Blogs

Embracing Hope and Identity Amid Schizophrenia

With “The Overlife: A Tale of Schizophrenia” Schizophrenia is often misunderstood and misrepresented! But this mental toll can lead individuals and their families to stigma. Diana Dirkby’s novel “The Overlife: A Tale of Schizophrenia” tackles

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When Sibling Secrets Turn Deadly

Set against the suspenseful backdrop of a kidnapping in the fictional town of Vrayboro, my new book, “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies,” takes readers on a terrifying journey into the complexities of sibling relationships.

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When Your Thoughts Get Distorted

A Look Into “The Overlife” A fictitious yet realistic look into schizophrenia! Despite the abundance of books, articles, and publications on schizophrenia, many people continue to live in a bubble and fail to comprehend the

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From Peace To Nightmare

A Peek At “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies” The best thriller in town! There are many mind-bending stories in town, but nothing makes a significant impact like “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies” by

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A Mind-Bending Case, Unlike Any other!

What will happen when three teenagers—Sebastian Ward, Mary Bell, and Fred McCarthy go missing unexpectedly? Families are left in turmoil, authorities scramble for answers, and rumors spiral out of control. In Diana Dirkby’s gripping psychological

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Disappeared In A Hush

The Most Notorious Kidnappings To Date Imagine living happily, cherishing moments of joy and fun with your family, when suddenly one of your loved ones seems nowhere to be found. Maybe they got vanished without

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How To Make Your Everyday More Promising

Luckily, we have plenty of days throughout the year—-365—which makes each day a perfect opportunity to reflect, recharge, and change towards betterment. However, with the increasing chaos, responsibility, and digital detox, we often find ourselves

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How To Make Your Everyday More Promising

Luckily, we have plenty of days throughout the year—-365—which makes each day a perfect opportunity to reflect, recharge, and change towards betterment. However, with the increasing chaos, responsibility, and digital detox, we often find ourselves

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A Descent into Madness And Thrill

 “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies” — A Trio Of Deception And Evil Have you ever read a story so chilling that it will chill your blood? Perhaps a story that will make you think

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From Mental Illness To Horror

Two Novels—One Connection “The Overlife: A Tale of Schizophrenia” and “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies.” In a world riddled with stigma, misunderstanding, and chaos, it can be difficult to find time to unwind and

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You can say “No!”

Setting firm boundaries is essential when living with a mental illness or brain disorder. If by over-stepping them, you feel stress, then that can be a harmful trigger for you. It’s quite OK to say

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A good book!

There are a lot of good books out there for people who want to understand schizophrenia. An example is Surviving Schizophrenia, 7th Edition: A Family Manual, by E. Fuller Torrey. It’s a non-fiction book available

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Stigma is not your fault!

If someone has trouble understanding you because you live with a mental illness, that is not a stigma if they research what it means to live with it in good faith. Most people exercising stigma

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Rediscover enjoyment!

When struggling with a bad time for your mental health or your brain disorder, you can lose the desire to do what you enjoy. At those times, it’s as if a closed door separates me

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Paranoia

Paranoia, a term misunderstood by and scary to many, is, for someone like me living with paranoid schizophrenia, a lot of hard work. What is it? The explanation takes more than a blog post, so

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Music

Today I am copying the Blog post from my Blog on my dianadirkby.com site, because music is so important to me. Here goes: “There was always classical music in our home when I was growing

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If you can smile, you’ve won!

We all have goals for the day, week, or month ahead. Still, those with a brain disorder or a mental illness need to recognize that comparing themselves to others or an unrealistic version of themselves

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Medication or not?

I take medication to help control the symptoms of my schizophrenia, and it’s a suitable medication for me. However, it was a long road with a lot of support to reach where I am now.

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You can’t “snap out of it!”

When a mental health consumer is in crisis, sometimes others cannot understand that they can’t simply “snap out of it” and jump from their world into another. Typically, once your mental health crisis is evident

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Support Groups

There are mental advocacy organizations that provide online and in-person support groups. For example, NAMI (National Alliance On Mental Illness) provides support groups across the USA that are moderated by trained individuals. These support groups

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Weigh Your Words Carefully

Most of you have probably been admonished for saying something politically incorrect without feeling it’s a big deal. There are so many ways to be labeled politically incorrect that the growing list of what we

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Don’t waste your angels!

