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What Not To Say To Someone With Schizophrenia

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Maintain Your Social Network

Things Not To Say To Someone With Schizophrenia

Try to maintain your friendships or the network of people that you have in your life. These will later become important supports as your loved one recovers. Educate them and update them on your loved one’s recovery. People are sometimes afraid to ask questions about schizophrenia and this will put them at ease.

Help For Family & Friends

The family and friends of someone with schizophrenia need care and support too its okay to set boundaries for the care you can give, and to prioritise your own physical and mental health.

There are many other people out there who share your experience, and many services designed to help carers of people with mental health issues. Here are a few places to find support:

SANE factsheets provide brief, introductory information about mental health. For more in-depth information, read SANEs Schizophrenia guide.

This SANE factsheet is currently being reviewed by industry professionals and people with lived experience

Schizophrenia impacts a person’s thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and behaviour. It can cause periods where people lose touch with reality. Other changes such as reduced motivation, flattened emotional expression, and problems processing information can also occur.

With treatment and support people can and do live fulfilling lives.

How To Communicate With Someone With Schizophreni

People who experience schizophrenia may not realise they are unwell until they get treatment. It can be hard to persuade someone to see a doctor if they don’t want to, or if they don’t think anything is wrong. Our information on supporting someone else to seek help for a mental health problem has some suggestions on things you could try With Paul Stevens, Sophie Stevens, Jonny Benjamin, Sammee Subra Reducing someone to the illness he faces is destructive. In fact, it is cruel to see a person only through the lens of a diagnosis. Unfortunately, it happens all too often. A person who has bipolar disorder should not be defined by that with which he might struggle. Guard your tongue Because people with schizophrenia frequently have less social support and endure stigmas such as forced hospitalizations, it’s often necessary to also address trauma and holistic treatment. The reason why people go into therapy to begin with is to address the bigger issues, says Nala C. Turner, LCAT-LP, creative arts therapist and.

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How To Talk To A Schizophrenic

This article was co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS. Trudi Griffin is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin specializing in Addictions and Mental Health. She provides therapy to people who struggle with addictions, mental health, and trauma in community health settings and private practice. She received her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marquette University in 2011.There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article has 17 testimonials from our readers, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 253,807 times.

Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that can significantly impact the mental functioning and well-being of those who suffer from it. People who have schizophrenia may hear voices, have disordered emotions, and may sometimes talk in ways that are difficult to understand or that do not make sense. Still, there are a number of things that can be done to improve your conversations with someone with schizophrenia.

Looking After Your Physical Health

Things Not To Say To Someone With Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia takes a toll on your physical health as well as your mental health. It can sap your energy, confidence and motivation you might feel less capable of keeping up your physical health or lose the desire to try.

Another major influence on your physical health is the side-effects of antipsychotic medication. Newer antipsychotic medications have fewer side-effects, but weight gain is still a common one.

People being treated for schizophrenia are much more likely than the general population to be overweight, have high blood pressure and develop diabetes.

Theyre also more likely to smoke, drink too much and use recreational drugs, which can have a negative effect on your mental and physical health.

If youre struggling with these problems, you may hear your doctor use the term metabolic syndrome. It means you have some combination of:

  • weight gain around the abdomen
  • high blood pressure
  • low levels of the good cholesterol
  • high blood glucose levels.

Metabolic syndrome is common in people with a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet, but its especially common in people with schizophrenia.

There is support to help you get healthy and stay healthy.

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Use Empathy Not Arguments

Symptoms of schizophrenia like hallucinations or delusions can take some time to stop even when people are receiving treatment and following their treatment plan. As a group, these very distressing symptoms are called psychosis. Many people have a hard time responding to a loved ones hallucinations or delusions. Its best to avoid arguing about these experiences. Remember that delusion are symptoms of schizophreniathey are not thoughts that you can talk someone out of. Telling someone that their experiences arent real or arent true doesnt help when the experiences feel very real to that person! A better approach is to empathize with the feelings that hallucinations or delusions bring upwithout confirming or denying the hallucination or delusion. For example, if a loved one is frustrated or upset when they hear voices, it isnt helpful to say something like, Youre okay! It isnt real. I dont hear anything. Instead, you might say, I can only image how upsetting that voice must be. I can see the voice makes you feel scared. Know that with good treatment and support, symptoms like hallucinations and delusions become much easier for people to manage and lose importance.

