Lived Experience Forum

[mishyanne73]

Hi All,

Sincerely hope everybody is travelling well (or at least reasonably). 

Happy New Year!

I have a writing certificate and have published two books in the past (which were both hard work but awesome experiences).

I’m schizophrenic and some months ago I started toying around with an idea to write a book sharing the experiences of around 6-8 people suffering from the illness.

It certainly won’t be for profit but rather awareness for the illness.

I am wondering if any of you would be interested in sharing your story? You would most likely need to come up with a first draft that I would edit for inclusion in the project. Let me know if you are. 

Have an awesome evening.

Mishy

[Twilightsomniac]

Hi @mishyanne73,

That's so cool. I write too. I did a book once called it: My Childhood Made Me Crazy.

Never published it but it's still on my laptop. I have quite a few diagnosises and one psychiatrist did look at schizophrenia for a while but apparently never fully met the criteria or another diagnosis I already had would explain symptoms. 

I'm currently diagnosed with 

Anxiety 

Social anxiety 

Depression 

Panic disorder 

Complex post traumatic stress disorder    (C-PTSD)

and Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Every so often a psychiatrist will                  re-evaluate and try to change or add something but it's been roughly 5 years since I've been to one and it will be interesting to see what happens when I get sent for re-evaluation again.

[Gwynn]

Is this similar to the Growing Up series? https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/news/powerful-life-stories-growing-series

[Crystel]

Hey I’ll tell you my story and I don’t mind if you use it. I developed drug induced psychosis when I was 23 years old but even when I wasn’t on drugs I still had the voices I stabbed a cop and got put in the watch house for 7 days I thought the rooms were all moving and I thought I was in a giant rubix cube and I remember the olympics was on the tv and I thought I had to do exercises to make the athlete’s do better. I was moved to Brisbane woman’s correctional centre and I was seen by a psychiatrist who was trying to assess if I had a permanent mental illness that it had turned from drug induced psychosis to full schizophrenia that was permanent. I Hurt myself while I was in jail because I thought my son was dead. The voices I heard were that of my son being tortured and I thought it was a government conspiracy. I heard voices of my son constantly and I couldn’t stop what was happening to me. They then sent me to a place called the park centre for mental health it was a mental health facility for people who have a mental illness that have done a crime. They keeped trying all these different anti psychotics and mood stabilises on me but nothing worked. The voices were just getting worse and worse and I ended up punching a few nurses in desperation I didn’t know what to do I was suffering really bad. They put me in seclusion and I only had a seclusion blanket no sheets one seclusion pillow a metal toilet bowl and I got sandwiches two times a day because I wasn’t aloud to use cutlery just in case I would use them to harm myself I stayed in that room for a month before they sent me back to jail because I was classed as dangerous. I spent 6 months in jail before they sent me back to the park because I was unwell. They gave me a room and a yard and I stayed there for a year they were still trying me on different medications and they finally found one that started to work for me I’m not aloud to mention what one I got what they call a forensic order and I started to slowly rebuild my life from the tiny little pieces it was I started to get leave to the canteen with two staff members and once I did that with no insident I was taken down to one staff member. After that they sent me to a different ward called Tamborine where I started going out off the grounds to a place called stepping stone a club house for the mentally ill . It’s taken me such a long time to get out of that place . I spent 15 years there before I finally got free and I now don’t hear any voices and I’m in my own unit living my life as a free woman it’s still hard every day to try to pick up the little pieces of my fractured life. I hope this story helps you 

[Spring1983]

Hi @mishyanne73 

I just wanted to take a sec to wish you well with this project.

I hope it goes forward and you enjoy the process!

Spring1983