Why Suicide is a Major Concern for People with Schizophrenia
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- People living with a schizophrenia spectrum illness are around 10x more likely to die by suicide than the general population. This video explores why that could be, and my own experience with it.
*If you are in distress, or are having thoughts of suicide or of self harm in any way, please please please REACH OUT. Go to your nearest emergency room department, call your doctor/psychiatrist if you are in contact with one, your therapist if you have one, or a mental health crisis line in your area. There is help available to keep you safe until you are in a more safe state of mind. Your life matters.*
HELP SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
We depend on the support of our audience to create this valuable resource. If you have found our content helpful, please consider supporting us today. Your contribution can make a huge difference and enable us to continue providing valuable resources to those living with mental illness.
• One-time donation: donate.stripe.com/9AQ6oV5S0ef...
• Monthly donation: / livingwellwithschizoph...
JOIN OUR ONLINE PEER SUPPORT COMMUNITY
Join a welcoming community of your peers and find comfort in sharing your experiences. By joining our community, you can benefit from the support of others who understand what you’re going through. We offer live weekly facilitated video peer support groups and text channels to communicate about a wide range of topics. Join today and start feeling less alone with what you’re going through.
• Schizophrenia Peer Support Community: www.schizophreniapeersupport.com
MENTAL HEALTH APPAREL
Wear your support for mental health! Our t-shirts, sweaters, and mugs not only spread awareness but also help support this channel. Pick up some mental health apparel today and make a statement while making a difference.
livingwell.myspreadshop.com/
SPEAKING & CONSULTING
Looking for an expert speaker or consultant for your upcoming event or project? With years of experience and a passion for mental health advocacy, I can provide the insight and inspiration you need to make a positive impact. Visit my speaking website to learn more!
www.laurenkennedywest.com/
SOCIALS
Instagram: / livingwellwithschizoph...
TikTok: / livingwellschizophrenia
Twitter: / lwschizophrenia
Website: www.livingwellwithschizophren...
#schizophrenia #schizoaffective #schizoaffectivedisorder #mentalhealth #mentalillness
JOIN OUR ONLINE PEER SUPPORT COMMUNITY
Schizophrenia Peer Support Community: www.schizophreniapeersupport.com
I stumbled upon your videos by divine intervention. I have someone currently undergoing experiences and suicidal ideations that you have undergone. Listening to the video you made a while back when you were reclassified to an involuntary stay in a hospital to your more current videos is so crucial to have. The question I had was, how to break through to someone who is entering into a psychosis when paranoia takes flight and they are disconnecting from their environment? How do you encourage them to grab hold of the life preserver or helping hand? Obviously, after having the direct talk, non action can be terminal, but premature action can reek undue havoc on someone's life and sever future trust and connections. Thank you for your courage and fortitude in sharing your life and stories with us. Namaste.
I have suffered from recurrent depression throughout my life. Each episode is more severe than the one before. When depression is severe I get psychotic symptoms in the form of disconnection from my surroundings and severe reality distortion.
I fee like I am someone else. Memory and time become blurred
Yet I have to live among people and interact with them.
Every thing becomes meaningless.
I look at people and wonder why they laugh or eat or go to their jobs. Don't they understand that life has no meaning and what they are doing is stupid.
This phase of illness is very painful. I wish I go to sleep and never wake up. In one episode I lost 20 kg in 6 weeks.
Medicine becomes ineffective at this stage as depression is very severe.
Of course I had suicidal thoughts.
But I haven't attempted suicide.
The last episode lasted for 15 months during which I lost my job, I am a doctor, and was unable to attend my daughter 's marriage.
I am now OK, with medication.
I don't know when the next episode of depression will come but have to take antidepressants for the rest of my life.
Bad advice that it is a mental disorder instead of the spiritual battle that it truly is.
Your channel gives no hope and presumes something is wrong with someone’s brain that in incurable as you demonstrate on your channel and admit you have been dealing with this since high school.
Clearly your way doesn’t work.
My nephew shot himself. Not only did he have schizophrenia, but he also had severe PTSD. He was a combat veteran in the Army. While deployed in Afghanistan, his schizophrenia started to "develop". When he returned, his positive symptoms were all centered around combat and triggered his PTSD. He was paranoid. He would think that the news on TV was giving him commands (military related). He would think his phones and internet were bugged by the army. He finally got tired of the delusions and was at the point where he was in psychosis more than he was lucid. We tried to get him help. He was hospitalized many times. I hope he is now at peace though. RIP SPC Kenneth Adniskey Aunt Lissa loves you!
Not sure I can watch this now- my symptoms are bad and I don’t want to give fuel to the fire. But know that I support you and this channel and everyone living with schizophrenia.