What Not To Do

Just as there are some suggestions about how to best help your loved one, there are suggestions about what not to do. People with severe mental illness, like schizophrenia, need positive encouragement, not negative comments. Here are some points to keep in mind:

  • Do not remind them all the time to take their medication.
  • Do not use a confrontational or threatening tone of voice when talking to them about getting treatment.
  • Do not include people that your loved one does not trust or feel close to. This only causes more stress and anxiety for them.
  • Do not say things that arent true, such as I know how you feel, because if you dont have schizophrenia, you dont know how they feel.
  • Dont minimize their feelings when they tell you about any delusions or hallucinations or if they are feeling paranoid.
  • Dont confront them about their delusions or inappropriate thoughts.
  • Dont interrupt them even if they are rambling. Let them say what they want to say.
  • Use easy directions and language. They may be confused when in an episode and complex directions, or language can be confusing. Make it easy for them.
  • Dont yell or dismiss what they are saying, as it can be agitating for your loved one. Instead, speak in a calm voice and let them know you heard them.

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Take Care Of Yourself Too

As a family member, its important to take care of yourself. Try to maintain your regular schedule and activities, such as your exercise routine and hobbies. Ask another family member or good friend to provide help with caregiving, especially in the early days of your loved one’s illness. If you need help balancing time for self-care with caregiving duties, check out the BC Schizophrenia Societys Family Respite Program.

Helping Someone With Schizophrenia Tip : Encourage Treatment And Self

15 Things NOT to Say to Someone with SCHIZOPHRENIA

Encouraging treatment and self-help is a cornerstone of helping a loved one with schizophrenia. While medication is an important element of schizophrenia treatment, your loved ones recovery depends on other factors as well. Self-help strategies such as changing to a healthy diet, managing stress, exercising, and seeking social support can have a profound effect on your loved ones symptoms, feelings, and self-esteem. And the more someone does for themselves, the less hopeless and helpless theyll feel, and the more likely their doctor will be able to reduce their medication. Your encouragement and support can be crucial to your loved one starting and continuing a program of self-help.

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Help For You Your Family And Friends

Now, what about you and everyone else who loves this person with schizophrenia? Whos taking care of the caregivers? You must take care of yourself, or else you will not be able to take care of the other person. TheHelpGuide offers these suggestions for taking care of you.

Know your own limits. Be realistic about how much support you can give. Dont overextend yourself and become exhausted.

Join a support group of others in the same position. Support groups are great places to share and give advice, support, and experiences. You may also learn of other sources to turn to when needed, like Vista Pines Health, a mental health treatment center in South Florida.

Lean on the people you trust for strength and support.

Get enough sleep every night, eat healthily, and get some exercise. A walk around the block might be just what you need to de-stress and refresh.

Take time for you. Block time in your day to spend time doing nothing or something relaxing and enjoyable. You deserve it.

Written by: Rebecca Bryan

Things Not To Say To Someone With Schizophrenia The

A court ruling in Massachusetts has implications for everyone diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, wherever we live. The whole problem with Mary Moe being legally required to. No, most likely he is not. Schizophrenia is actually not a dangerous disorder the majority of the time regardless of their specific diagnoses. Actually, the main ones you should worry about would be the Disorganized type, not Paranoid. Their behavior is unpredictable, as someone has said, but it’s really a stereotype that Schizophrenics are. Given the unsuitable work conditions described above, here are some jobs people with schizophrenia would be better off avoiding: Salesperson – Sales can be difficult as there’s lots of pressure to sell and social skills need to be in overdrive.. Fast food restaurant – For some, the pressure of having to interact with many people and function in a quick-moving atmosphere may be difficult to. Schizophrenia was another way of saying crazy, and my brother was not crazy he just needed to get his life in order. After Joshua had gone to bed, I sat with Mom on the porch. He’ll be thirty by.

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What Risks And Complications Can Schizophrenia Cause

Physical health

Research suggests that people with serious mental illness , such as schizophrenia, have a shorter life expectancy. People with mental illness may die 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population. This may because people who live with SMI are at higher risk of having a range of health issues. Such as being overweight, having heart disease, smoking and diabetes.

Because of these issues, NICE recommends that when you start taking antipsychotic medication, your doctor should do a full range of physical health checks. This should include weight, blood pressure and other blood tests. These checks should be repeated regularly.

Mental health professionals are responsible for doing these checks for the first year of treatment. Responsibility may then pass to your GP. Your doctor or mental health team should offer you a programme which combines healthy eating and physical health checks. You should be supported by a healthcare professional to help stop smoking.

Suicide

The risk of suicide is increased for people with schizophrenia. Research indicates that around 513% of people who live with with schizophrenia die by suicide.

Research has found that the increased risk is not usually because of positive symptoms. The risk of suicide is associated more to affective symptoms, such as low mood.

Key risk factors for suicide include:

  • previous suicide attempts,

Suicide Is So Selfish

What to Know About Paranoid Schizophrenia

Suicide is a desperate act by someone who is in intense pain and wants their pain to stop. This is not a selfish response, it is a human response a decision no one makes unless they feel there is truly no other option.

For someone who has a mental illness and especially those having thoughts about suicide, it is so important that they are supported to get help.

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Things Not To Say To Someone With Schizophrenia

Living with schizophrenia is bad enough without the smattering of stigmatising sayings from others that accompany it.

