TF and mental illness

Originally Posted by Loving_Soul

Good for you hun x

So much of what this personal journey is about is finding our way home again - not to a place - but home to our true self - then we can truly embrace our full potential and purpose :)

Thanks LS. Absolutely - it's about finding our authentic self xx

Originally Posted by TravellingTwin

Spot on SQ. I still think that for a lot of so-called 'schizophrenic' patients, for example, that the voices they hear and the hallucinations they see are actually the spirit world. I agree that mental illness develops when the soul becomes at odds with the outer world in some way, most definitely. I've always thought there was a spiritual dimension to it, for sure. The only downside I think is if the person becomes completely lost in that world, because at some point I think they have to go through the illness and come out the other side with a more enlightened, more authentic, 'new' relationship with the outer world. I think this is where medication helps - to bring a person back from that brink, when they become so lost in that other world that they become detrimental to themselves and others.
I wonder about the more negative ones though, although they are rare. You know the ones who kill based on the voices they hear? x

I heard voices too, was dx'ed as bipolar (diagnosis long cleared). The difference was that the voices were my own. I would have a zillion "self" conversations going on at one time. Yes sometimes the voices told me to harm myself. I became fascinated with these voices and that's when I first realized I am not my mind, the mind is something separate. When I was able to step back and view the conversations as something apart from me, that was a truly amazing moment.

I can't speak for schizophrenia, since that was not my own experience. According to my doctor, the difference between bipolar and schizophrenia is that someone with sz hears voices that clearly are not their own -- i.e., a male could hear a female's voice. Sometimes I do wonder if this is only splitting hairs, but as I said, I can't say, since it wasn't my experience.

As for those who hear voices telling them to kill others, it's a fallacy that all schizophrenics are violent. Yes, some are, but the vast majority are not. They are far more likely to hurt themselves, than any other. It is a shame there is a wide-spread belief that schizophrenics are violent. I wish we could banish that stigma. From my observation, someone with sz (and I know a lot of people personally who are), is just as likely to be violent as someone without it, and just as likely to not be violent as someone without it. In other words, it's not the schizophrenia at all.

Originally Posted by SerpentQueen

I heard voices too, was dx'ed as bipolar (diagnosis long cleared). The difference was that the voices were my own. I would have a zillion "self" conversations going on at one time. Yes sometimes the voices told me to harm myself. I became fascinated with these voices and that's when I first realized I am not my mind, the mind is something separate. When I was able to step back and view the conversations as something apart from me, that was a truly amazing moment.

I can't speak for schizophrenia, since that was not my own experience. According to my doctor, the difference between bipolar and schizophrenia is that someone with sz hears voices that clearly are not their own -- i.e., a male could hear a female's voice. Sometimes I do wonder if this is only splitting hairs, but as I said, I can't say, since it wasn't my experience.

As for those who hear voices telling them to kill others, it's a fallacy that all schizophrenics are violent. Yes, some are, but the vast majority are not. They are far more likely to hurt themselves, than any other. It is a shame there is a wide-spread belief that schizophrenics are violent. I wish we could banish that stigma. From my observation, someone with sz (and I know a lot of people personally who are), is just as likely to be violent as someone without it, and just as likely to not be violent as someone without it. In other words, it's not the schizophrenia at all.

I totally agree, most people with mental illness turn the hurt on themselves than others. I was just wondering about the spiritual angle on the negative voices. I often think that's it's evil/lower level entities getting in.
Having experienced depression for so long, I have experienced that stigma too from friends and workplaces, also family, and it is so wrong. It's like, as soon as you tell people, they view it as a weakness. I only have to be in a bad mood around my family for five minutes and straight away it's 'take your tablets' I can't just be a normal human being and have a tetchy day like everyone else. Employers can be very tricky too. In my last job staff who had a history of mental health issues became targets for workplace abuse by colleagues who didn't, which is why I eventually left. They employed many staff with a history, because we were thought to have that bit of extra empathy/ability to relate when working with the patients. One of the most uncaring environments I have ever had to work in though, when it comes to being on the staff... x