Sending you virtual hugs 🤍🤍🤍
Look after yourself💪♥️
❤ I'm glad you're aware and going to protect yourself. That's important
Take care and ask for help❤
❤
I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when I was 21. I am 53 now, live alone, manage fairly well and take my meds daily. Voices can be incredibly upsetting on bad days. I'm worthless, lazy, a bad person and so on, which can lead to crippling depression. I have never attempted suicide, but know people who have. Please, if you ever have those thoughts, just know that you are worth more than you may think. Reading other comments and chatting to others about mental health make this channel a breath of fresh air.
Thank you for your thought-filled comment. It's helpful for all of us to remember, even those of us who don't have schizophrenia but are suffering for other reasons
@@PawsForAndreayour absolutely right about that!
Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing. I struggle with PTSD and finally sought help after a panic attack at TJ Max and thank god I did. I hope you continue to thrive.
@@333Hedgehogs It's hard to say Take your friend seriously. Try and get your friend some help, whether that's through a doctor or even at a hospital emergency room. It might seem hopeless right now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let me know how your friend progresses. Thinking of you both.
My Schizophrenic friend took his life 10 years ago i think of him every day. He was pressured by family out of fear of stigma to go back to work after time in a mental health facility to stabilise him. We have to challenge the misplaced fears of mental illness with facts. I have depression and anxiety and being asked what have you got to be depressed about or toughen up is exausting for schizophrenia sufferers it is a million times worse Take Care Stay Safe. If you have a mental illness you are amazing.
Yes Peter your right ……I’m going through it now it’s awful I’m the only one my special needs daughter has 🤗
This comment is everything and I was literally just writing sth similar for a post I'm doing. I'm living with bipolar 2 disorder and I understand how stigma kills more than the intrusive ideation.
When you have a traumatic physical injury they never say take care stay safe- they take you to the trauma ward. With mental illness it’s like ehh, have a good day. The brain is an organ, and it’s dysfunction is ignored at people and loved ones peril.
have you ever noticed that just regular people. people who are regular ole people. they dont have anything special about them. they fit in a crowd easily. but they are unhappy with their lives and how they are just regular. so they pick an elite thing to identify with. they dont want to be normal, they want to stand out. so they pick a one of a kind condition to identify with. something no one has so they will be elite. like a disorder with very rare diagnosis because that many people have it. like dissociative identity disorder. and they dont have any medications. no anti depressants. something that most people get ptsd for but they are different.
Peter. You are amazing too.
"Suicide takes away the possibility that things will get worse, which is why I see it appealing, BUT it also takes away the possibility that things will get better... and you owe it to yourself to see the better days"
I was told something similar about 5 years ago.
There have been no better days. I see it as a manipulative tactic to prolong suffering.
The cruelist is "I will miss you and never get over it".
❤ I have schizophrenia...and I tried many times to sucide..but thanks to my father and mother who never gave up on me ...now I'm running 2 Buisness and doing everyday activities better than when I had no disease
This made me very happy, I’m not giving up on my son. As hard as it is I believe he will get better.
@@user-bn9se1qn4d Definitely he will, I'll pray for him
Wow. I also have schizophrenia. I was depressed because my illness for a long time. I didn't work for 9 years. Now I try to stay business. But I can't figure out how to find customers. I bought advertisement. But probably I did it too early. I want to start at 20 November. And people just don't want to sign up early on. I hope I also can be valuable again and have some success
This is so encouraging, very happy for you and your family. This gives us hope!
My cousin had it he did commit suicide. I have it, my brother has it. It’s terrible. I get why. I get why they do it.
Please hold on❤
never give up, hold dear people close and hang out with them as much as possible. :)
Same here…
I lost my twin brother who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder to suicide. He was pretty aware of his disorder, but we think perhaps these feelings of difficulty succeeding due to that was what led to it. Please, try not to feel like you're unwanted or that ending your life would be easier. There is absolutely someone who wants you here and wants to help you.
As a twin im really sorry for your lost.
So sorry for your loss, this is a awful disease.
My daughter was undiagnosed schizophrenic...just started to show more signs for an official diagnosis. She died by suicide in June. She was 15. The medical community needs to really see this issue in pediatrics and stop waiting to actually help before it's too late.
