There needs to be that idea that
there's some light at the end of the tunnel.
There are people out there that
have Schizophrenia and are doing well.
The reality is that the majority of people
get on with their lives and it's just
a small portion of their lives.
I work at Auckland University.
I'm called a Professional Teaching Fellow and I
would cover all areas of mental health.
When I came into mental health it wasn't by
choice it was because I was committed.
I first started hearing voices when I
was about five or six years old.
After a while I'm hearing the voices of demons.
I believed I was possessed and I used
to cut myself to try and get the demons out.
Everybody becomes psychotic in his or her own way.
For me I have delusions, sometimes bizarre delusions
that I have killed hundreds of thousands of people
with my thoughts or like that a nuclear
explosion is going off in my head.
I think Schizophrenia is still probably
he most stigmatised and I don't think
we do well enough to incentivise
people to really do well.
think too many people say to lower your expectations.
In a nut shell, I had a painful childhood
and I have what I would call essentially a break down,
really confusing and wild beliefs.
What you would call paranoia delusions of grander.
Bit by bit I worked through it.
There are a lot of different ways to think of recovery but I
think the most important thing is to recognise that
there is definitely hope and strong possibility
of moving into a better and better life
and life that really is enjoyable.
It's just normal people dealing with normal human emotions
and they probably just experience
them in a very extreme way.
There is a lot of stigma and a lot of misinformation.
I think that people believe that people with Schizophrenia
can't live independently and can't work
or are unlikely to get married and are going to basically sit in a day
room watching a blaring TV at best.
At worst they're going to go out and shoot up a movie
theatre and kill lots of people.
There are a lot of negative stereotypes
and that's hard for those of us who suffer with those illnesses to
think this person is scared of me, how horrible.
I never speak to my diagnosis at all.
In my private or professional life I would never name it.
For me, to categorise somebody in that way is far to limiting.
And even in mental health itself the diagnosis is highly conscientious.
What is this thing that we're calling people being psychotic etc etc?
And the social, personal, and professional consequences
of doing that to people.
I would think that if I was to declare my diagnosis to people
that it would be almost impossible to cultivate relationships.
When we talk about these mental disorders,
I think the idea of hope is really important.
To hear of someone in a dark place, in a painful place.
And there needs to be that idea that there is some light at the end of this tunnel.
First I had to believe that things could be different
and when I started to experience a difference
that's when I started to believe.
And then I started to realise that I could have the life
that I wanted and I just had to work at it.
Life for me is that I've got all the things that I never thought
I would achieve and all the things that I was told that I would never have.
I managed to get married and have three children.
I just do ordinary things.
We don't have much control over inner experiences like
feelings, sensations, and thoughts.
We actually have a lot less control than most of us realise.
But what we do have fairly good control over,
including someone in psychosis is what we're doing with
our body and where I put my attention.
And it is hard at first, especially if you're experiencing
extreme states, yet almost anyone can actually
learn how to do this.
What I have the opportunity to see is that people work through
their issues and go out and have the life
that they choose for themselves, get married, have children,
have jobs, go and get the groceries.
People have been written off in lots of ways by the system,
but also by our community as well.
And they are just getting on with their lives.
There is nothing as satisfying to see people doing that.