With all the awareness of mental health, why is psychotic illness never really mentioned?

[NightTerrier]

Am I BU to think that mental health issues are more then just anxiety and depression. You rarely hear anyone talk about having a psychotic illness.

I have paranoid schizophrenia and it's rare that we see anyone talking about it, despite the fact that it affects approx 1 in 100 people. I feel it is is still very misunderstood and stigmatised.

Even Bipolar is more widely accepted and you have people like Stephen Fry who have raised awareness for this severe mental illness. I still can't help feeling that it's much more acceptable and less stigmatising to have bipolar than paranoid schizophrenia.

In case anyone is wondering, No, I don't work and I do claim PIP for this and also for autism and long covid. Even the side effects from the meds I have to take for my schizophrenia are pretty debilitating, then I get delusional about how they are a means of the government trying to silence people that are 'more aware', so end up coming off them. Then there are the cognitive symptoms to deal with. Also negative symptoms, which is loss of motivation, social withdrawal and the like. Hallucinations and delusions are positive symptoms. I ended up having to give up work about 10 years ago after being particularly ill and haven't ever fully recovered since.

I get really angry when I tread all the rhetoric about people claiming benefits for mental health reasons. People do realise that mental illness doesn't just encompass anxiety and depression?

For what it's worth, I've never been a threat to others, only myself. I'm currently having to have a monthly injection as I get so paranoid about having to take antipsychotics and my lovely nurse visiting me to give me my injection usually ensures that I have my meds. Even with that in place I still get paranoid about it and refuse it periodically.

We're in a really weird spot with this tbh.

With regards to 'you would go to the doctor with a broken leg, so why be ashamed of going with low mood?' thing, society has kinda swung entirely the other way when it comes to discussion of common mental health problems. To the extent now that there are a lot of people who falsely equate a down day with depression, nerves before a presentation as an anxiety disorder, liking things neat as OCD, struggling emotionally with a difficult event as PTSD, and so forth. It's really concerning honestly, and I usually am not keen on the word 'resilience'. But there is an argument that younger folk especially are over-medicalising normal human life experiences, contextualising them as a disorder. And the most concerning part to me has been speaking about depression and anxiety disorders as though they are a permanent unchangeable thing. Rather than an illness that can be treated. Like self-identifying as someone 'with anxiety' and then pushing forward with life trying to accommodate the anxiety at every turn.

We know that work can contribute positively to mental health, avoidance can make anxiety words, and reducing activity can fuel depression. There seems to be a sense that if you experience depression/anxiety you should retreat from the world, indefinitely, because this is now you forever, and there's nothing you can, or should be expected to do about it.

On the other side, SMI is distinctly unglamorous and is therefore still very much stigmatised. It doesn't neatly fit the model of 'you can help your friend with this by asking 'how are you?' at the pub', people largely feel comfortable talking to a friend who is worrying excessively than a person who is psychotic. Which is understandable! But I've seen a surge of people thinking that mental health problems are JUST anxiety disorders and depression, while refusing to acknowledge SMI. It's just not palatable. It makes people frightened and they want to stay away.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

Yes, I think there is a lack of resilliance. I know people who don't work due to anxiety and the like and they seem to be able to do a lot and I envy them, but also can't help questioning why they should be signed off and claiming benefits when they have such full lives.

I didn't leave the house for a few years and was doing exposure therapy to help me get out of the house last year and the year before. I had someone with me and we were going into the local town once a week and going for coffee. This was a major achievement for me! However, I ended up getting paranoid about my meds and refused to take them, so I'm recovering from being psychotic again and am back in recluse mode.

You are right, SMI is unglamorous. Also, people seem to think people with schizophrenia are violent and dangerous, which doesn't help either.

As someone who's Mum had a SMI an refused to seek help, and whole family denied it was happening leaving DF and me to pick up the pieces each and every time I whole heartedly agree with you @NightTerrier

You have been extremely brave to be so open about your own experiences. I am so glad that you sound like you have the right support in place. I have no doubt it was a struggle for you.

Stigma and shame meant as a family unit we never got the support we needed. But not talking about it, didn't stop it from being a reality for all of us. It didn't stop Mum from being ill. It just meant nobody thrived. And yes it was distinctly unglamorous, confusing, distressing, joyous, fun, scary, etc etc all at once. And maybe that is also why people don't talk about it. We all like to reduce things down to easy labels and black and white to help us process the world around us, and SMI is very definitely not any of that.

Sending you lots of 💐 thank you for flagging a very important topic.

I agree with you to a point.

However, it is not true that it’s more acceptable and less stigmatising to have bipolar. I have bipolar, and I am treated terribly by most people who find out about it, even healthcare professionals,

I’m sorry you feel that way.

I do agree with OP though bipolar is more “socially acceptable” even though you have of course not had this experience.

There is a lot of stigma towards severe mental health such as schizophrenia.

I agree OP and I was assaulted by an adult male with PS, I didn’t prosecute under the understanding he was committed for meds supervision but this in itself is the issue. It’s crisis management rather than proactive care, and despite my experience I agree just not enough awareness!

Whilst I do not have schizophrenia, I learnt a lot about it and the stigma people face on the daily basis. I have hallucinations only when severely low (anxiety related) but they are quite rare now.

I agree with everything you have said. People do think of anxiety and depression when you think of mental health.

Agree with you. The Times writer Sathnam Sanghera wrote about this a while ago. He has a schizophrenic sister and he says the tendency to overmedicalise many normal human conditions- like anxiety in an interview- has meant really ill people get less help.

This is probably the case, but I must admit that not that long ago I thought of all mental illness as psychosis and not of something like anxiety or depression or that it might be treatable or curable at all, or that you might need to look after your mental as well as physical health.

