Schizophrenia Support Group
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception of reality and by significant social dysfunction. Untreated schizophrenia is typically characterized by demonstrating disorganized thinking and experiencing delusions or auditory hallucinations.
Hi.do you ever worry that in your psychosis you will commit crimes because youre so out of it and not realize what youre doing? -tahnee
I'm on medication which is working these days, so I'm not in psychosis.
But when I was in psychosis, my core personality was still the same.
I'm a peaceful, law-abiding citizen and I hate violence and I follow laws and rules for everyone's benefit.
When I get paranoid I'm actually even more safe about things because I develop the delusion that I'm being monitored remotely by high tech devices and organizations. So I'm actually on my best behavior.
However, the last time I was in psychosis, I did develop a delusion that I was supposed to move into a strangers house and try to find a missing child there for law enforcement.
It got strange when I knocked on their door and offered the residents food to let me come inside. They of course had no idea what I was talking about and they got a bit scared so they called the police who showed up later to talk to me.
Luckily, the police in my town know how to interect with mentally ill people and they didn't harrass me.
But I can see from this experience that it's similar to when people get arrested for trespassing.
I think I might be at risk for stuff like that sometimes. It's a relatively minor offense, but it's still a way that an innocent schizo person could end up in jail. And that's not good.
And since some jail systems and some police are corrupt, I can see how that could end up bad for a schizo person.
But in general, since I only have positive symptoms (extra ways of thinking superimposed on top of my normal thinking), I'm still the same person who I always am. My personality doesn't change.
I still turn off the stove when I leave my apartment. I still obey traffic laws . I still avoid fighting. I'm still a peaceful person. I believe in peace.
It's just that the extra thoughts about spies and aliens and shapeshifters and terrorists and nuclear weapons etc... overwhelm me and then I go into a hypervigilant mode. I think this is probably somewhat common for people like us.
And people who don't have these symptoms might misinterpret our hypervigilance and think we are aggressive when we aren't.
I'm not totally unconcerned, but I'm mostly not worried.
Nevertheless, when I got committed last time, the magistrate put something in my record which says I'm not allowed to buy any firearms (guns). Of course this is totally ridiculous because I hate guns and wouldn't ever be around them. They clearly don't understand my personality. I'm a non-aggressionist. I don't believe in guns or violence. There's other "sane" people who are a lot more dangerous than me.
When I am psychotic I am usually acutely aware of it and stay inside my apartment where I can't get into trouble. I don't let myself drive when I am psychotic because hallucinations and driving don't mix very well.
Like Nystagmus, I am a very peaceful and law-abiding person and mostly want to be left alone, esp. when psychotic. I don't go into other peoples homes or cause trouble. I just sit in my apartment where I am safe merrily hallucinating on the white walls and everything is happy and fine, or so I would like to hope.