Anyone who has been following my little internet space will know that my main inspiration for writing is my experience with Schizophrenia. I have a rare form of the illness, so when I google’d it right when I first started my recovery I found little if anything that I could directly relate to. Although my writing helps me to process what I am going through, I like to think that one day it may help someone who is going through the same thing I did.

The last couple of weeks, I’ve been in contact with a lady whose daughter has just begun her recovery, experiencing the normal symptoms, and as many do -me included at the beginning- not wanting to talk about it what so ever. This lady was confused and scared, not fully understanding what they were dealing with and having no information source apart from the internet. I’m not going to say I’ve been some miracle help, but I have been able to answer some of her questions; like ‘what’s it like to have voices?’ ‘why doesn’t she want to leave the house?’ and ‘why does she say no one understands?’. These are all things I went through, and think almost everyone with Schizophrenia, no matter what form, goes through.

Through talking to this lady it has confirmed in my mind just why I set out to write about my experience- to give an insight into what its like for those who don’t have many other options. Schizophrenia effects everyone involved- the family, friends, anyone that goes into contact with the sufferer, and that is no ones fault, its just what the illness does. Because of that, everyone needs a source of information about what it is like! I’m never going to force people to learn about it, its a choice, but its a choice some don’t get to make.

I know its not nice that this mother is in that position, but it has given me the motivation to keep writing about it, as it may be helping just one person out there.  This has led me nicely to introduce a new image that the lovely Jemma (link below) has made for me, in order to tie together all of my Schizo related posts. Its hard to depict what its truly like, but I think this come pretty close. To have faceless people around you, and to feel like everything could fall apart at any moment….

Jemma- Twitter: @dorkfaceblog      Blog: dorkface.co.uk