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 even know what they mean. They may think they know, due perhaps to watching movies, TV Shows, and reading novels portraying villains being terrifying and responsible for serious crimes because they live with schizophrenia. Other people may be kind to you on hearing you live with schizophrenia, but at the first hint of unusual behavior you may exhibit due to your symptoms, they run away and refuse to see you.
It is a challenge for the person with schizophrenia to prevent what is already a bad situation due to the stigma they don’t deserve snowballing into a worse situation. In my experience, a mistake I have often made is to try to “win over” the person rejecting me in attempting to pursue contact with them and explain why they have nothing to fear. Their fears only grow because they want me out of their lives because of my diagnosis, or at least until I am symptom-free, and I become more distressed as their continuing rejection adds to my paranoia.
When you are struggling with your symptoms, you achieve nothing by pursuing people who have made it plain they do not want to see you. If you persist, their stigma and the adverse reaction it has on you will only snowball.
Even if it is hard, the best tactic is to stick to the people who are kind and unprejudiced even when you are having mental health struggles. For example, you can go to a NAMI support group. Rather than waste time and effort with people who don’t want you around, you can spend extra time, as calmly as possible, with people who want to see or hear from you. Don’t forget that your doctors are such people.
When emerging to a period where the symptoms of my schizophrenia were under control, it took me time, but I learned that being angry at people who did not want you in their midst when you were struggling achieves nothing. The people who reject me purely because of my diagnosis I leave alone once I realize that is their attitude. Those people who want to be my friends again, now I am feeling better, annoy me because it was while I was struggling that I needed extra friends. I have learned to put that annoyance aside and reach out to such people with the information they should know if they are to be a good friend to someone with paranoid schizophrenia. Many are not interested, but those who are become, my angels. We forgive each other (even if I feel on my side there is nothing to forgive) and try to do better in the future. I bear in mind what behavior of mine irked them and discuss with my therapist how to avoid a recurrence. People who will make worthwhile friends will listen to your point of view and will also strive to treat you more kindly.