If u don't mind how did she die 😢 wasn't she afraid of ending her life 😢😢
I'm so sorry. I have this, I worry that I pass it on to others. I don't even imagine that. I have a daughter. Sorry, may she rest in beautiful peace ❤
Im so sorry 😪💔
@@akshorts2115 why ask its really rude
@@ahmedthedesperadomuhammed6232 just wanted to know how she died
My husband was diagnosed with schizophrenia a few years into our relationship. He was on medication at first and was doing great but apparently he stopped taking it and things quickly went downhill. After a few months of trying, I finally talked him into getting help. He was supposed to go see his doctor that next Monday but ended up taking his life the night before. He went out to the store late that night and the cops tried pulling him over for a missing headlight. He ran from them and ended up shooting himself while driving. Its been 2 years now, but it still doesn't feel real sometimes. I feel broken, I feel guilty. I hurt for our kids who had to experience the pain of losing a parent at such a young age..
I am so sorry 💛🕯🙏
Please don't go anywhere. We need you, I need you. Much respect for this platform and what you do ❤
I hear voices constantly, I have learned to deal with them, it has made my character stronger, but sometimes I do have suicide ideality
Sorry about this
more strength to you!
My schizoaffective daughter was once out walking late at night, came home and went into her bedroom. I thought she was talking on the phone, but it was an auditory hallucination. At one point I heard her questioningly answer, "Why do you want me to kill myself?" That's when I really worried.
Please hold on❤
That is ironically probably a good sign 🪧.
It means she is intelligent enough to be able to reason about what the voices are and want. She won't just go along with what they say for no reason. She is curious about their nature and tries to understand them.
Probably means she can stably live her life happy 😆, once she gets into a happy state.
@@stevec3872
Thank you sweet lady for all your education, I lost my son via suicide which has gutted me now. My son was never formally diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder in his mid 20’s. He took his life at age 30. He was my most handsome child and really most intelligent, now I struggle so much bc I was unable to save him, or didn’t handle some of his situations well. God Bless you and the work you are doing!!
❤❤
I'm so sorry for your loss. As a parent myself I couldn't imagine the pain of dealing with the loss of any of my children. I hope you and your family are finding peace. And thank you so much for your support. We hope that this channel and videos like this help prevent future loss.
I am a jobless middle aged male with dental and health issues and without health insurance. I have professionally done computer repair, web developement, and other forms computer programming.
Despair can be a very real and consistent issue.
When you reach bottom, things can only get better.
Suicide removes any chance of a better future.
Sorry you have such Challenges. It has to be very difficult. Sending you healing in even the smallest way.
you don't know that unless you try
@@kayjaybeats You don't know that unless you try.
What is that supposed to mean? Try what? Can you please explain your reply to this man
We do have Medicaide. Apply!
Yes, I believe you can receive disability medical insurance in most states. Please take advantage of that!! Let me know if I can help guide you with that!
I spent ten years in hospital including Broadmoor hospital for committing a violent crime whilst psychotic. Doctors say I'm more a risk to myself than other people now. Schizophrenia is a devastating illness.
My mom died by suicide March 7, 2023. She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 17 and it came back 30 years later. I believe she was misdiagnosed and had schizophrenia. My uncle had it. My mom and her siblings had a traumatic childhood. I didn't know her symptoms were schizophrenia. The symptoms are all the same with mental health. It's been so hard
im so sorry you had to go trough that. i hope you know her choice had nothing to do with her love for you. its like having 2 brains kinda where one is just on this terrible path it cant seem to get away from and the other is loving people around them and being a person.
@lijntje266 thank you so much for explaining that. I have been trying to understand what she was going through and this channel and the people that comment have been a great help. Thank you 😦🙏
@@sallyvasquez6897 even tho i am this person who realy wants to know the reason always so me saying this is kinda stupid xD in this while i deeply get the drive you feel to understand. I think its a good thing you dont. Realy understanding her mind means being in the same dark place and thats not what you need for you ^^ its terribly hard but you need to live your for life for you. Being allowed to be who you are with all the emotions and support. You are not letting her down by not going to that place. Its not your fould. And it was not your responsibly to save or diagnose her. I hope you have people around you feel like you can talk to aswell as the internet. I say this with just love. I do get its a terrible feeling your living with.
@lijntje266 thank you for your kind words. It's been such a long road and I only cry when in moments like now while I'm reading this. It's good though. My brother's are there and I do talk to friends. Today, I did inquire about therapy. I should hear back in the next few days. It's just an empty feeling and I haven't quite yet cried it all out. I hear it never goes away. Now, I am starting to feel angry at the docs and therapists. I know it's the stages of grief. Thank you and thank u for listening
@@sallyvasquez6897 that sounds realy good =) i wish you all the verry best on your road ^^
I think the most difficult thing when you open up to other people about your suicidal thoughts is that they will expect you to get better. I don't have schizophrenia, but I have persistent depressive disorder, and I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't suicidal. I tried medication, therapy, opening up to friends and family, but at the end of the day I still suffer from chronic suicidality. That's a harsh reality that a lot of people don't want to hear because they naively want to believe that "talking about it" would change something... and then they just get frustrated when they realize they can't help you.
