I don't like to lie so I say depression.

runnergirl,

My husband and I are both schizophrenic, but when we moved
to our new neighborhood in Tulsa, we told the neighbor
(who asked What disability) that we were bipolar. Well, it doesn't
seem to have been the right thing to say either because nobody
really speaks to us or has anything to do with us around here.
Both bipolar and schiz. have gotten bad press, and there's stigma
attached to having either disease in my opinion. I guess bipolar
isn't considered as "serious."?? I don't really know. But I'm glad
I'm schiz. and not bipolar. At least we can be stable with this
illness. Bipolar people are always (it seems?) either sleeping or
in some kind of too good or too bad a mood.

I don't tell anyone anything when I can avoid it, but I doubt I would
ever claim to be bipolar, thinking people liked bipolar people better.
They're as F'd up as we are, maybe more so. (from what I hear)

Nancy

Thanks, its interesting to get these replys! I've never told anyone except a manager at work and a friend. The manager I told because I was having trouble and i regretted it. The friend I told because she was gay and I thought she would be understanding. The gay person, was telling me how one of our friends wouldn't talk to her now or was giving her the cold shoulder because she was gay, guess what the gay person now really doesn't talk to me at all either. It was right after i told her. It was kind of funny she treated me just how she complained our friend treated her. What a hypocrite!!! She was a friend from a lome time ago though so I really don't care. Actually I'm kind of glad we don't talk, we never got along that great anyways!

Both times though I just said i have a mental illness i never told either people what i had.

I have major depression along with paranoid sz. I tend to feel ok about telling ppl I have depression and take med's for it. PPL are understanding when I tell them about that because it's pretty common to suffer from depression. It's uncommon to have sz and ppl are afraid of sz ppl. I talk to ppl with mental illness all of the time and all of them except for the ones that are sz don't really sympathize with people who are sz. In fact, a friend I have has been in the hospital several times for trying to kill herself and her depression is so bad she is on mood stabilizers and lives in supportive housing and gets ssi but when I asked her what she would do if she met a psychotic person she said she would run the other way. So, I felt her out and decided I can not tell her I'm sz or I would lose our friendship. Kinda sucks. I think if we knew of people who are sz.. you know like a poster person for it.. then ppl would kinda understand. The bi-polars have britney spears. But we have no one.

Dawn

Some people wont agree with this but i think syd barrett was a poster boy for schizophrenia although most certainly anaware of it though. What he acheived before he was sz was huge interms of songwriting and creativity. But with alot of us it was too much too handle in the end and lucky for him he lived of the royalities of a genius creative past. I was on a syd barrett website awhile ago and thought he has aspergers now i'm no doctor but if i've had almost identical experiances and can this will sound weird but felt what he was going through and my doctors i've had 2 said theres know doubt i have and he had some sort of schizophrenia. And it just shows that some people get and never fully recover or become comfortable thats what we or me in my personal opinion have to get use to. After Syd died i thought to myself pink floyd should have done more to raise awarness of sz and it's detremental life changes considering most there creativness and songs came what they experianced with him. Wasn't that obvious.

I don't tell anybody anything.

only an egg,
-Christopher-

mister_lister,

Did you know there is a "dopamine dysregulation syndrome"? It's seen in Parkinson's patients. I've used "chemical disorder" before when asked about my problems because, like you said, it doesn't have the stigma that schizophrenia has.

Anyway, I thought your "alternate label" was brilliant!

Thanks for responding everyone. I really admire the people that just say what they have and they don't care how others are going to react. Its a hard thing to do.l It does suck to have to lie. I kind of wish i had bipolar schizophrenia and not depression schizophrenia at least then it would really be a half truth. But it is what it is. My mom and sister were trying to say that stiigma isin't that bad out there that people wouldn't reacft badly to it. Yeah right. That's why they don't want me to say anything!!!! If there is not a stigma then we would be able to speak normally about it with others. That annoyed me.

I don't tell people about my mental illness but I'm planning on running a race when I get in better shape and I have a t-shirt about mental illness and ending the stigma of mental illness. I'm going to wear. It will be interesting to see how people react or if they say anything. That's not till next spring/summer though. I'm okay saying i have a mental illness I just don't want to go into details at least not yet in my llife!!!

Edited by: runnergirl on Nov 25, 2009 11:33 AM

Hi runnergirl:

jamesgirl steered me to these webcasts Hope you have a highspeed internet service

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/hearings111809.htm

In particular watch the presentation by Dr Fred Frese, a Clinical Psychologist diagnosed with 1966 with schizophrenia in the session:

Schizophrenia: Today and Tomorrow:
http://www.yorkmedia.com/stream/ssa/2009/11-18ses3.asx

Dr Frese has a wry style of humour, too.

AA2 (dugal on chat) Assistant Admin two
family member from Ontario, in Canada
assists with Site Moderation
.

For 16 years I was bipolar and told people that when it came up. Then I was diagnosed schizoaffective. No one I talk to seems to know what it is. I simply answer I am both bipolar and schizophrenic. No one has treated me any different. I come across as normal and have no negative effects so people assume I am handling it. Out of curiosity they may ask me what bipolar or schizophrenia is and I consider it an opportunity to educate others. I willingly explain it. I emphasize that the meds I take keep it under control as well as a routine in my life which is difficult to do because I have a lot of physical health problems.

I will never tell anyone that I'm schizophrenic again. People have become afraid of me. Even in support groups. An alternative is to tell them that I am now schizo-affective. In doing this, people might think that they heard me incorrectly the first time. Telling them that I am Bipolar sounds like a good idea. There is a support group that I go to called Recovery International that does not encourage members to engage in labelism. You can find this group on the internet and find out if there are any meetings in your area.

I don't tell anyone anything any more. I had a very good friend that I told I had schiz and he pretty much turned on me telling me he couldn't stand my schiz ways. That was a very bad experience.

Thecat

I don't have anybody to tell. The only people I see on a regular basis are my kids and my ex-wife. All the kid's friends parents I just say hi-bye-how are you to. But even though it is like that I am not lonely. I like my life.

My ex-wife thinks I am just a lazy bum who doesn't want to work. She doesn't know anything about schizophrenia. But she treats me good because I take care of the kids. She should because without me she wouldn't have her career. Plus I have taken her and the kids in for the last 2 years at way below market rates. She almost has enough money to buy a house. But I doubt she will ever thank me. Women get a lot more respect for being caregivers. In her mind she thinks I should be thanking her. That's just the way people are in this world.

Still I do it because I feel I have a responsibility to help her and the kids if I can. I see my main job as helping my kids become productive, happy citizens in the world. I feel I still have a responsibility to help my ex-wife because I am the one who married her. No one else is going to come in and save the day. I have to do it. And I made my kids. Who is going to help them besides me? I take my responsibilities very seriously because I was adopted. My birth parents for whatever reason abandoned me. If I wasn't adopted I would have had a lot worse life than I have now. I was one of the lucky ones probably because I had white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Good child rearing makes all the difference in the outcomes of our children who are the future of this great country.

Spongebob