has anyone got any suggestions on how 2 live with depression/schioprenea (i cant spell 4 shit) how to sleep better at night,get rid of the social stigmas,how to tell reallity from your own mind.....sorry its not much 2 go on,not very gd at this,would be nice to hear your thoughts......while hear has anyone ever undergone psyhcadellic psyhco-therapy???
The best advice I can give for schizoid/psychotic symptoms is to stop all drug use immediately. There was a period in my life when I thought I was schizophrenic, I even ended up in a psychiatric ward and given haldol injections and all that fun stuff, and it was really a drug problem. Have you been diagnosed as schizophrenic? If you have, understand that this is a diagnosis, not a death sentence. With a
combination of medication and therapy, you can stop experiencing symptoms. The problem with schizophrenics is they can get so paranoid about the mental health social field that they don't seek out the help they need. The earlier you get treatment (and for all I know you're already getting treatment), the better your prognosis is.
For distinguishing psychotic thoughts from normal thoughts, what worked for me was meditation. It's really easy you don't have to sit still in the lotus position for hours. Just become aware of the sensation of your breath passing in and out of your mouth and nose. Your mind will still be going in the background but you simply focus your attention on the breath. Your internal monologue/dialogue will still be running its mouth, but you just choose to let it do that and focus on your breathing. This simple practice can really allow you to quiet your mind down a lot. Once you're good at quieting your mind, you will be better at distinguishing psychotic thoughts from normal thoughts. This meditation/mindfulness practice can be done at any time, I do it while I'm doing dishes, just whenever I feel like it. The only reason I'm not doing it right now is because I'm writing this so I need to engage with my internal mono/dialogue a bit more.
Now the problem is
everybody has psychotic thoughts. My father got a DUI and had all this bad shit happen to him, and he's convinced "god would never put me through even more bullshit". Because of this belief he went outside in hurricane-force winds to save his motorcycle. That's objectively deluded thinking, but everybody has some deluded thinking. You just need to choose which thoughts are worth having and which are better ignored. I still get these paranoid instincts, like I believe every sketchy looking black guy is an undercover cop, but I choose to ignore those thoughts. It was breathing techniques/meditation that allowed me to do this.
Whatever you do, DON'T smoke marijuana, DON'T take stimulants, DON'T take psychedelics. They will make your problem much worse. When I was going through my crazy period I thought I could trip my way out of it. THIS MADE THINGS MUCH, MUCH WORSE. I became very isolated and lonely because nobody saw the world as I did (my perception of the world was ludicrously delusional). And honestly I had to go to an emergency room and be institutionalized for almost two weeks to get better.
You don't necessarily have schizophrenia, this could be drug-induced psychosis. Mine was, and I was seriously acting like a schizophrenic person towards the end.
For sleep, man sleep can be difficult, especially if you're on an antipsychotic drug that can make you feel restless and make your muscles all weird. What worked for me is setting a stable bed-time of 11 pm. I take a melatonin about 1.5 hours before hand. And when 11 comes around, no matter how worked up I feel or what's going on in my head (and what's going on in my head is just getting more and more sane every day I don't use drugs), I lie down in bed with a sleep-mask on. I don't think "I'm going to go to sleep now! I'd better sleep or my psychosis will get worse!" I think "I'm tired after a long day, I'm giving my body and mind a chance to rest". So I just lie down and toss and turn and I get to sleep somehow. I can't seem to get more than 6 hours of sleep but 6 hours is fine, I used to sleep like 12, I think all the drugs I did did something to my circadian rhythm.
Edit: I see you're already seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor. That's great! I love my counselor/therapist, for me personally my meetings with him have done more to help the psychosis than the antipsychotic drug I'm on.