At the age of thirty ( I am now sixty), after the birth of my second child, I was diagnosed with a mental disorder. I had thoughts and feelings that I didn’t understand, I knew that they formed part of another me, and I was really afraid.
It’s been thirty-seven years since I was diagnosed. And things have really changed a lot. I myself have changed. It is not just that medication to deal with a schizophrenic disorder has improved.
I think there is a certain prevailing idea that cannabis and other toxins are not of great importance to our health. Alcohol is consumed on a regular basis by millions of people. And despite all the publicity campaigns, people smoke tobacco with joy.
In the early days when I visited the psychiatrist and the psychologist, I often met a boy in the waiting room of that center. He was called J. and was 20 years old. I was 3 or 4 years older than him. He was dark with straight, medium length hair and tall like me. It was simple. He was distressed when they talked to him for a long time.
Until a year and a half ago I had a more or less stable job, also a more or less stable life, and I had almost always been a person who fought, an enterprising person until the darkness took posses me.
My name is Francesc and the purpose of this article is to make people conscious about how difficult is to live with paranoid schizophrenia, and the different way outs one can find.
In the midst of a long, intense summer, my first outbreak and diagnosis took place. Schizoaffective disorder. Following a hard time with my job and family, just when I felt more peaceful, while I was holidaying with relatives and friends in a campsite by a beautiful beach cove.
My name is Inma. I’m 47 years old. When I was 19 years of age more or less, I began to have the first symptoms of mental health problems. I comment my age and when I began to have what my family calls my disease so that everyone can understand the great fears that have lately harassed me.
I think that talking about the negative symptoms of schizophrenia means talking about the time since you are diagnosed it and you start the treatment until your death.
My name is Carles and I am 36 years old. 6 months ago I was diagnosed with depression, even though I have felt a profound sadness for a long time. The problem, though, is that I do not know for how long.
