somewhere new is great until my paranoia returns again.

Anyhoo, thanks again for sharing your story with me. It definitely makes me feel less alone. 😊

@Sylvia26 Just quickly: doctors sometimes tell you “you’re a hopeless case” when you are treatment resistant and don’t get better. I was told I would continue to deteriorate and never get any better too. It’s bollocks, for two reasons. One: no one knows the future. Two: having a good life can mean many things outside the narrow definition that doctors may have. Chin up!

Hi @Historylover thanks for your response.

Yes, I have many diagnoses. Some have been diagnosed years ago, and some more recently. Some have been self diagnosed and confirmed by a therapist. But I felt better knowing what I have that way I can get treatment for it.

I have supports, but I am just struggling at the moment. I also have the NDIS plan so I have supports through that and family and friends. So without them I don't think I would survive.

Thank you for your response. 😊

Hi @NatureLover thanks for your response.

Yeah I live in the city, suburbs, so it would be almost impossible not to have neighbours. All my supports are here so I can not really move to a remote location. I have thought about it!

Im sorry you struggle with OCD, agoraphobia and anxiety too. I too know how you feel. ❤️

Yeah, some counsellors have been ok and I think the medications work to a certain extent. Otherwise I wouldn't be functioning at all. So im thankful for that. It's just the bad thoughts that really get to me.

But ill keep pushing through.

Thanks for your support! 😊

@Sylvia26

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia more than 50 years ago, (I am now in my mid 70's) and I frequently experience psychotic episodes which on many occasions have been severe enough to land me in hospital. These days (touch wood) I am usually able to manage the situation without going through all that nasty and unnecessary stuff. It is not easy though. The sorts of experiences that you describe are unfortunately all to familiar to me.

A couple of months ago, another member of this forum posted something that made good sense to me.

they said :-
Throughout my life I have been disappointed with psychiatric treatments.
If one is lucky, it seems that medication will assist some people but it all seems rather ‘hit and miss’.
I suspect that there is too much labeling of sufferers when really very, very little is yet known about the human mind/psyche etc.
It can't be easy to be a mental health worker. We desperately need them to be patient, respectful, fair, intelligent and empathetic as they try to help us to unravel our problems. Their knowledge is far from complete but it’s all we’ve got at this stage in history.
I’m afraid “getting help” is often a matter of luck rather than good management and just a ‘good listener’ can often be the best support of all.

Back to me again - The basic help for mental health problems boils down to three things.
(1) Medication - which can if your lucky suppress the symptoms without too many side affects. I am told that lucky means for about 20% of people.
(2) Therapy of one sort or another is said to be at least as good as medication. It usually takes quite a lot of work and a fair bit of time but can significantly reduce or cure the underlying problem. IMO successfully therapy is mostly about finding a good therapist. Unfortunately that can be very difficult for psychotic problems.
(3) A good, empathetic listener. Note that a bad unempathtic listener can be the partial or total cause of the problem. You may have to trade in some of your friends or your wife/husband on a new better, improved model.

Other things you can do to improve things are

1. reduce stress - very important imo
2. regular exercise
3. adequate sleep
4. sensible diet
5. lay off the grog and the wacky weed etc
   
   

Now it took me a long time to figure this all out because the so called experts never told me about it and many probably didn't even know. I often tinker with my own mental health plan to try and improve it. The area I have made significant improvements to in recent years is part 3 - The good empathetic listener bit.

Good empathetic listeners can be very hard to find in a world dominated by sound bytes and cell phones. So called mental health professionals are no exception. The most common complaint I hear from fellow mental health sufferers is that their psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, support worker etc doesn't listen to what they say. A good therapist/psychiatrist, first and foremost also needs to be a good empathetic listener who is able to understand and relate to your psychotic experiences and is willing and able to "walk in your shoes".

Is getting your mental health act together worth the effort?

If you have a look at some of the horror stories on this forum about people who have fallen into the clutches of the public mental health system, I would say decidedly yes.

While these are only my opinions I am a registered support worker on another forum that deals exclusively with psychotic spectrum problems.

Regards
Willy

Hi @Willy thanks for your response.

Im sorry to hear about your experiences. I can definitely relate to the psychosis and thoughts.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think the one thing I may be missing is the empathetic listener at the moment. My step dad was a great listener and sadly he passed 4 years ago. Which leaves my mum, and she has her own grief and stress issues and coping techniques, which doesn't really involve empathetic listening. Not when it comes to mental health.

My friends are the same, they support me as much as they can but they don't really understand mental health.

I do have a counsellor and she seems to be OK. When it comes to my psychiatrist, I never like any doctors. So I don't really find them supportive.

But I know what you mean. Trying to find that balance. It would be great to have one person to chat to about my problems but I call helplines often as I just do not have that person I can speak to openly.

The five points you made I try to do the best I can with those. I dont do drugs, and I am a recovering alcoholic. I have relapsed recently with the drink, but I have drink free days. Same with the sleep, diet and exercise. I do my best. 👍 everytime I call a helpline they suggest exercise as well and check my sleep patterns and diet.

But yes, I agree, medication and therapy can only take me so far. Having a good listener in my life would probably be a massive change for me.

Thanks again for your great advice. Take care of yourself. 😊

@Sylvia26 @Historylover @Shaz51 @NatureLover @

Hi @Former-Member

I have just revisited your post from a couple of weeks ago. We seem to have a few things in common such as diagnosis of schizophrenia, resistant to treatment on meds etc but there are also probably many differences in our stories.
Anyway the reason for this response is not because of any of that but the last couple of sentences in your post

"I get annoyed sometimes at the activists who insist the world should celebrate “neurodiversity”, we spent so much time trying to convince people mental illness is as serious as physical illness. Now it’s going backwards as they insist it can be a “good thing” - no wonder policy makers get confused!"

I'm probably one of those annoying activist or at least a wannabe activist.
If you wanted to know what that is all about you could read my recent post "Speaking Out".
Speaking Out

While I sort of support the broad concept behind “neurodiversity”. I don't really like the word. It sounds jargony and superficial to me. Just another label. Also I don't particularly want to "celebrate" being neurodiverse.
What I want and have never really managed to achieve is to be accepted as a valid and worthwhile human being even though, for reasons that appear to be beyond my control, I see and respond to the world in a way that is a bit different to most other people.

There is no doubt in my mind that many if not most of the policy makers are confused but I think the confusion arises because no one is quite sure how to go about fixing the mess that has evolved over many years. In my opinion it is a complex question that cannot be answered in a few words, though in my afore mentioned article I have proposed what I believe to be a pretty good starting point. This approach may not work but I have yet to hear of any better ideas.

I assume you have suffered your fair share of being kicked around by the system. I was wondering how you have coped with all the discrimination etc.

Regards
Willy

Hi @Willy . I agree about being kicked by the system. I’ve got many stories, I bet you do too.

I also agree about not being accepted as a valid and worthwhile human being. I may differ on you on how to go about changing this. I am glad you think “neurodivergent” is a jargony label. I think the obsession these days with “identifying” ourselves with groups like disability and talking about pride is not the right way. It makes a big deal out of things that shouldn’t be a big deal. It’s shooting our selves in the foot to make a big deal, then expect others to not. I was listening to Dylan Alcott on ABC wondering why people were uncomfortable saying the word “disabled”. As soon as it became an identity and people started throwing around words like “ableist”, THAT’S when it happened.
If more emphasis was put on what binds us together instead of how we are different - and we stopped trying to tell people what hopeless bigots they are - I think it would really help.