I suffer from this as well. Lots of love to you
I suffer from this too ❤❤
Everyday is like climbing Mt. Everest I don’t get a break
I have BPD and deal with chronic suicidal ideation. I've made my peace with the fact that one day I will probably ultimately die by suicide (if something else doesn't k*ll me first), but I've just simply decided to put it off for now. It's the only way I keep going. Knowing I don't have to make a decision either way right now. I hope that's a helpful way to think about it.
Thank you so much for commenting this. It is a devastating moment when you realise that your friends have gone from treating you like some one going through a hard time who they want to help through it to some one who is just like that and they'd rather not think about it, it makes you feel very alone. I wish this could be acknowledged a bit alongside all the 'its good to talk' style campaigns. Sending you so much love and wishing comfort and meaning to you whatever that may look like ♥♥♥
I've attempted suicide twice this year, and this video made me feel seen. I have schizoaffective disorder, and part of the reason I attempted suicide was because of what you talked about - the feeling of hopelessness or like I'll never get better. Because I have voices and visions every day that don't respond to medication. It's an extremely hard thing to accept. I can only work part time, and I have lost romantic relationships because of it. I understand why people with psychosis think about suicide because we have a really tough hand of cards. But there is always reason to have hope, and I'm learning to find the things in my life that are meaningful to me, and that help me want to stay. Sending love and aroha to anyone dealing with psychosis.
💚💚💚
Aroha x
I relate to the hopelessness of never getting better
ikr.. the voices are so cruel youd think it comes from the devil himself.
sometimes it gets so bad it made me cry but i am always hopeful.
i never reacted with so much emotional intensity to the voices because i dont want to labor myself with that.
even though my mind gets so sick sometimes, i still think i love myself so much even though the warmth is not there
I did some research about my schizophrenia. And I found out about bread madness, schizophrenia induced by eating gluten. People get better if they eat gluten free. And I have mugwort allergy. So I am maybe allergic to sunflower oil which is everywhere in Russia. And before my first psychosis I lived by myself for the first time and cooked with sunflower oil a lot. Now I try to avoid sunflower oil. Maybe you should try gluten free diet or visit an allergist. It's just suggestion what helped me become stable for some time now.
My 32 year old daughter who has had schizoaffective since she was 17 & has lost her young adulthood to this disease, has had 1 serious suicide attempt when she jumped from the Mississippi bridge in our Wisconsin city. She claimed when she hit the water & went down that the hand of God pushed her back to the surface & then she swam to shore. She had left her bike on top of the bridge & went back for it to ride to the hospital because she was worried since she swallowed some river water. So there was the contrast between dying by drowning followed by a concern of being poisoned and made sick by river water.
wow.....I believe the hand of God did push her back to the surface. The hand of God reached down and prevented my loved one from cracking his head on the bottom of a pool. It wasn't a self-inflicted situation, but the mystical intervention was real. I wish your daughter healing and hope.
@@Kristen-ek9rz She was diving into the Mississippi, thankfully feet first, so bouyancy would naturally push her to the surface and since she swims like a fish she made it to shore easily. But I never told her it was bouyancy, not the hand of God. When I asked her why her legs were black & blue she said it was because she jumped into the water, which she did, but said nothing about the circumstances.
Ive attempted suicide twice and that was before i went to the mental hospital and i have schizophrenia but now i look back im glad that hospitalization helped me
Faith. Keeps me going. Stay strong everyone. There is a light at the end.
As someone that has tried more than once, thank you for being so open. I never talk about it because it feels like its something people don't care to know about. Especially if they don't understand the illness because you have times when you're "normal". It takes so much just to be normal that you get to a point where it becomes hopeless to try anymore. You KNOW you can't be "normal" for them. So instead of disappointing them yet again you just disappear. Just one of the many many things the voices tell me.
So relatable. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏾
I have schizophrenia, and simply no suicidal ideation. Never have. I'm very lucky.
I have a mental illness with similar statistics, with a low probability of actually making it. I meet most of the at risk criteria, and oh boy does my treatment team know it 😬
The intelligence thing, yeah... it's complicated. Mental illness takes away a lot. So if you're intelligent and living with a disorder that takes so much away, you are that much more painfully aware of the potential that was lost.
You also lose friends over time. A lot of my friends of whom I could relate to caried on to use that intelligence to get satisfying jobs, raises, start businesses, have families and so on, and you just kinda get left behind. Seeing them achieve so much makes me extremely sad if I haven't lost them as friends entirely.
