Schizophrenia As I Live It (audio)

Building Bridges Between Friends and Mental Health

• Diana Dirkby

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Imagine discovering your friend has a mental health diagnosis like schizophrenia. Would you know how to respond, or would fear and hesitation cloud your judgment? This episode promises to smash through societal misconceptions and shed light on the harsh realities many face due to the stigma perpetuated by media misrepresentations. Join me, Diana Dirkby, as I unpack the damaging stereotypes often portrayed in movies, TV shows, and books, and how these contribute to personal experiences of rejection. Not all hope is lost, as we'll also celebrate movies like "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Crowded Room" for offering more accurate portrayals. With personal stories, including my insightful exchanges with John Nash, we'll explore the crucial role of education and advocacy groups like the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance and prominent activist Michelle Hammer in combating stigma.

In friendships, the revelation of a mental health diagnosis can strain connections, but it doesn't have to. I'll discuss the fears and hesitations that might arise and suggest alternative ways to communicate, such as through social media and email, to ease the conversation. We'll emphasize that mental illness is not something to be feared. Moreover, I'll share my aspirations as a fiction writer to bridge the gap between mental health consumers and their loved ones, fostering better mutual understanding. Join me for a nuanced examination, considering diverse backgrounds and limitations, aimed at nurturing genuine relationships and understanding in the face of mental health challenges.

Pastime With Good Company by King Henry VIII, played by The Chestnut Brass Company 

Pastime With Good Company, composed by King Henry VIII, played by The Chestnut Brass Company

Diana Dirkby:

Hello, my name is Diana Dirkby and I live with paranoid schizophrenia. Today I wanted to talk again about the two-way street of stigma. The stigma of mental illness, especially schizophrenia, is an undeniable destructive force in our society, and here I talk of Western culture, for I know little of how the stigma of mental illness manifests itself in the Orient. In my view, it is too simplistic to label those exercising stigma as " ignorant guys" and those treating consumers of mental health compassionately and with understanding as informed guys. One needs to look for the sources of misconceptions about mental illness.

Diana Dirkby:

One of my loves and principal pastimes is classic and modern movies, including independent films and TV shows. I am hurt again and again by the fact that the writers of such entertainment play fast and loose with words like schizophrenic, psychotic, mentally ill and manic as a way of padding their plots with people who are supposed to find who we are supposed to find. scary Not only scary, but responsible for terrible crimes. Not only scary, but responsible for terrible crimes, often involving sadistic murder. Tracking down the bad guy or girl is frequently identified with finding the mentally ill person in the plot. Why do I keep watching such media? The truth is that I watch to appreciate the performances of good actors and actresses, often undermined by mediocre writing that resorts to making a mentally ill person the key monster for lack of a more original idea. Does it hurt my feelings? You bet it does, and it makes me feel shut out from the media of films and TV series. Would any of these actors, actresses and writers want to know me? I feel probably not. After all, I live with paranoid schizophrenia, one of the most maligned mental illnesses, or brain disorders as some call it. The sad fact is that many people I know have as their only source of knowledge of mental illness these movies and TV series, as well as the books and plays that may have inspired them. In my experience, my struggles to connect with someone I love but who rejects me often originate in the pervasive media, reinforcing the stigma of mental illness. I wish I knew how to stop it. There are

Diana Dirkby:

exceptions.

Diana Dirkby:

A Beautiful Mind, a 2001 American biographical drama film about the mathematician John Nash, who lived with paranoid schizophrenia, a Nobel laureate in economics, played by Russell Crowe. The film is directed by Ron Howard and based on a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, who adapted the 1998 biography by Sylvia Nassar. By the way, my husband and I knew John Nash well. My husband lived many years in Princeton and frequently talked with John Nash. While my husband was a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, I visited Princeton several times and got on well with John Nash, who often asked to sit next to me at lunch for reasons I never understood. Akiva Goldsman figured again as the writer of the Crowded Room, an American psychological thriller.

