You can recover from schizophrenia — I did. But the stigma of the disease prevents too many from getting treatment

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Patty Mulcahy was 50 when she started hearing voices. She thinks society might have more compassion if people understood that schizophrenia is a brain disease that can be treated, and that the stigma of being labeled 'crazy' and possibly violent is a powerful deterrent to seeking psychiatric help.

"About 10% of people with schizophrenia will engage in violence during their lifetimes, which is three to four times higher than the general population, but people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of violence."

Hearing hallucinatory voices is a bizarre and terrifying experience. Some of the voices threatened to kill me and everyone I loved. Others promised me millions of dollars in compensation for being targeted as part of a global conspiracy involving mind control programs. I experienced delusions of grandeur and was convinced I was the hero at the center of world events.

It can be hard to choose between psychosis and living in reality when antipsychotics inhibit pleasure and carry the risk of life-threatening diseases. Society might have more compassion if people understood that schizophrenia is a brain disease that requires treatment and that the stigma of being labeled "crazy" and possibly violent is a powerful deterrent against seeking psychiatric help.

 

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