You also have a lot less people you can relate to just baseline, or new perspectives on an idea that fascinates you.
You are strong. I am dealing with my 54yr old brorher who meets the criteria too sans the last item; firearms.
I pray hard for him and all going through so much EVERYDAY.
I've had schizoaffective disorder for so long (since I was a teen), I've grown accustomed to the general ups and downs associated with it. But there has been times where my symptoms were so overwhelming that I feared I might go to that point of no return, so I immediately went to the hospital. I wouldn't say I'm suicidal, but I feel extremely bad. (I try to catch it before it could turn into a suicidal ideation.) You are very brave for sharing your story Lauren! More people need to share and reach out to others.
My 32 year old daughter has schizoaffective & is on SSI. She has had ups & done well but since she is in the system & a buck can be made from her, when she has downs she ends up getting institutionalized over & over again, wash, rinse, & repeat.
@@stevec3872 Sorry to hear that your daughter has been in and out of the hospital a lot.
@@catherinel2020 Thank you. My fear is that she is developing and intitutional mindset where she feels safer there than being on her own on the outside. The problem is that these places are step-up institutions whose purpose is to help you get better enough to step up within the institution, then to step up to "graduating" out of the institution like a group home and from there independent living. She fails at the group home level and is then put back into the institution to start all over again.
@stevec3872 When I was in the hospital the last time there were people who didn't want to leave. They felt safer in the hospital than outside. I think it was a revolving door for them too. My heart goes out to you and I hope your daughter improves.
@@catherinel2020 That's it exactly. She's safe, is being cared for, gets her meds everyday, food to eat, and she is also to the place where she is allowed to work wthin the building cleaning up after meals, helping in the kitchen, or putting parts to assemble furniture in plastic bags. When she had her own place she was so afraid she would hide in the cupboard under the kitchen sink (she's 5'10"). She is afraid of the police because they have broken her arm in 2 places, tased her on another. Over the last 10 years she has been in this same institution maybe 5 times and if you total the months it has been longer there than any place she has lived on her own.
Thanks for talking about this!!
i have schizophrenia and live with a constant wish to die. the only reason I don't attempt anything are my two lovely cats who I don't want to make motherless, as well as my caring and beautiful husband.
as myself being schizophrenic I don't like this subject but thank you for your content!
My struggle is with depression and not schizophrenia. I still found this very helpful. Thank you. Your work helps a lot of people.
To me it started as a voice in my head constantly telling me to do it during difficult times. I don’t plan to do at the moment it but it’s never not an option & I find it comforting. I have never really told anyone this & It must sound so weird but that’s just how I feel.
Another reason I think, well a reason for me. I never asked for help with suicidal thoughts because when I'm at that point I'm afraid of hospitals too. And my fear is to be stuck under the hospitals care. An understanding that you won't be kept on a psych hold just because the idea is in your head helps a lot.
In this world that mental illness calls cold, lonely, hard, no hope, scary, I'd like to say it does improve. Even when mental illness says, i quit, i ask you to please wait a little while, again and again. Wait until some lightness comes by. It could be a friend, a stranger, a day, a moment, that could change things. You are so much more important than those negative voices. You are loved. You don't have to be alone. Call someone. ❤
One of the biggest issues in my opinion is the lack of understanding of schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, paired with the stigma that often comes as a result of that ignorance. We have a culture that in many ways tries very hard to make life unbearable for certain people.
Followed you and your channel for years and found great support in the journey of living well with in my case schizo affective disorder..
-thank you for your work and specifically this one that truly and quite timely hit home with me…
Thank you so much for your support!
How are *you* doing Lauren, both in general and, specifically, after making this heavy and personal video that touches directly on a traumatic time for you? I think it's wonderful and brave of you to speak so candidly about low times in an attempt to help others, but you seemed very sad throughout. That's not really odd; it's a sad subject with depressing statistics, but I want to be sure you're feeling okay after going into detail on this topic.
I don't know what's wrong with me. Currently my care team is working on Bipolar and BPD but they aren't sure. Idk. I feel suicide is truly an option for me when I look at the amount of struggle I'm going to have to go through just to get to a point where I'm not constantly depressed.
I went off the deepend this week after not being on my medication for a while and i just started taking them again today. Also i have therapy tomorrow ❤
Suicide is not something I considered because of religion or what I’ve been taught but because I almost have an inability to give up, but when my delusions have creeped up on me and have swallowed me I have felt soo desperate that my mind fills up with thoughts of killing myself just to make it stop 🛑 there is also the feeling of despair that grows with time. Sometimes I find myself just tired of this mind, this body, this oppressive and angry world. In schizophrenia sometimes reality and feelings are felt too intense too real. It’s like drowning as you watch yourself sinking unable to swim. Much love Lauren. Thank you for the videos🌸💜
It amazing that suicide makes up 1.5 % of deaths and yet we still treat it as an exceptionally rare thing.
