If you’re having a hard time with schizophrenia symptoms, the easiest and most effective therapy I’ve found for schizophrenia is to take medications prescribed by your doctor or psychiatrist for decades. The Mayo Clinic, a respected organization I trust most for medical truth, calls medications “the cornerstone of schizophrenia treatment.” Taking medications for the first time can be a scary experience, but the benefits are undeniable. Over time, taking your medications can become second nature. Like brushing your teeth or making dinner.
You Don’t Have to Lose Your Creativity
One of the most frustrating myths I’ve heard about taking medications is that you’ll lose your creativity. Sorry for my language, but what a load of nonsense. As I make clear in my YouTube video , fuck the stigma around medications. In my experience, this simply isn’t true. Of course, medications for mental illness often have sedative side effects. As a result, you may be less inclined to pursue your creative pursuits because you’re sleeping too much. This can be balanced by working with your psychiatrist to find a dose that minimizes the sedative.
Finding what works for you
The best therapy for schizophrenia is not the same for everyone.
For me, an antipsychotic is absolutely terrible. I get angry every time I think about it, much less talk about it. This drug was not for me. But don’t let that stop you from trying an antipsychotic yourself. I have met some people who have had incredible success with it. It saved their lives. For me, I felt like it ruined mine. The most important lesson from this: If the side effects of the medication are disrupting your life too much, don’t be afraid to ask your psychiatrist to try something else. There are plenty of medications on the market. The sooner you find one that works, the sooner you can get closer to living a “normal” life.
Beware of long-term side effects
For only a few months, I was on an atypical antipsychotic as my therapy for schizophrenia. Within just two to three months, I noticed that my jaw had become extremely tight. To this day, I have continued to have problems with my jaw for just that short period of time. Be aware of side effects and work with your doctor to stop any regimens that may cause long-term damage.
Another example of this is medications that cause weight gain. Even people who are naturally thin can gain too much weight. If this weight gain cannot be controlled with diet and exercise, you may need to talk to your doctor about reducing your dosage or switching to something else. Don’t wait too long for something like this. Uncontrolled weight gain often results in diabetes, a life-long and life-changing disease.
A Family Perspective on Schizophrenia Support and Treatment
For the past forty years, my family has supported my brother who has schizophrenia. Together with my parents and sister, we have experienced the challenges that families face when caring for loved ones with mental illness and navigating the complexities of our healthcare system. It hasn’t always been easy to talk about, but I think our family story will resonate with many who have lived through this experience in silence.
My brother’s mental illness became apparent in his early 20s. He had always been very bright, had an excellent memory to this day, and loved music, partying, and fashion. But he began to struggle greatly in college, eventually failing to graduate or find a job. This may be true in many cases; mental health issues first become apparent during college, when many individuals are living on their own, away from familiar surroundings. This is yet another reason why it is so important for university leaders to be educated about this challenge and equipped to provide more support.
My father was very frustrated by my brother’s difficulties; he assumed that my brother was just being lazy and not giving his full all. Doctors initially thought he might be manic depressive and gave him medication that probably had the opposite effect. But in his mid-20s, he was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Frankly, I think a complicating factor was that we are Asian American. There is often a greater stigma in our society about talking about issues like mental health; we rarely discuss them openly, even with close family. I am glad that there is much more awareness today about the need to address mental health issues openly, but we still have a long way to go.
When my parents died, my sister Corinne took on the primary responsibility of being his caregiver, and I became a close partner, helping out as much as I could. I vividly remember the time when I started working in the pharmaceutical industry and learning so much more about schizophrenia and the therapies available; even in my experience outside of work trying to help him and navigating a fragmented system to get help, I found that there was no clear source of help; our family had to pay out of pocket for many of the things my brother needed, without realizing that there were many state and government services and subsidies for people living with serious mental illnesses. In fact, I recently came across managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS), a Medicaid program that facilitates the delivery of home health care, long-term care, and services. It was only a few years ago that my brother was also able to access community behavioral care centers, which provided him with ongoing socialization, group therapy, and other support services.
Overall, the situation is improving today, with caregiving and online communities coming together to share both resources and a sympathetic ear, but there is still a lack of available information, especially for families who are not very tech-savvy as more and more services become digital.
My brother’s story highlights the importance of getting mental health issues properly diagnosed and treated as appropriate as possible. When my brother was given the appropriate medications—in his case, long-acting injections—we saw a huge improvement as he became more social, talkative, practiced better hygiene, and was highly functional. He now lives on his own with daily supervision from my sister and local community healthcare through Medicaid and MLTSS.
I will always be grateful to my sister Corinne and my brother-in-law Wally for everything they have done and continue to do for my brother. Several years have passed, and to this day, it has fallen to them to act as his primary caregiver—from daily tasks like reminding him to bathe him, cut his nails, maintain his living space, and take his medications. I cannot emphasize enough how much of an impact having this daily presence in his life has had on him—something my sister continues to do. For example, even with access to assistance like food stamps, there is still a need for someone to take him to the grocery store or shop for him. There will always be a need for caregivers, and we should celebrate them. I also hope that caregivers prioritize taking care of themselves. I am reminded of the words of the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter: “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who are caregivers, those who are caregivers now, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.”
My advice to families struggling with this challenge is to talk to as many people as possible. Connect with others who have been in your shoes and learn what has worked for them. Fight the stigma of mental illness. It is heartbreaking for me to remember that in the early days of my brother’s diagnosis, our relatives came to our house and my family hid him in another room, perhaps because of a misconception about how to protect him. It is very important that we do not exclude those living with schizophrenia. Today, we are very open about all of this and will not allow the social stigma to have a strong hold on us.
By sharing our experiences openly and opening our hearts, we hope to make the journey a little easier for people like my brother and his family in the future and not be ashamed to share their experiences openly.