It really isn’t though. It might seem to be because as OP said some celebrities like Stephen Fry have been open about having it.
But in day to day life it is not accepted.

Because of my bipolar disorder, people have often made assumptions about me that aren’t true. Socially, I’ve been treated differently once people know, with some seeing me as unpredictable or difficult, which has led to being left out or not taken seriously.

At work, I’ve experienced people doubting my ability to do my job, watching me more closely than others, or holding back opportunities, not because of my work, but because of their fear or misunderstanding of my condition. At one point occupational health actually told me I wasn’t allowed to work alone.

I’ve also been treated differently by health professionals. At times, my physical symptoms or concerns haven’t been taken seriously and have been put down to my bipolar disorder instead. I’ve felt talked down to, not fully listened to, or assumed to be exaggerating or confused.

I am part of a support group for people living with bipolar and my experience is not uncommon at all

People like mental health problems that can be “fixed” by therapy, “just go to therapy” seems to be the solution to everything.

My dad had psychotic episodes and was hospitalised several times, people were surprised that he didn’t get therapy. No it’s lifelong serious psychiatric medication!

I think it's due to stigma. Also people who've never either experienced witnessed someone in psychosis finds it almost impossible to understand.

That you cannot reason with them, that they will behave in ways that they never ever would normally, it's completely against their own volition. And the things they say and say they can see and hear make so little sense to an 'ordinary' person.

It's almost a phenomenon that has to be seen/experienced to be believed. And it can obviously be absolutely devastating for the sufferer and those around them.

Hello @NightTerrier I'm so glad you began this thread. I have a family member with a psychotic illness and the more I can understand the better.

I think this is it. People don’t want to know if it can’t be fixed by a tablet and therapy.

My grandmother had this and really struggled for most of her life with it. My friend on the other hand has been medicated for almost twenty years and works full time, socialises, exercises and has three children with it. You would never, ever know unless she told you.

@GreenPoms 100% agree with you. I currently attend group therapy for bipolar 1 & 2. All of us have experienced being told by medical professionals that we are just anxious etc when having undeniable serious physical conditions - eg bowel obstructions/ broken bones etc Which someone without the diagnosis probably wouldn’t experience.
As for the micro managing at work - it adds to an already stressful day ime.
agree with your comment that celebrities experiences do not equate to real life experience at all.

Sorry to hear about your experience. You mentioned previously that you have been poorly treated by memtal health staff too.

I was diagnosed with bipolar before they changed the diagnosis to schizophrenia and I found that my CMHT were absolutely lovely.

I have a friend with bipolar and I do believe that some of her physical complaints aren't being addressed properly because of her bipolar diagnosis. So, I do understand what you mean about this.

Maybe its' my particular droctor's surgery, but when I've had to there I've always been taken seriously. I had loads of tests before they referred me to the long covid service and I was given HRT with no problem recently.

What you said about being told that you couldn't work alone is just baffling. I know a couple pf peopel with bipolar and my dad also has bipolar.

Sorry that you've had these experiences.

I have a good friend with bipolar and she also gets medical staff brushing off her concerns as just being her bipolar. She's in a pretty bad way at the moment and I'm actually really worried about her.

I have to say that my GP has been amazing, I am always taken seriously and I've never had any of my symptoms dismissed as being due to my mental health. I appreciate I might just be very lucky though.

So sorry that you've had to go through this too and the situation at work sounds really shitty and patronising.

My dad had bipolar as well and he also refused medication as well as it dampened his creativity.

I think there should be more education around it. For example smoking weed in your teens. Me and my psychiatrist both agree that that's what triggered my illness.

In terms of work, I had to tell occupational health and my managers when I returned to work because of the nature of my job.

Socially, are you suggesting that I should keep it hidden from friends and family? I refuse to hide it because I am not ashamed of it. If those of us with these disorders aren’t open about it how do we change attitudes?

I don't think the current obsession with mental health 'issues' help those suffering with true mental illness at all - quite the contrary.

The normal range of human emotion has become medicalised.

I also find it unfathomable that some people are so ready to claim that they have, say, BPD (EUPD) as if it's a self-diagnosable condition and not a serious illness with a high mortality rate.

I agree with you @NightTerrier

I think we've progressed as a society with certain mental health conditions but others are still poorly treated and understood by the public at large.

I have an aunt with schizophrenia and it frustrates me the stereotypes and ignorance around the condition. She's a much loved and kind family member who has raised a very happy and successful daughter

Yes I wish there had been discussion around this and I wish there was more effort now to raise awareness.

I smoked it a few times in my teens and when I later learn about the connection with schizophrenia I was horrified that I hadn't been aware of the risks because I would have absolutely avoided it given my family history.

I only found out when it triggered schizophrenia in a university friend.

The slightly emotionally uncomfortable people have over medicalised their perfectly normal responses to the daily grind and this has led to the misunderstanding and pushing out of people who are genuinely sick.

I have major, aka endogenous depression and my friend is actually making me feel a lot worse by totally dismissing the fact that it causes inability to talk, socialise and affects my nervous system, which even causes me to fall over and not be able to see or hear properly. Keeps trying to get me to do stuff which I just can't do.

People can't cope with the concept of psychosis because it's not 'sexy' and doesn't involve artfully posed instagran posts of attractive young women in cosy cardigans lightly dabbing their eyes with a lace handkerchief whilst clutching a cup of chamomile tea 🙄 #askmehowdepressediam

I agree i used to be a mental health nurse and nobody ever talk about severe and enduring mental illness
People think they know all about mental illness ,but they are only scratching the surface