Lived Experience Forum

[brender]

How do I deal with an episode 

[NatureLover]

Hi and welcome, @brender ...I don't have schizophrenia, but do you have a psychologist to help you with strategies? 

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[PLHH]

You should be really proud you're able to identify that you need help, that is a massive step.

Do you have someone that helps too care for you? I know sometimes during an episode it may be really scary to listen to your carer when everything in you is telling you not too, but that's really important. I'm not schizophrenic but in times of distress it's really hard to think clearly. 

A friend of mine with the diagnosis was told "don't scare yourself or anyone else." Hospitals will try really hard to treat you as an out patient where is safe, so please don't be afraid to reach out.

Your freedom and mental health are equally as important, hopefully people closer too you can help identify what's happening for you and provide support to get you feeling better.

I hope you stay safe and never feel like you can't reach out

[Melbcoffeesnob]

Hi @brender 

Welcome to the Sane Forums, I am one of the Sane Forum moderators. 

We are so pleased you found us, it's a really supportive forum community here and we hope you are able to find the support you need. 

I don't have schizophrenia but what you might find helpful is there is a search bar just above and you can search through countless threads and posts on the topic of Schizophrenia episodes. You might fine a forum user has previously written something on this topic. 

I hope you find this useful. 

I look forward to seeing your contribution on these forums. 

Much love from, 

@Melbcoffeesnob 

[puzzlingdino]

Hi @brender, 

Welcome to the forums!

I don't have personal experience with schizophrenia, but hopefully some other members will be around soon to provide insight based on their lived experience with the condition. 

In the meantime, you may find the following resources useful. They don't focus as much on dealing with episodes in the moment, but include some tips for supporting yourself to manage the condition/some of its symptoms:

https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/facts-and-guides/schizophrenia#guide

https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/the-sane-blog/managing-symptoms/lived-experience-tips...

https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/the-sane-blog/wellbeing/self-help-when-hearing-voices

Regarding dealing with an episode, is there anything that you've found has worked for you in the past? 

[Stroods]

Hey! I do have schizophrenia, which I've been managing for 10 years or so.

The most important thing is to manage your emotions. It's hard to do when everything feels so scary, but the main problem during an episode usually isn't the voices or thoughts themselves but how they make you feel. Don't focus too much on fighting the hallucinations or thoughts, manage the fear.

Do you have someone that you know you can trust, no matter what? It helps if you can tell them everything that's going through your head, whether you think it's important or not.

If you haven't gone through something like this before, it is worth checking in with a hospital. Once you've been through it a few times you will have some strategies to potentially manage it at home, but don't be afraid to get medical help if you're concerned. The concern for yourself in the first place is a good sign, though 🙂

[Honey5]

I have episodes of lot most of the time of having mental breakdown getting extremely angry and getting triggered over the years. I have worked out if I stay calm or whatever triggers me doesn't come near me I'm okay but the biggest thing I've worked out is that you just need to tell your brain when you're getting triggered or you're having those episodes what's actually really affecting you need to talk to yourself about it end of the day it's really just your self playing a game like I had some really bad episodes, but the same time it's like such a delusional feeling when they get bad I really depends on what kind of schizophrenia you have and how you deal with that and what makes you feel better at the end of the day but I would really recommend to try to sleep more stay calm and work out what really triggers you and why sometimes it could be just a littlest things for you don't even notice and somehow, if you pretend when you are having an episode that you're not having episode, you can actually trick yourself into thinking you're not having one. I know it sounds weird but try it