When I hear one of these I usually start to wonder who is the more deluded: me or you?

Heres 14 things not to say to someone with schizophrenia.

1. How many personalities have you got?

Its a common myth that schizophrenia means you have a split personality, and an offensive one at that.

2. Have you ever been arrested?

Contrary to lurid tabloid headlines, not all schizophrenics are axe-wielding maniacs.

Most are more a danger to themselves than others.

3. Are you a bunny-boiler or a crazed animal in bed?

This doesnt even warrant a response!

4. Youre so brave/inspirational

Being ill doesnt really make me either, you patronising buffoon!

5. This is like soooo schizophrenic

Using my diagnosis as a verb just trivialises a disabling, life-long illness. Please stop.

6. Ha ha ha

It may sound ludicrously obvious but on occasion people have laughed in my face when I tell them I have schizophrenia.

News flash: the bad joke is you!

7. I dont really think mental illness exists

Some people still find it hard to believe mental illness is even real.

This kind of attitude usually leaves me feeling invisible. Its very real for me.

8. Oh you mean you actually work?!

Yes, employment rates for people with schizophrenia are low .

9. You dont look schizophrenic

I actually sleep in cashmere.

11. Youre unwell

How To Respond To Symptom Changes

Like other mental health conditions, symptoms of schizophrenia may come and go. You can start by familiarizing yourself with some of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, along with the possible challenges they pose for communication.

Psychosis refers to a state where someone might lose sense of reality and experience hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized behavior.

In schizophrenia, psychosis may also entail a loss of interest in daily activities, an inability to express emotions, and decreased interpersonal communication.

Heres how you can respond more effectively to your loved one during these symptoms.

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When A Loved One Has Schizophrenia

The love and support of family and friends plays an important role in schizophrenia treatment and recovery. If you have a loved one with schizophrenia, you may be struggling with any number of difficult emotions, including fear, guilt, anger, and frustration. You may feel helpless in the face of your loved ones symptoms, worried about the stigma of schizophrenia, or confused and embarrassed by their strange behaviors. You may even be tempted to hide your loved ones illness from others.

But its important to remember that a diagnosis of schizophrenia is not a life-sentence. Recovery is possible, especially with your love and support. To help someone with schizophrenia, its crucial you:

  • Accept the illness and its difficulties.
  • Not buy into the myth that someone with schizophrenia cant get better or live a full and meaningful life.
  • Do your best to help your loved one feel better and enjoy life.
  • Pay attention to your own needs.
  • Maintain your sense of humor and remain hopeful.

While dealing with a loved ones schizophrenia can be challenging, the following strategies can help you guide your loved one on the road to recovery without losing sight of your own hopes and dreams.

Tips for helping a loved one with schizophrenia

How Common Is Schizophrenia

What NOT To Say To Person With Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia affects roughly 20 million people worldwide.

Schizophrenia is diagnosed about twice as often in men than women. Its also more common in urban than rural areas.

Symptoms of schizophrenia usually emerge between the late teens and mid-30s, most often becoming evident in the early-to-mid 20s for men and late 20s for women. It is much less common for schizophrenia to be diagnosed in childhood. Adults diagnosed with schizophrenia have often experienced other emotional or behavioural disturbances during childhood.

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How Is Schizophrenia Treated

There are different types of treatment available. Medical professionals should work with you to find the right treatment for you. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that you should be offered a combination of medication and talking therapies.

People who live with schizophrenia can respond to treatment differently.

For many treatment helps to reduce symptoms to help make daily life easier. You may find that you need to continue with treatment to keep well. For every 5 people with schizophrenia:

  • 1 will get better within 5 years of their first obvious symptoms.
  • 3 will get better but will have times when they get worse again.
  • 1 will have troublesome symptoms for long periods of time.

What medication should I be offered?

Your doctor may offer you medication known as an antipsychotic. These reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, but dont cure the illness. Your healthcare professionals should work with you to help choose a medication. If you want, your carer can also help you make the decision. Doctors should explain the benefits and side effects of each drug.

In the past, some antipsychotics had negative side effects. Some people find that the side effects of newer antipsychotic drugs are easier to manage.

Your medication should be reviewed at least once a year.

What type of psychosocial treatment will I be offered?

Family intervention is where you and your family work with mental health professionals to help to manage relationships.

Here Are Some Things You Can Do To Help Your Loved One:

  • Help them get treatment and encourage them to stay in treatment
  • Remember that their beliefs or hallucinations seem very real to them
  • Tell them that you acknowledge that everyone has the right to see things their way
  • Be respectful, supportive, and kind without tolerating dangerous or inappropriate behavior
  • Check to see if there are any support groups in your area

Some symptoms require immediate emergency care. If your loved one is thinking about harming themselves or others or attempting suicide, seek help right away:

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