The mind is a powerful thing and when it turns on itself bad things happen more often
thats what happen to me, utter chaos
Love your videos, keep up the good work 💗 I don’t have schizophrenia but suffer from addiction.
Keeping healthy mentally can be a challenge with both illnesses.
You are an inspiration, thank you for sharing your story & helping others.
Love from Ireland 🇮🇪 🫶💗
As someone with Schizophrenia, I've been watching your videos for quite a while now and while I've always found your content incredibly informative, warm and candid this is perhaps the best one you've posted. Thank you so much for all the honest contributions you make to this space. You are amazing.
What an amazing video. I want to share this with my loved ones to educate them on how to help me when I'm experiencing thoughts of suicide. These videos make me feel so much less alone, and so well understood. Thank you so much, seriously.
For me it’s a constant loop of depression, manic happiness and being fine… that plus visual, auditory, smell and physical hallucinations is extremely hard on me… and there’s a constant fear that maybe none of this is real and I’m just in a delusional state. My reality checks are based on the assumption that this is all real. I have an anxiety disorder and PTSD piled up on me too. It’s hard to live with all of this…
I can totally relate to what you are saying. When the voices start it is the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. And it's the same terror no matter how many times I've gone through it. Always voices calling me ugly and fat, saying I've done horrible things that I would never ever do, and voices reading my thoughts and actions before I do them. And on top of that, what makes it even more worse, is most of the time it's voices of my friends and family. It's truly exhausting. I'm always wondering when an episode is going to happen again and if I'm going to truly go crazy forever. And I'm constantly questioning if the psychosis incidents and voices are who I am as a person, I'm constantly questioning myself. It has shaken my spiritual belief in God, made me more pessimistic than I'd like to admit. And you always feel like you're less than because your friends and family are so "normal". But just know that you are not alone, and that you are not defined by all this. I keep trying to get back to where I was spiritually and mentally. It is a battle but I refuse to give up.
This video and topic is so important to talk about. I have a diagnosis (DID) that comes with a 70% suicide attempt rate. It's a difficult reality to grapple with at times.
TW Just don't read this comment if you're actively struggling with mental health.
Every year on September I'm reminded of my S attempt, it was around this month, curiously. It's bittersweet to see all the positive messages on Social media being all like, I would've lost all of this amazing things if I died that day as I wanted to. I'm an immigrant in a country that doesn't want me at all (not USA, a third world one), I'm low class, I'm fat, I'm a POC, I'm barely maintaining my family (thankfully I don't have children), and I don't feel like anything has changed since September 2018. Things are getting worse (finantially, socially, politically), even if I'm not struggling that much with my mental health anymore, life is still awful.
I'm glad that people recover. I'm glad that people fulfill their dreams and are now happier. But it breaks my heart to know there are a lot of people like me. The ones who s** didn't turn their lifes into something amazing, didn't started loving life, didn't have an environment full of love, didn't have a supporting mental health system, didn't start to work on their dreams or had any dreams to begin with. And are still here. Living just because.
Some people say that survivors of s*** are brave but I don't feel that way.
I know what you mean. I'm amazed anyone can overcome this and be happy. Makes me feel so weak. You are not alone. By the way, ignore all diets and just do keto or mostly keto keeping carbs below 30. You will lose weight with no exercise. Look up TH-cam self care videos and watch one a day. One day do a manicure, another a pedicure, another a small facial treatment. You can enjoy small successes.
@@leejennifercorlewayres9193 thank you, I was recently diagnosed with PCOS and am still getting used to keto but I t's so hard when you're from Latin America lol
Thank you again, I try to do my best, enjoy small things and ignore the rest no matter how hard it is!
Please hold on❤ thank you for sharing your story.. you might help so many people to not feel alone by sharing your story to others.
Thank to you for speaking out about this. Too bad the algorithm will hate this video.
Thank you for this Channel. 🌷❤️🙏
Thank you for all of your work it is amazing
Thank you, Lauren ❤❤❤
I used to get mad at myself for not having the balls to do it, I know it's unbearable at times, but hang in there's ..please.
Thank you for the insight. sending love you way💕
Im bipolar I. I suffer delusions, night terrors, and have had a visual hallucination. Im concerned I might hurt myself or that I might develop schizophrenia. Im in my late 20s and the complete lack of control over this slide into madness is terrifying. Perhaps you can make a video addressing ppl who are developing symptoms?
