Thursday, July 14, 2011
Terrified of developing schizophrenia, please help?
Hi, I'm a 21 year old female and have had a variety of mental illnesses: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) since the age of 6, depression since the age of 12 and bulimia nervosa since the age of 16. Many of my extended family members have mental illnesses as well; my cousin on my dad's side was severely depressed and killed herself, and my grandma on my mom's side has a delusional disorder. Because of my own personal battle with mental illness, I took an interest in psychology and would like to become a psychologist to help people like me. Right now, I am in college and am learning about practically every mental illness that can exist. The worst to learn about has been schizophrenia. A recovered patient described it as "a constant state of mental rape," and the general consensus is that it is a horrific, terrifying, life ruining disorder to have. Apparently, if you or a family member has a mental illness, this increases your chances of developing schizophrenia. Also, the typical onset time for women is late 20s or early 30s. This means I can still become schizophrenic. I'm so scared. I don't know what to do. If anyone is schizophrenic can you please offer me some advice? Any knowledge you have to share with me would really help. Thanks so much.
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