Scitzophrenia/Psychosis - What helped me the most... - Mental Health Message Board

Deviant · 09-12-2007, 12:32 PM

Meditation.

I tried everything but this is the one thing that helped the most.
I tried every type of medication there was... olanzapine, abilify, quetipine, citalopram... you name it. They all had one thing in common.. they made me feel like a mindless zombie. I never felt the same again, like i had lost all my personality, and i also gained weight. I'm sure all of you can relate to this, as i've heard it from pretty much everyone who has been on these meds long-term and they all say the same thing "i felt like a zombie". These meds do help theres no doubt about that, but i don't think they should be used as a long-term preventitive means, only as a short-term stabilization medication. From there, other alternative treatments should be used.

So my advice is to not take recreational drugs, exercise, socialise, stay away from stressful activities (including work), sleep well, drink lots of water, eat healthy, have regular psychological appoinments (weekly) to work directly on whats going on in your mind, what your thinking and feeling.. because often we will walk away from hospital with some lingering mental issues... things like depressive thoughts, increased anxiety, and just unhealthy thinking in general. So a psychologist can help you analyze your thinking, and give you ways to adjust it. CBT - Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a good technique you can use to challenge any unproductive thoughts you are having. But most importantly, meditate! a lot of people think meditation is about finding god or spirituality, well its not (or rather... it doesn't have to be). It just gives you time to clear your mind. There are meditation techniques which will work at clearing your mind of all thoughts, and after a while you gain better control over your thoughts and can make that innervoice in your head stop completely. But it doesn't just help the mind either, its been proven to make your body healthy too which is an added bonus. I've been hospitalized several times now for psychosis, and ever since i started meditating, i've never had another episode since! And the amazing thing is, i'm now a lot better than i've ever been my entire life, I feel happier, healthier and i can now make that innervoice turn off whenever i wish. Some other things that may help are EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), acupuncture & massages, hypnosis and healing type CD's i.e. ones that use advanced sound technologies like holo-sync.

It's my opinion that medication will only get you so far, you need to be doing something else on top of that to get you the rest of the way. If your interested in learning how to meditate i'd be glad to help, just send me a private message.

May you all be well.

Deviant · 09-21-2007, 11:47 AM

I thought i would just add that a good way to change how you think, is to change what you say and hear i.e. the words you use/hear most often.
I learnt from one of my pschologists, that emotions are triggered by the way we think, so to change your emotional state, you need to change your thinking. He then went one step further to say that the way we think is triggered by the words we hear and use, so to change your thinking you need to change the words that you use and hear to keep words associated with bad things out of your way of thinking.

Nexis · 09-24-2007, 08:04 AM

I enjoyed reading this post and yes, I read a book on how you must change your thinking in order to change and take charge of our emotions... Lastly words to reprogram your mind is the most effective way!

Sounds like you found yourself a good therapist! I had to find this out on my own reading a book on critical thinking; oh well I am better of now then ever...

Deviant · 09-24-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis

I enjoyed reading this post and yes, I read a book on how you must change your thinking in order to change and take charge of our emotions... Lastly words to reprogram your mind is the most effective way!

Sounds like you found yourself a good therapist! I had to find this out on my own reading a book on critical thinking; oh well I am better of now then ever...

yeah where i live they were always rotating the psychologists every 6 months, and none of them understood what i was saying about my thinking, they just write you off "here take these pills and everything will be fine". It wasn't until i met a psychologist with a background in social skills training that was able to identify a lot of my problems.

I'd actually like to meet a psychologist who has had at least one of his/her own psychotic episodes, because these doctors in most cases aren't able to relate, they've seen it all before but haven't been there and experienced it themselves.