
Messages to others about psychosis
- Age at interview:
- 39
- Sex:
- Female
- Age at diagnosis:
- 22
- Background:
- Dolly is studying film, is single with no children and involved with the service user movement. Dolly heard voices at the age of 14 and in her early 20s was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Now she lives by the sea and doesn't take psychiatric medication. Ethnic background' White Mixed Asian.
I would say to them, I know it’s really frightening at the moment for you, and you don’t know what’s happening and you know, and it’s affecting everything in your life, you know, the way your family are with you. You know, you’re you know what you want to do with your life. It affects everything. And it, I want, basically what I want to say is that don’t stop having your dreams basically, because if, you know, well what I basically want to say is, it’s going to be hard, your road is harder than it is, you know, for everyone else. But you know, you can still travel to wherever you want to go. It’s just, it’s going to be harder. And they’ll be times you feel like giving up, but you should never give up hope, because you know, I was told that I would end up in Broadmoor or dead, and if I believed that, I would, I would have ended up in Broadmoor or dead, but I chose to believe that I can make something of my life, and this, this, you know, this psychosis or schizophrenia or whatever you want to call it could have taken over my life, but underneath all that there’s.. I’m still Dolly, you know, and I’ve got my dreams, and you know, I’ve got things I want to do with my life. And you shouldn’t let it, you know, it stop your life. You shouldn’t let it stop your dreams. And basically it’s like being, you know, it’s like mountain climbing as well. We have higher mountains to climb than everyone else, but because we are, our mountains are once we reach the top, we are higher than everyone else. We see more, and learn more about being human than anyone else. Well basically what I’m saying is, who wants an easy life, because you don’t … well I actually do want an easy life, but if you can’t have an easy life, see the goodness in that fact that you can learn patience, you can learn compassion out of it. You can learn that despite having barriers in your life, you can do anything you want. That’s what I would say.
- Age at interview:
- 52
- Sex:
- Female
- Age at diagnosis:
- 29
- Background:
- Janey is a mental health trainer, married and living with her husband. Ethnic Background' White British.
- Age at interview:
- 25
- Sex:
- Male
- Age at diagnosis:
- 20
- Background:
- Green Lettuce wants to be an entrepreneur, lives in the countryside, is single and has no children. Ethnic Background' White British.
If you are getting voices in the head telling them stuff that they don’t want to know, ignore it, try your best to ignore it no matter how much it’s saying it. But try and keep your mind as occupied as possible. And try and get a proper routine, daytime routine. That you awake in the normal hours. The night times in my opinion can make it worse. Because you’re not interacting with other people and that definitely doesn’t help at all.
- Age at interview:
- 45
- Sex:
- Male
- Age at diagnosis:
- 31
- Background:
- Stuart is a political activist/documentary photographer/writer. He lives with his partner. Ethnic background/nationality' White British
- Age at interview:
- 41
- Sex:
- Female
- Age at diagnosis:
- 19
- Background:
- Rachel does voluntary work, is single and has one son who is 7. Ethnic Background' White British.
I think what I did was when I got diagnosed was I made sure that I read up about it. And I made sure that since being ill I’ve always read all my notes, and that can be really interesting. The other thing is make sure you get what you’re entitled to in terms of support. And I’ve made sure that I’ve got DLA, Incapacity Benefit, Income Support, Direct Payments, anything I could access, I made sure I got what I was entitled to. And with talking therapies as well, I’ve pushed for in the past. And I’ve got it, and so I’ve fought the system if you like to make sure that I’ve, you know, that I have got everything going that I could possibly get to make myself as best as well, to the best of my ability. And I think that’s the most important thing I can say about that really.
- Age at interview:
- 27
- Sex:
- Female
- Age at diagnosis:
- 20
- Background:
- Ceridwen is unemployed/disabled, single, and hoping soon to live independently. Ethnic background/nationality' White British.
- Age at interview:
- 51
- Sex:
- Male
- Age at diagnosis:
- 23
- Background:
- Ron is a trainer and consultant, having worked in the field of mental health for several years. He is married with seven children. Ethnic background' White British.
Last reviewed July 2017.
Last updated April 2014.