"As soon as the words came out of the doctor's mouth, my line of thinking was: I am not "normal," and my life is not normal, and it will never be normal again. In fact, my life is over. I saw myself as separate from other people, like observing the world and everyone in it from behind a pane of glass, especially since I didn't know anyone else with my diagnosis."
"I think I honestly focused on the lives of people whose lives I wished my life were like, and not everyone's lives. And there's no way to compare two lives, as every life is so unique. The truth is, the rest of people's lives are not the same, and they all come with real challenges. No one knows or can predict what is ahead for them, where life can turn quickly for anyone."
Multiple rediagnoses culminated in a schizophrenia diagnosis, triggering conviction of being abnormal and believing life was over. The diagnosis produced a felt separation from others, as if observing life from behind a pane of glass, intensified by not knowing anyone with the same condition. Life interruption in the early twenties put personal milestones on hold while others appeared to follow predictable paths. Selective comparison to desired lives created a myth of a singular normal trajectory. Every life contains unique challenges and unpredictability. Serious mental illness appears unusual largely because many people keep it secret. Self-perception of abnormality can exceed others' perceptions.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]