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 false delusions, like feeling persecuted when they are not and experiencing thought insertion that is not occurring. However, not everything they experience is a wrong interpretation. Through stigma, ignorance, or downright selfishness, many people who know someone experiencing a relapse of schizophrenia are apt to adopt a blanket attitude of “don’t believe anything that person living with schizophrenia says. They are relapsing right now.” You can turn the tables on that one. Does a so-called “sane” person always have a valid grasp of reality? I would say no. Indeed, a problem I have when I am experiencing a relapse of schizophrenia is that my truth differs from most people I encounter. My reflex is to think they are the ones undergoing a mental crisis. After all, my reality seems true to me, yet it disagrees significantly with theirs. Therefore, denying head-on the false beliefs of someone relapsing is not a good method. Listening so they feel supported, without adding to their false beliefs, is kinder and more effective.
So, what is your reality? It’s what your senses and mind tell you it is, and that’s true of everyone. My biggest frustration when my mental health is terrible is to get through to others that not everything I say belongs in the trash. As I struggle to get better, improvement in my understanding of the world as others see it comes with that fight. I need encouragement when trying and succeeding. I need a kind reaction to my failed attempts to grasp reality as others see it.
The reality of a situation, both for mental health consumers and so-called “sane” people, can be challenging to evaluate. No mental health consumer is “crazy” all the time, and no so-called “sane” person is “correct and in need of protection from crazy people” all the time. (“Crazy” is not politically correct, but I use it in context.) Even in relapse, a mental health consumer will have instances when they are accurate, and that insight needs to be applauded, not thrown in the trash.