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 Institute? The Ikon Institute is a private Institute of Higher Education in creative therapies, counseling and psychotherapy, and early childhood … Read more
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 two holidays I take with my spouse each year. For my daily routine, the strictest rules belong to the morning. … Read more
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 at such a difficult time. Often, due to the stigma of mental illnesses and brain disorders, we are met not … Read more
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, Sarah, experienced her first psychotic break. Notice that it comes after she is mugged. A shock or stress can help … Read more
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 the “bad guy” is often someone described as a “psychotic schizophrenic.” The depiction of such people is under-researched and bears … Read more
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 people learn you have psychotic episodes as part of your mental illness or brain disorder. Today, I want to suggest … Read more
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 what is there is somehow distorted. You can have paranoia and the impression that thoughts are being inserted into your … Read more
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 to deal with perturbation of the senses, sensory overload, an inability to filter what your senses are sensing, the impression … Read more
This blog post introduces my forthcoming novel: “3 Kidnapped, 3 Siblings, 3 Furies,” to be published by amazon.com. I use the horror genre to tackle sibling abuse in this new novel, with the Three Furies from the Greek Myths forcing the abuse out into the open. The novel begins as follows: “It was the Fall … Read more
