I am a woman with chronic schizophrenia. I have spent hundreds of days in psychiatric hospitals. I could have ended up living most of my life on a back ward, but things turned out quite differently.
Please hear this: There are not 'schizophrenics.' There are people with schizophrenia.
The schizophrenic mind is not so much split as shattered. I like to say schizophrenia is like a waking nightmare.
Some people say I'm unique, that there aren't other people with schizophrenia like me. Well, there are people like me out there, but the stigma is so great that they don't come forward.
My experience is that when one is in psychosis, you're on a mission and nothing is going to stop you. At some level your brain is telling you you probably shouldn't be doing this, but you're on a mission.
Occupying my mind with complex problems has been my best and most powerful and most reliable defense against my mental illness.
