Day: June 5, 2018

Hoping for input from people with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder…

butterflyinthewell:


* * * This post may trigger paranoia or delusions about surveillance, so it’s totally okay to skip it if it will set anything off. * * * 

I just ran across a Youtube channel where the parent of a young adult (YA) with schizophrenia (or it could be schizo-affective disorder? YA is 18-ish) posted surveillance footage from inside YA’s bedroom. YA was either in a hallucination or a delusion where they were doing some kind of martial arts moves and holding their shoes like weapons. It looked very similar to somebody playing pretend, but I’m sure YA was in combat with somebody real to them. 

The parent says YA is medicated, but they still sometimes hear voices and often talks about going on adventures with a team that battles aliens or solves mysteries. 

The parent says they have a nanny cam monitoring YA’s bedroom for YA’s safety, but I don’t know if YA is aware of the cameras or that the footage of their behavior is being posted for the world to see. (I’m avoiding linking because I don’t want to expose YA any further.)

The parent who posted the video is struggling with mental health issues themselves (depression) and has to keep a household with more than one disabled person afloat, one of which is their spouse (debilitating migraines). Their kids, including YA, are all autistic with comorbidities that complicate their needs. I think YA is the oldest, but I could be wrong. 

The parent sounds like they try very hard to understand issues like autism and mental illness, but I feel like them posting YA’s adventure to be a serious breach of trust and privacy.

I don’t have schizophrenia or schizzoaffective disorder myself, but I’ve heard a frequent paranoid delusion you can have is that you’re being monitored by somebody for a million different reasons.


My question:

Does recording and posting videos of YA’s behavior during hallucinations / delusions (potentially) without their knowledge / consent risk intensifying symptoms or triggering new ones?

stumblinginstarlight:

apersnicketylemon:

Just a reminder, but you do not need to “earn” being tired.

You’re allowed to be tired, even if you haven’t “done” anything and you’re allowed to be tired even if you did less than someone else.

Being tired is a normal thing your body does for a whole plethora of reasons, and is a basic bodily function. You don’t need to “earn” basic bodily functions, no matter what anyone else tells you.

And if you have any sort of neurodivergence or chronic illness this applies double, since tiredness is a symptom of practically all of them.  There are days even when I’m doing “well” that I come home and just go to bed because I cannot stay upright one more moment.  I call it a system power-down.  Your body needs sleep and rest and it doesn’t need an “earned” reason.  Don’t berate yourself for having a body that needs things, even if they seem unreasonable.  That’s kind of what bodies do.