Stay on your meds and live a wholesome lifestyle. You got this x
dont drink coffee, alcohol or any other stimulant.
A plant free ketogenic diet has been scientificly proven to releve bipolar and schizophrenic symptoms. Its callrd bread madness for a reason
Thank you so much for covering this topic
Lost an inlaw family member who's resistant schizoprenia symptoms were a torment. He was mid 40's. With my middle son with schizophrenia I am so happy depression and negative symptomes aren't a problem. Its so complex and affects everyone who develops this class of neurobiological illness so uniquely personally different. I'm sorry you have persecutory symptoms. They are so hard to cope with. Family support is so vital.
thanks for sharing this, much needed dialoge.
Lauren, thank for surviving, first of all. And for sharing your struggles and victories. I lost my sister in law to suicide, and my husband is struggling with schizoaffective and bipolar 1. He is resistant to taking charge of his health atm, and I am doing my best to support him. I really appreciate you!
Hope you’re doing alright I think more people than just myself appreciate the regular content
Thanks for the great video and channel. You are doing a good public service here in my opinion. Cheers!
i have schizophrenia. i literally had the worst suicidal day today. i have been in so much pain these last weeks. and today i felt finally so much peace in my body and felt complete stillness and happiness. because i could finally picture for real, that i could die today. i knew what to do, and i pictured it in my mind and the pain went away. and i was happy for the first time today in months. that's scary. i have plan now to get help. But it's awful how much pain this illness makes feel. that death is the only way out. i still don't know for sure if i have a future... but for now, i will keep fighting.
i can’t imagine the pain that you’re going through, but i hope the future brings you happiness; you deserve it. please keep fighting for the future. much love ❤️
Please hang in there! Lots of people out there that can help out. Take care! And like she says there is help out there, lots of people care!❤
You got this
Wow, thank you for this video. I have been watching your videos for a couple years now, Lauren, and they have been pretty helpful. I lost a family member to suicide at the end of August. She struggled with schizophrenia for most of her life. It was something I only learned of later in life and never really understood as a child or teenager. I am beginning to understand things a little more now but still have many, so many, more questions. For now, I will just bookmark this video and return to it when I am a little more ready. But thank you for the work you do. It is very helpful!
Such an eloquent video on an important topic, thank you for this
Such a difficult emotive subject but you presented it in a realistic, sensitive and ultimately hopefull way. Thank you for your honesty 🙏🙏🙏
I feel like you should have a couple million subscribers. Great content on this subject. 💛
Thank you for giving us this glimmer of hope. I hear a lot of people with cliches and toxic positivity but I think you are more honest about your long term struggles and this makes me more inclined to actually believe the hope you are giving a bit more. Sending you love x
Thank you so very much for this and your other videos. I cannot tell you how much it means to have found this resource and to get some insight and understanding of what living with schizophrenia is like. It's very courageous of you all. I pray it leads to greater openness and understanding of these challenges accross our globe
Lauren, glad to see you are healthy again and sharing your lived experience :) . Having Neurosis in the beginning and develop in the long term medical treatment leading to Tardive Dyskinesia can also result in feeling helpless and misunderstood by others :）Love the flowers and cacti :)
Not sure why this video showed up, but glad it did. My heart goes out to you and other who struggle with schizophrenia. Great video and you are helping a lot of people. Hope you have a great day.
Thank you for sharing this!! Helping a lot of people
Lost my brother to this exact thing. 💛 thanks for making this
Thank you Lauren for continuing to spread awareness about schizophrenia❤️
Thanks for that Lauren. I have schizoaffective disorder too and resonate with each word you say. Thanks so much for presenting so real, unplugged... It really makes me feel i am not alone. Much love and good health to you ❤️
You are wonderful and you are helping so many people out there. Goid job, hang in there the world needs more people like you ❤❤❤
This is a great video. Thank you for talking about this
Thank you for sharing your experience, I've learned so much from you. Keep educating us and know that you're making a difference.
really understandable and empathetic way to approach a common and solvable issue
❤❤❤❤❤much love to you. I am so proud of you that you can reach out and tell people the truth on your topics. You are amazing. This old 71 yr old grandma thinks so😊😊😊
Thanks for the video. 😊
2:57 I feel, and this is incredibly important to have people in your life to understand your condition and don’t try to offer advice demean you in anyway.
Finding the proper network of friends and family that understand, and are willing to adjust for you is crucial. Do not allow people in your life who talk down to you and tell you you have control over this. We all deserve better than that.
