I kind of stumbled upon this idea when I was looking for some advice on the internet; but it perfectly highlights just the stigma that I am trying to break. Schizophrenia effect 22,000 people in the UK, so why are people so scared of us?

So what I did was rather simple; I typed into google ‘Schizophrenics should..’ and these are the top answers I found… ( I have not cheated, this is honestly what comes up…)

1. …BE KILLED
2. …BE LOCKED UP
3. …BE PROTECTED BY THEIR FAMILIES
4. …BE INSTITUTIONALISED

If you want, feel free to type in what I did and see for yourself.

All I can say is we life in the 21st century, and yet for these to come up, people must type them in. You would think we were still in the medieval ages where people feared the unusual, the unexplainable. But here and now, we have so much research on the disease, we have methods of controlling it, and sufferers have a possibility to live normal lives!

As a Schizophrenic, it scares me seeing this. I spent a long time hiding my illness from everyone, parents, doctors, friends. I would do horrible things because of my voices, yet I’d prefer for them to blame it on me, and my choices, than for them to have any idea what was going on in my head. Although at the time I wasn’t fully aware that it was the voices (another story for another time). And this just proves why I was so scared for people to know- even now, though my family know, I have told THREE people outside of the family who I know, because I still fear the judgement. (Very different when dealing with faceless people online).

I have always understood the high suicide rate within schizophrenics when it came down to the symptoms, but now I can understand why you can feel you have no other choice. If this is the general opinion of the public on this illness then there’s little wonder people can feel so isolated.

I’ve had people change the topic when I mention my illness- my own cousin has not talked to me since my diagnosis, so I can see the fear and the stigma that it carries, but I can’t understand it. Day to day, you would have no idea that I have voices in my head, that I see more than what is really there; I function, I go out, I meet up with people- no different to other people unless you are inside my head. So why are we scary?

This really does show me, and confirm to me, exactly what I am trying to do. I am trying to fight the fear that my illness carries for people who don’t even suffer with it!

I’ve had enough of people thinking I don’t fit into society, for thinking I should be segregated for something that has nothing to do with anyone else. I am who I am, yes I carry the label of Schizophrenia, but you know what, some people have diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and you would not be saying they should not be in society. So WHY schizophrenia?