Unfortunately, some family members and close friends can abandon the mental health consumer during a mental health crisis. Such people may offer nothing more than a request that the mental health consumer keeps away from

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Caregivers need TLC

It’s often overlooked that the caregivers of mental health consumers also need support. They have to negotiate caring for someone who needs a lot of understanding, time spent with them, and the stigma against mental

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Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day! Like me, my mother lived with schizophrenia. She was a wonderful mother despite this brain disorder, especially until we were pre-teens when her schizophrenia worsened. Despite this disability, she could not

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Schizophrenia is a Brain Disorder

To quote from the website https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia of the American Psychiatric Association, schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects less than one percent of the U.S. population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions,

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Furry and Fun!

I have found that a pet can be a tremendous support when I feel alone and stressed. Their love is unconditional; all they ask is love and reasonable care in return. You may be able

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Avoid Triggers

A trigger automatically upsets or traumatizes a mental health consumer due to past trauma or their current mental health symptoms. Rather than the word “trigger,” which evokes “guns,” I prefer to use the expression “lights

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Walk outside

It’s often challenging to fight the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and find pleasure in engaging with others. That can drive you to remain in the confines of your home rather than venture outdoors. This gut

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Diary

In an earlier post, I encouraged you to write about your experiences with mental illnesses and brain disorders, whether as a mental health consumer or someone who cares about one. A different project is to

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My Podcast

Today, I uploaded the first Chapter of my Podcast: “Schizophrenia As I Live It.” You can find it in the Podcast section of this website https://overliveschizophrenia.com. In this Podcast, I will talk about my experiences

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Be kind to yourself!

The stigma of mental illnesses or brain disorders can make mental health consumers hard on themselves as they seek to incorporate the prejudice exercised against them. Taking care of someone else’s ignorance is not your

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Meditation

On days when I struggle to free my mind from paranoid loops or obsessive thoughts going nowhere, I find that stopping to do a guided meditation session helps. I use a meditation app on my

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Somewhere new

As someone who has endured multiple psychotic breaks due to living with schizophrenia, I know that you cannot always “return to normal” if that means going back to where you were before a psychotic break.

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World Schizophrenia Day

May 24 is World Schizophrenia Day, also called World Schizophrenia Awareness Day. I display an image of a rhinoceros and her calf because animals are such a source of inspiration and tranquility to me when

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My Mother, The Dancer

I live with paranoid schizophrenia, as did my mother. My mother’s condition worsened due to her inability to admit she had psychiatric problems and the failure of her doctors to handle her denial. She became

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What is your reality?

When describing schizophrenia, experts usually put “not knowing what is real” near the top of the significant symptoms. Undoubtedly, someone undergoing a relapse of schizophrenia often misinterprets what their senses tell them and can harbor

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My Podcast Is Listed

I am recording a Podcast entitled “Schizophrenia As I Live It” to accompany my forthcoming book “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia.” So far, I have posted three chapters on the website for that book:

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Make Hay While The Sun Shines

When living with a mental illness or brain disorder, you can be so relieved when you are doing better that you can forget, or prefer to ignore, that you may struggle with your mental health

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Creating A Schedule

Today’s blog gives tips on creating a schedule to suit your mental health. Everyone’s mental health needs are unique, so finding a program that prioritizes self-care and promotes positive mental health may require some work.

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Side Effects

In my book “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia,” I write about the substantial benefits of the correct antipsychotic medication from a competent psychiatrist. We often see phrases like “With the appropriate medication and therapy,

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Finding A Suitable Psychiatrist

Here are some tips on choosing a suitable psychiatrist for paranoid schizophrenia. Most of these tips can apply to other mental illnesses: Here are some additional factors to consider when choosing a psychiatrist for paranoid

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Finding A Suitable Psychologist

Here are some tips on how to find a good psychologist for paranoid schizophrenia. They apply equally well as tips for any mental health consumer: When you are interviewing potential psychologists, there are a few

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Paranoid Socializing

Socializing when you are paranoid can be challenging, but it is possible. Here are some tips: Here are some additional tips that may be helpful: Remember, you are not alone. Many people, even if they

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Psychiatrist Versus Psychologist

The image above is an excellent summary of psychiatry versus psychology and where they meet. In mathematics, such diagrams are common in set theory and are called Venn diagrams. The light aqua areas pertain to

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Be(lieve in) You(rself)

Once someone knows you live with a mental illness or brain disorder, that person may put you permanently under their microscope. It happens too often. You may therefore behave in a most rigid and conformist

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Schizophrenia Is Not D.I.D.

