Schizophrenia Support Group

the stigma that comes with being ill is a very common occurance. Whether it is out in public, going to the doctor, I have felt it everywhere by lots of people that don't know what it's like. And also lots of people who most think would hold no stigma at all. You are not alone in this by any means. Every time I have to tell another doctor or someone who doesn't know me that I have a mental illness, there eyes change and they seem to cringe away, like they may catch it from me.

Is it possible that that's the paranoia of the mental illness itself talking? Not that people actually react that way?

Stigmatism is the name of the game here. After John Hyde (a local schizophrenic) killed all those people including two police officers, life has become a living hell here for people with m.i.

Everyday. When I was first diagnosed with schizophrenia the first words out of my own mothers mouth were "Does that mean hes going to start committing crimes?"

It could be you are overly self consicious. too much consideration of what other people might be thinking. However there is a general fear and morbid curiosity towards mental illness.

I equate the feeling to getting the evil-eye from a person. It makes one feel very awkward.

On a related note has anybody ever heard of a person having the "lithium look." If so can you describe what this looks like?