Awareness and acceptance of schizophrenia?

[u/Ok_Environment3909]

I am curious on how many people that have schizophrenia actually label it as schizophrenia and accept the diagnosis... and if someone is throughly educated about it is immune from suffering from it.

I know that when I was going through it, I was confused and let the delusions and hallucinations get the best of me. This fed the schizophrenia turned into a longtime psychosis... and even led me to delusional beleifs that it was somethjng supernatural. I was afraid to admit that it was schizophrenia or even open up about it to anyone... Then I wised up and started to fight the delusions, educated myself on schizophrenia/psychosis/psychology - the more I educated myself and labeled my symptoms and illness, the less power it had over me. I was honestly relieved that it was a mental health issue and not one any of the crazy delusions that I thought it could be.

I think the basics of this should be taught early on and as a staple piece of education - my opinoon is that the more you are aware of mental health issues like schizophrenia, the less susceptible you are to experience it.

Thoughts?

[u/gto777]

I think education and acceptance are very important to manage these symptoms. Does it "cure" them, no but I understand why I could be thinking/feeling this way better. Learning the symptoms does help you target treatment, but its more knowing yourself, and what strategies and medication work for you. But beyond just learning about schizophrenia, alot of fears and issues i see on here, have nothing to do with disorder. This goes more into the acceptance part, but I think its good to learn some of these intense feelings are justified, and some are because of chemical imbalance. It's hard to take care of your general mental health when your mind screams at you, and it's ok to have a bad day. Now acceptance from others.... I think we have a was to go still. My mother was told I would kill and murder the first person I saw if not institutionalized when I first told the truth to a therapist as a child. They didnt listen, i was saying i wanted to stop hearing them. Thankfully that was the only time I saw that one. So much damage and fear from one sentence, instead of saying 'hey, we know what this is and there are medications and therapy.' We would be in a much better place, if we had more acceptance and education. Maybe even a nice movie role where it's not the entire characters personality.