In real life, in movies, and TV shows, you often hear people say, “The situation is so schizophrenic. I have several choices, all of which seem good to me.” More darkly, you may hear, from

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Get Moving!

It can be challenging to motivate yourself to exercise when you struggle with your mental health. On paper, the best thing to do would be to join a group of people practicing some exercise you

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Holly-would, Wouldn’t It!

Some well-known insightful movies have been made about someone living with a mental illness. Examples are: “The Three Faces Of Eve (1957),” “A Beautiful Mind (2001),” and “Silver Linings Playbook (2012).” However, these movies are

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Anosognosia

What is Anosognosia? It is a Greek term meaning “to not know a disease.” NAMI (National Alliance On Mental Illness) has some information on its website about Anosognosia: click here to see it. From that

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Fear

A lot of the stigma surrounding mental illness, particularly paranoid schizophrenia, is founded on a reaction of fear when someone either learns you are a mental health consumer or sees you behaving abnormally when you

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Labels

The use of “people first” language in the context of political correctness when speaking about mental health is not as widespread or even acknowledged as it needs to be. For example, “Rhys is schizophrenic” is

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LEAP method and schizophrenia

Several Blog posts ago, we talked about Anosognosia. Today, we’ll talk about the LEAP method and schizophrenia, a mainstream, proven approach to helping people overcome anosognosia and accept treatment for their mental illness or brain

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Evidence To The Contrary

One of the often-quoted symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia is a loss of touch with reality. However, it is important to stress that the person living with schizophrenia and currently struggling with its symptoms still perceives

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The Stigma Snowball

There are various ways that stigma against someone living with paranoid schizophrenia can arise. Many people are scared of the diagnosis itself. The words “paranoid schizophrenia” evoke fear in a person who often does not

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Auditory Hallucinations

A common symptom of schizophrenia is auditory hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations happen when you hear voices or noises that aren’t there. The sounds you hear may seem real, but they’re not. It’s essential to include noises

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Visual Hallucinations

A common symptom of schizophrenia is visual hallucinations. Visual hallucinations happen when you see people or objects that aren’t there or when your visual perception of people and things that are real is distorted or

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Ageism And Mental Health

Ageism, or agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups based on age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors. Butler defined “ageism” as a combination of three

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Recognize your symptoms

In the first post for this blog, I encouraged mental health consumers to write about their psychological and psychiatric experiences. One application of this habit is to help you to recognize the repetition of symptoms

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Mental Health Diary

I keep a mental health diary to help me navigate the symptoms of living with paranoid schizophrenia and as a tool to prevent me from repeating mistakes in my approach to periods of challenging mental

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World Mental Health Day

The image is a free download by geralt on Pixabay; see this link. Today, October 10, 2023, is World Mental Health Day. World Mental Health Day takes place every year on October 10. This year’s

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My new Podcast

If you are listening to my Podcast: “Schizophrenia As I Live It, Part 1,”  which accompanies my novel “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia,” then I have some news for you! First of all, my

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The Ikon Institute of Australia

Next week, I will be interviewed on a Podcast called “The Ikonic Podcast” put out by The Ikon Institute Of Australia. I will let you know when this interview is live.  What is the Ikon

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Establish A Routine

One of the powerful tools I have developed to help me live with paranoid schizophrenia is establishing a routine. I have a daily routine, a weekly routine, and a monthly routine. In addition, there are

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The Brick Wall Of Stigma

When struggling with severe mental illnesses or brain disorders, such as schizophrenia, there are times when our symptoms may not be under control and thereby become evident to some of the people we come across

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Sarah’s First Psychotic Break

In the image, you will see a quotation from the Kindle version of my book “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia” by Diana Dirkby. It describes the moment that the narrator character of the novel,

