Comments on: Questions and Answers about Recovery

By: Rossa Forbes

Rossa Forbes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:42:43 +0000

Sorry, I am late commenting. I have two things to add about your withdrawal attempt. The first is that my son’s psychiatrist talked about a rule of thumb for withdrawing from psychiatric meds. Her rule of thumb: It takes one year to withdraw for every three years on meds. Roughly speaking, if you’ve been on meds 15 years, the withdrawal process should take five years. By that logic, your withdrawal process may have been too quick. That being said, my son got off his meds according to the rule of thumb, and he relapsed six months later. My belief is that his relapse had nothing to do with being off meds, and more to do with the pressures he was under to get on with his life. (He was off his meds and doing rather well, and my husband and I started talking to him seriously about going back to college. Relapse followed.) So, back he went on meds, but now, three years later, he is again off meds and doing well.) I wouldn’t assume that your relapse necessarily means that you will never be able to go without them. There are other social and emotional complexities involved.

By: champions

champions — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:50:44 +0000

ALSO- schitzophrenia IS POSSIBLE to recover from. I know from first hand experiance i have recovered from it 100% and forgot all about it for over 10 years i was completely mentally normal. Somehow it came back for years now but i await its dissapearence and a full recovery as once before. i did not need medication in my early childhood for schitzophrenia somehow it was cured on its own that’s why i think medication is not neccesary for a full recovery.

By: champions

champions — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:34:20 +0000

i have schitzophrenia and take no medication for it. i had it first in early childhood, it stopped, then picked back up again in my mid-late teen years. the disorder can impair ones ability to work and concentrate some days. it is NOT a disorder that in any way effects ones intellagence level as i recieved A’s in some classes through college. It’s associated with axiety and i found can be controlled through reduceing caffiene consumption, makeing sure to sleep for 8 hours, keeping the mind occupied with goals and plans for achieving those goals, and eating healthy. there is no avoiding the few bad days per month occompanied with the disorder and by that i mean getting less than 8 hours of sleep for multiple days in a row and not being able focus at any job as a result. perhaps medication would help but ill never take medication. i found being involved in church groups helps schitzophrenia greatly along with prayer . it is in my hopes to be cured from this mental illness one day or gain a level of comfort with the symtoms associated with schitzophrenia so i can maintain a regular life. a lack of sleep some nights i find is the most impairing along with the angre associated with other symptoms . hearing voices, delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, are easy to get use to. i wish i could remember back to when i was a kid, i cured it once before it came back though. id like to undergo a process of hypnosis taking me back to my childhood to find out exactly how or what stopped it. the good news is people have lived long/healthy lives with schitzophrenia like brian wilson from the beach boys. i feel fame would be the best choice for a schitzophrenic career wise because it doesn’t involve any set work schedule. Producers/Directors look for schitzophrenics to take part in films because schitzophrenics will give many low budget films a HUGE budget increase. (from 2.5 million extended to 3.75 million budget limits). If you have schitzophrenia, dont panic this disorder is in no way going to sabatoge your health or ruin your dreams of having a family one day. its just going to take take years of getting use to and plenty of thoughts that involve finding alternative routes toward a succesful social/finacial future. i found new career goals that i never would have dreamed of coming true along with a tremendouse amount of willpower that i gained from having what many would consider to be a horrible mental illness. Just remember to never give up, try and find the good associated with any mental illness and cures that dont always involve medication. expand levels of thinking and its ok and exciting to be abnormal.

By: Ron Unger

Ron Unger — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:48:11 +0000

Hi Rajesh,

I wouldn’t want to try offering you specific advice, because everyone’s situation is unique, but I could offer a few general remarks about a schizophrenia diagnosis and sex. Emotional problems in general can interfere with good sex, so it is possible something emotional is getting in the way, and you might be able to figure that out, with a therapist’s help if available. Or a very likely possibility, if you are taking medications, is that the medications are having an impact on your sex life. These drug effects are discussed for example at http://www.healthyplace.com/sex/medications/antipsychotics-sexual-side-effects/menu-id-66/

By: Matthew Pollard

Matthew Pollard — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:47:17 +0000

Please consider posting this documentary about recovering from schizophrenia, on your blog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZud_Q40Vd8&feature=channel_video_title .

