Sydney shares her experience of hearing voices and rediscovering themselves.
Transcript:
SYDNEY: I was in grad school and I began to have unusual thoughts. I thought people were trying to brainwash me. I also thought I was in this relationship with this person, that I wasn’t. And that’s when my professor referred me to a psychiatrist. I had so many reservations about getting treatment, just the way I grew up. I felt like I needed to do everything on my own. And so I didn’t get help until many years later when I was hospitalized. The hardest part of my journey was just being diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is associated in media with violence and homelessness. And that’s what I thought it meant for me. I think that’s what was so devastating about the illness. But through Navigate, I began to learn to ask for help. I would meet with a therapist and my peer support person. It’s really beneficial to talk with someone who has that lived experience, who actually has had psychosis. I really struggle with just taking care of myself. I struggle with hygiene. I struggle with keeping my house clean. I struggle financially. And normally, I’d be put in a group home. In this program, they help with all of those things. It’s a great way for me to heal and still be outpatient. It definitely is a struggle, but there’s still a place in society for people like me.