According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 20 million people live with schizophrenia throughout the world. Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and other symptoms. When we think of schizophrenia, we often think about auditory hallucinations, but that’s not the only component of living with the disorder. Although there is no cure, schizophrenia is a treatable mental health disorder. If you live with schizophrenia, or if you’re hoping to learn more about it, you might be looking for quotes about schizophrenia that talk about what it’s like to live with schizophrenia.
Quotes About Living With Schizophrenia
The best way to learn about something is to listen to people who live with it. Especially when it comes to mental health disorders. Here are some popular quotes about living with or understanding schizophrenia.
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“I didn’t have the luxury of taking reality for granted. And I wouldn’t say I hated people who did because that’s just about everyone. I didn’t hate them. They didn’t live in my world. But that never stopped me from wishing I lived in theirs.” – Francesca Zappia
“There are a number of things that family and friends can do to help a person with schizophrenia. One of the simplest and most effective is to create a positive environment around the person.” – Milt Greek
“Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.” – R. D. Laing
“Even though the voices were far more intense in the hospital than before, in some ways they were less frightening. When I was in high school and college, they had sneaked up on me, blasting out of the airwaves almost without warning. By now, they had become almost familiar. I hated them. I suffered from them. But they seemed almost a normal part of living. I knew them. I understood them and they understood me.” – Lori Schiller
“I thought of the voices as…something a little different from aliens. I thought of them more like angels. It’s really my subconscious talking, it was really that. I know that now.” – John Forbes
“The schizophrenic mind is not so much split as shattered. I like to say schizophrenia is like a waking nightmare.” – Elyn Saks
“I have schizophrenia. I am not schizophrenia. I am not my mental illness. My illness is a part of me.” – Jonathan Harnisch
“Believing something existed and then finding out it didn’t was like reaching the top of the stairs and thinking there was one more step.” – Francesca Zappia
It’s a very strange reality when you can’t trust yourself. There’s no foundation for anything. The faith I might have had in normal things like gravity or logic or love is gone because my mind might not be reading them correctly. You can’t possibly know what it means to doubt everything. To walk into a room full of people and pretend that it’s empty because you’re not actually sure if it is or not. To never feel completely alone even when you are. – Julia Walton
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“If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn’t we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others? What about the world of a schizophrenic? Maybe it’s as real as our world. Maybe we cannot say that we are in touch with reality and he is not, but should instead say, His reality is so different from ours that he can’t explain his to us, and we can’t explain ours to him. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently, there occurs a breakdown in communication, and there is the real illness.” – Philip K. Dick
Quotes From Loved Ones Of Those With Schizophrenia
Here are some quotes that talk about schizophrenia from a close outside perspective.
“Schizoaffective disorder is a big mental mash-up of a disease. It combines just about every disorder, from depression, delusions, and paranoia to mania, schizophrenia, and hallucinations. My mother bounced between all of these regularly while raising me alone in our Hollywood home.” – Shawn Amos
“My mother became mentally unwell with schizophrenia when I was in my teens. We couldn’t watch television because she thought the people on TV were sending her messages. She thought there were hidden cameras everywhere, so we had to have the curtains drawn.” – Cornelia Parker
“Our society is stuck between problem and solution when it comes to treating mental illness. We cannot find a solution until we agree on the problem. And it is my humble opinion that the problem is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the misunderstood. Instead, let us seek to pursue knowledge over fear. Let’s find a way to save lives that can be saved.” – Hannah Hart
Hopeful Quotes About Living With Schizophrenia
Here are some hopeful quotes on life with schizophrenia.
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“When I was up, she taught me to recognize the feeling and savor it. “Remember how good you feel now,” she said. ‘There will be times later on when everything will seem bleak. I don’t want to minimize the grim and harsh times. I know how bad you feel then. But they won’t last forever. Capture the good moments,’ she said.” – Lori Schiller
“My good fortune is not that I’ve recovered from mental illness. I have not, nor will I ever. My good fortune lies in having found my life.” – Elyn R. Saks
“As well as being one of the worst things that can happen to a human being, schizophrenia can also be one of the richest learning and humanizing experiences life offers.” – Mark Vonnegut
“Once I accepted and cooperated with the treatment, I started to beat the illness.” – Lionel Aldridge
“There’s a tremendous need to implode the myths of mental illness, to put a face on it, to show people that a diagnosis does not have to lead to a painful and oblique life. We who struggle with these disorders can lead full, happy, productive lives if we have the right resources.” – Elyn R. Saks
“Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder can include what are called positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are things like hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia; negative symptoms are things like reduced energy, blunted affect, lowered motivation, etc. With proper treatment, many people living with schizophrenia appear to be completely healthy. No one in my life knew I had schizophrenia until I told them. But it’s still a challenge….my symptoms make it more difficult to find a balance in life. I’m learning to understand that it might take longer to do things or that I might need additional support sometimes, and that’s OK.” – Lauren Kennedy (Quote first appeared in Glamour)
“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 backward, but things turned out quite differently.” – Elyn Saks
Inspirational Quotes On Life With Mental Illness
While these quotes aren’t specific to schizophrenia, we all need to hear something from time to time that lets us know that there’s light ahead. Here are some inspirational quotes about mental health and life with mental illness that you can turn to when you need encouragement and hope.
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” – John Green
Destigmatizing Schizophrenia
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Again, one of the best ways to learn about schizophrenia or any other mental health condition is to learn from the personal experiences of people who have it. You may read memoirs and blogs, listen to podcasts, or watch videos created by or including those living with schizophrenia, in addition to reading articles about the condition to learn more about what it’s actually like for someone who is diagnosed with the disorder. Here are some statistics and facts on schizophrenia to know about:
- The age of onset for schizophrenia tends to be earlier in males than it is in females.
- It’s common for those with schizophrenia to have a comorbid or co-occurring mental health condition.
- Schizophrenia is one of the leading fifteen causes of disability in the United States.
- Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, tend to emerge in one’s late teens or young adult years.
If you believe that you might have schizophrenia, contact a medical or mental health professional.
Take The Mind Diagnostics Schizophrenia Test
Do you think that you could have schizophrenia? If so, consider taking the Mind Diagnostics schizophrenia test. The Mind Diagnostics schizophrenia test is not a replacement for a medical or mental health evaluation from a professional, nor is it a replacement for a diagnosis, but taking it might be the first step to getting the help you need. Although schizophrenia can impact those under 18, the Mind Diagnostics schizophrenia test is for those aged 18 and above.
Click here to take the Mind Diagnostics schizophrenia test.
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