By: RAJESH GUPTA

RAJESH GUPTA — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:37:25 +0000

I am 50 and suffering from schizo from more than 21 years. I am under consultant since 1990 and almost cure periodically. I have to visit him when I feel bad.
One thing I am still confused and want a great improvement that is my sex life with my wife. Although we have two daughters but we both are unsatisfied in sex. Please explain what we can do so that we can have a normal sex life or it is not possible with this disease.
THANKS

By: Ron Unger

Ron Unger — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:09:09 +0000

Thanks Marian, for your thoughtful comment. I agree with you that if people haven’t successfully negotiated some developmental task, like establishing an identity separate from parents, they may still be trying to do it many years later. It seems to me that one of the key dynamics in psychosis is people going a little too “far out” in trying to establish their identity and point of view, then having that defined as an illness (instead of just a not-yet-successful attempt to do something valuable) so the attempt gets thwarted and any future attempts seem like just more illness – which leaves the person stuck.

When we understand what people are trying to do, we can often help them do it in a healthier way. This can be much more successful than just focusing on what is wrong about what they are doing and trying to suppress that.

June, you mentioned you have lots of support, and that’s good. But having someone to talk to who really understands the psychosocial aspects of psychosis may be something you are lacking, as many otherwise supportive people don’t understand those issues. So finding someone in your area who has expertise along those lines may be helpful.

By: Marian

Marian — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:11:26 +0000

June, although Ron writes “young people”, age doesn’t really matter. Or at least not the person’s age counted in years. What matters is maturity, how old somebody is on the inside, so to speak. And even a 50-year-old can be 3 or 14 years old on the inside. If they got stuck somewhere in their individuation process. What psychiatry condescendingly calls “regression” is the attempt to, eventually, and disregarded your age in years, complete an individuation process that should have been completed when you actually were a young person. You have to go back to the child inside who got stuck, frozen in terror, help him work through whatever caused the terror, and help him let go of it, so that he can grow up, or he’ll remain a young person, a child, a toddler, an infant, even if he’s 50 years of age. Look at how “psychotic” people behave. Certainly people would be concerned about that kind of behavior in a young child: “Something’s wrong. He’s objecting to something, he needs something, …” but nobody would call the behavior “psychotic” . — Oh well, not yet at least… — But if the person is 50 years of age, for some reason, people don’t understand anymore, and what was a meaningful expression when the person was a young child of age, now all of a sudden is meaningless, “psychotic” behavior. Have you ever noticed that there often is something child-like to people labelled “psychotic”/”schizophrenic”, that they often actually do look younger than they are? If their looks aren’t destroyed by the drugs, that is.

By: June

June — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:14:48 +0000

My son is 50 years of age. I trained as a Counsellor some years ago and was a tutor in listening skills for Liverpool University, W. E. A. and various charities such as Cruse, Gingerbread etc. so I have a good support network for myself.

For some years we have lived miles away from our three sons – two in the North of England one in the South. We have tended to see each one about three times a year and kept in touch by e-mail in between. We have tried to treat them equally but he feels he is the least visited, the least favoured, the least loved. I still find this sad.

He has had psychiatric support for many years and is involved with a group who have been supporting him whilst he has withdrawn from the prescribed drugs which he has had for some years.

Perhaps I did not explain the situation clearly – thanks for replying.

Maybe I didn’t show you the situation clearly before. Thanks for replying – at least you care.

By: Ron Unger

Ron Unger — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:54:41 +0000

Hi June,

It certainly is difficult to be in your position. You want to help your son, but he wants to break away: it is perhaps that “young adult” need to break away from the parents that still exists even in young people who are having problems.

Researchers have found that it is definitely possible for parents to be “overinvolved” in the lives of their children struggling with psychosis, and this causes a lot of problems and increased risk of relapse. At the same time, there are often ways to be helpful. And of course, each person is unique in what they want or will accept. Even if your son doesn’t want to be involved in family therapy, you and your husband might want to go to a therapist who knows something about psychosis, and explore with that person what makes sense to do in your situation. (One place to look for a possible therapist is the ISPS-US website http://www.isps-us.org/ , which has a members section organized by state.)

Also, it is also often possible to point your child in a good direction just by pointing them toward people, films, books, etc. that may be helpful to them. For example for someone demoralized by voices, they may be helped by watching a great story of recovery from voices on video, http://www.workingtorecovery.co.uk/products-page/dvds/knowing-you-knowing-you or the book at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Voices-50-Stories-Recovery/dp/1906254222