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Psychosis

The words “psychosis” and “psychotic” feed into the stigma of mental illness, especially against schizophrenia. This stigma is due in no small part to popular media, be it books, TV thrillers, or suspense movies, where

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Meeting people part-way

Last time, I talked about psychosis and the stigma attached to the word “psychosis.” I explained the devastating effect on the mental health consumer experiencing psychosis of stigma from family members or friends once these

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Keeping it simple

The symptoms of schizophrenia can bring with them an overload of the senses and an inability to filter that overload. They can bring hallucinations in that you hear and see things that aren’t there, or

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Gaining Objectivity

If you are experiencing a psychotic episode due to paranoid schizophrenia, it is a busy time. The symptoms that cause you to lose touch with reality crowd in, all begging for your attention. You have

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Elyn Saks, Steve Behnke & Diana Dirkby chat

Living with schizophrenia isn’t a journey walked alone, and the schizophrenia podcast recorded by Bek La, Star Royal, and Monika Caesar for the Ikon Institute in Australia, “Schizophrenia and the Self: Living Beyond Diagnosis,” is

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Stress management for schizophrenia

Living with a mental health condition like Paranoid Schizophrenia can feel like navigating through a relentless storm. Worry overload can be a schizophrenia stress trigger, meaning that schizophrenia and stress are bad bedfellows. In this

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The Randomness of Stigma

This Blog Post accompanies the Episode: “Unveiling Unexpected Allies in the Fight Against Schizophrenia Stigma” of my Podcast “Schizophrenia As I Live It,” available on this website and most podcast platforms, like Apple Podcasts. The

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Stress Induced Schizophrenia

This Blog post accompanies the Episode: “Harnessing Harmony: Prioritizing at a Stressful Time” of my Podcast “Schizophrenia As I Live It.” Managing stress is a universal struggle in a world that moves at breakneck speed.

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A Voyage to Wellness

This blog post accompanies the episode “A Voyage To Wellness” of my podcast, Schizophrenia As I Live It. The podcast is available on many platforms, like Apple Podcasts and on the podcast page of this

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Small Tasks Can Lift The Cloud

This Blog accompanies the episode “A Schizophrenic’s Guide To Rising Above The Blues” of my podcast “Schizophrenia As I Live It” by Dianan Dirkby.  Navigating the choppy waters of mental health, for example, when dealing

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Take Care Of Your Overall Health

This Blog Post is associated with the Episode  “Navigating the Tightrope of Mental and Physical Health in Schizophrenia” of my podcast “Schizophrenia As I Live It.” Living with schizophrenia is often described as a balancing

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May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in May in the United States since 1949. It is celebrated through media, local events, and film screenings. Mental Health America started Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949.

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The Gray Area Of Stigma

The image is a free download by ha11ok and is featured on pixabay.com. The following blog post accompanies the episode “The Gray Area Of Stigma” of my Podcast series “Schizophrenia As I Live It.”  Navigating

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The Menace Of Coincidence

Today, I will discuss how I struggle with coincidence due to my paranoid schizophrenia. Often, as part of a paranoid episode, a train of thought can start with an understandable and realistic reaction. However, it

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Comfort Zones For Mental Illness

The image is a free download by johnhain on pixabay.com Today, I wanted to write again about the two-way street of stigma. The stigma of mental illness, especially schizophrenia, is an undeniable destructive force in

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The Pressure To Change

The image is a free download by geralt on pixabay.com This Blog is about schizophrenia and identity, what could be called schizophrenia identity disorder. However, one should contrast schizophrenia with a dissociative identity disorder as

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“The Overlife” Is A Best Seller

The image is courtesy of amazon.com This week, my fiction novel The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia, achieved Best Seller status on Amazon.com. To celebrate the event, Amazon.com sent me several photos, and I chose

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Write about it!

I am a fiction writer living with paranoid schizophrenia. There is a lack of written material, fiction and non-fiction, by mental health consumers and their caregivers, about their experiences, goals, and loves. If you are

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You are not alone!

You are not alone as a mental health consumer living with schizophrenia! In the USA alone, about 2.8 million adults aged 18 or older live with this brain disorder. In Australia, 64,000 people aged 18-64

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