Diana Dirkby:

Miniseries inspired by the 1981 non-fiction novel the Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes. Tom Holland, amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum lead a supporting cast that includes Sasha Lane, will Chase Lioraz, lila Robbins, henry Elkenberry and Jason Isaacs. It's about Dissociative Identity Disorder, did, which is often confused with schizophrenia but has nothing to do with it. The series does much to combat the stigma of DID. Again, dissociative Identity Disorder. I recommend the 1957 movie the Three Faces of Eve, which stars Joanna Woodward and is about a woman with DID. It is based on a book about a case of DID by psychiatrists CH Thigpen and HM Clickley psychiatrists CH Thigpen and HM Clickley. Social media has enabled many mental health advocacy groups and activists wanting to eliminate the stigma of mental illness to have a voice that is widely heard. I have mentioned some examples in previous podcasts. Let me remind you of two of them the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance, whose Instagram handle is sczaction, and the activist for schizophrenia, michelle Hammer, whose Instagram handle is schizophrenicnyc.

Diana Dirkby:

Some excellent non-fiction books are written by experts such as E Fuller Torrey's book Surviving Schizophrenia A Family Manual. In my fiction novel, the Overlife A Tale of Schizophrenia, by Diana Dirkby, I aim to describe what it can be like to live with schizophrenia, dispelling some of the myths along the way. The character who narrates the book, sarah, myths along the way. The character who narrates the book, sarah, manifests some alarming symptoms, but no one is ever in danger from her, nor from her mother, jodie, who lives with schizophrenia. In my forthcoming novel, three Kidnapped, three Siblings, three Furies, by Diana Dirkby, one of the key characters is a woman living with schizophrenia. In this case, her schizophrenia symptoms are under control and it is other sides of her persona that are important, stressing that a mental health consumer is much more than their diagnosis. How can we start a journey towards mutual understanding between someone living with schizophrenia and someone afraid of that diagnosis? Suppose they are receptive to being educated about schizophrenia. In that case, you can direct them to the rich social media activity of those advocating for mental illness.

Diana Dirkby:

Educational books about schizophrenia non-fiction or fiction, and some of the movies and TV shows I mentioned that portray mental illness more accurately than most. That way, they will see that many people are undergoing the dialogue you wish to have with them. Someone so receptive will likely genuinely want to know you or who is in love with you. Despite the misconceptions surrounding schizophrenia, from what I have been saying, you can appreciate that there is nonetheless a lot of good educational media available about severe mental illness. The problem is that someone wanting to profit from those sources of education needs a strong motivation to learn about mental illness or brain disorders. Many people prefer to call schizophrenia a brain disorder. It can be hurtful, but it is often true that the people you would most like to understand your mental illness better can be those who want to cut you out of their life once they know you live with a mental illness. These people are in contrast to those who leap at the opportunity to understand you better, even though they may only be acquaintances.

Diana Dirkby:

In writing. In the fiction genre about mental illness, I aim to provide an informative work that has the comfort that it is fictional, so people in your life don't feel judged by what you write. We need more comfort zones for people to learn about mental illness. Most advocates for those with a mental illness only think of the situation from the point of view of the consumer of mental health, the person living with a mental illness and their caregivers. However, the other people in your life also have their needs and limitations. For example, the sibling of a mental health consumer may feel that the sibling needing care is overshadowing their own needs for attention and love from their parents. The family needs to provide an opportunity for all its members to express how they feel, while insisting they make an effort to learn about mental illness. However, this learning process shouldn't be unpleasant and should advance at a pace comfortable for the student. Indeed, the whole family's needs must be considered.

Diana Dirkby:

Someone who is a friend of a mental health consumer and has just learned of their diagnosis may have difficulty continuing the friendship for fear of what a mental illness may do to it.

Diana Dirkby:

They may be willing to educate themselves further to try to understand their friend and their mental illness. However, even some of the facts about mental health may scare them away. In such a case, it may help to find a less direct way than physical presence to dialogue with your friend. For example, you could propose that you communicate on social media and by email for a period, while the friend with the mental illness uses this more detached situation to gently persuade their friend that there is nothing to be afraid of in their mental illness. As I have expressed before, the fight against the stigma of mental illness is much deeper than just the reiteration of actual facts that you hope people take into account. Those people whose audience is varied have their own problems and limitations and need any dialogue about mental illness to take that into account. One of my fiction writing goals is to explore ways, some of which are pretty subtle, to bring mental health consumers and those they care about closer to a better, neutral understanding. Thank you for listening.