I’m glad you have such a supportive group. It helps a lot when you are struggling with your illness and feeling tired and not being able to contribute sometimes, that you have people willing to pick up the slack and allow you to live a normal life as best you can.
I find it amazing that you have the strength to run a TH-cam channel while struggling, but it means a world of difference to those of us out there and have similar psychiatric issues. I believe your videos save lives.
Thank you for sharing, my friend whom also lived with schizophrenia lost his life to suicide in May. I wish more people spoke about this, maybe he would’ve heard he wasn’t alone. Idk. But I appreciate you’re openness and vulnerability. It’s helped me to understand him more.
Well presented information. Thank you for making a difference. ❤
Hi,
I appreciate this channel very much. I do not have schizophrenia, but I am trying to pursue a diagnosis right now related to adhd, autism and also ptsd.
I love that I can watch these videos and hear Lauren's kind and intelligent perspectives on these complex topics. Even though I do not have schizophrenia, a lot of these perspectives really apply to all people, whether someone has symptoms that result in any formal mental health diagnosis, or not.
Mental health is so much more than "doing yoga," weighted blankets, or bubble baths, and I feel that Lauren is so good at communicating about this.
Thank you, and also the commenters who tend to come here to make up the community here. It helps me a lot.
Thank you for talking about this and sharing your perspective also. I had never considered that my level of education or premorbid functioning would play so much of a part in my severe depression and suicidal ideation but it makes so much sense. Schizoaffective disorder has completely transformed my life and relationships, for both the good as well as the bad.
Again, thank you for sharing this video. It’s definitely a subject that bears special attention. ❤
Sometimes when I watch your videos, Lauren, I literally get goose bumps. You are so intelligent, and you have such a good grasp on how the mind can work. That is awesome.
Very empathic and informative video. Thank you for this channel
Agreed. I have had toughts of suicide, and I have turned to therapy to help me through all aspects of my life. Therapy was the best thing I have ever done for myself - and for those around me. We need to be okay to not be okay, and talk about it. Thanks for sharing your story again.
I want to give you a hug! I've been there. Waiting for the appt, then the med changes - all horrible & frustrating. My last change resulted in a short leave of absence & my employer was not supportive. Hang in there - you are amazing!
Lauren, this video shows us what can be waiting on the other side of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Lauren your incredible integrity and bravery in sharing your experiences shows us things can get better. You are so strong and your channel helps not only those with schizoaffective disorder, but also families and friends of people who may be diagnosed or undiagnosed and suffering. Thank you for including tips for how to ask someone what’s happening for them. I found that deeply validating.
good video lauren!
Good for you to speak about attempted suicide not solely completed suicides (in statistics). You’re so responsible, so concisely complete with always room for nuance (and other views). ⭐
You're right it is part of the human experience. I feel that way too sometimes, like I just wanna disappear but it's also important to remember to hold on to hope and imagine things will get better.
I feel this same way except about my bipolar 2… and possible BPD.
Thank you for your contributions to educating people about schizophrenia. Have you ever considered producing dvds to help educate law enforcement how to work with people like us? There's definitely a need, and I think you would be a good teacher. Sending you my love and support.
I don't have a psychotic illness but I have major depression and have attempted suicide a few times. I think many of these points also can apply to depression as well. The point about it having shame and guilt involved in it really made me think and I think people should talk about it more in general. I am going through a depressive episode but I am not suicidal anymore like in the past. Thank you for your good work and education!
Thank you for your empathy. I apparently have all of the main risk factors. There never seems any serious consideration regarding the real motivations behind one deciding to end their own life. I have even had the suicide prevention hotline hang up in my face. However socially acceptable it may seem to regurgitate the refrain that ending one's own life is taboo and shameful, I have personally always found the idea of death by suicide to be beautiful.
I am alarmed at the statistics. In a way, it doesn't surprise me so much as knowing that I as a diagnosed schizophrenic have been through worse hell than I could have ever wished on a worse enemy. Thank you for sharing, for now I know for sure that I am not alone.
Thanks for putting out amazing contents. I've definitely struggled with suicide. Most people with it just want relief from their pain and suffering. I definitely recommend getting help. This topic is not talked about enough, because of how society looks at it. That's why on my podcast "The Unleashing Potentials Podcast" I strive to hear people and give them a safe platform to share.
Bravo! Great vid.
Thank you so much Laurel for sharing your knowledge and experience. You're doing so much good!!! I lost my middle son just three months ago by suicide. Psychotic illnesses are the worst, and you are such a strong advocate sharing your struggles. I understand a lot better what my son has gone through when you so eloquently tell about your struggles and experiences. Wish you happy days!❤
Very sorry for your loss.
If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need. Thank you for sharing your experiences.