Suppose you have a cousin who tells you at a family gathering he is getting special messages from God and needs to move to the Vatican. Or, an office mate tells you about her neighbor who sits on the sidewalk all day smoking cigarette after cigarette, not moving, talking or making eye contact with anyone. Maybe you go to the local market and see someone talking to the produce and later outside talking to no one in particular. How do you respond? Most of us would walk the other way. Would you know how to relate to someone who demonstrates this behavior publicly? That is after you have stopped staring or shaking your head, trying to make sense of what you just saw or heard.
In our daily lives we are not used to seeing or hearing things so out of the ordinary. For someone with a brain disorder that includes psychosis, this is everyday behavior. Why? Because they perceive the world differently from you, differently because of how their brain works. Psychotic experiences are described as perceptions that are distorted from reality. Hearing or seeing things that are not there, believing thoughts that are exceptional or grandiose. What distinguishes these experiences from the rest of us, is the intensity and frequency of these perceptions and the effect it has on the ability to function day-to-day.
We might have unusual perceptions from time to time, but we are able to process them, store the memory and move on with our busy lives. You could imagine how hard it would be to complete a simple task like shopping for food while hearing voices in your head telling you to put back all the items because everything you’re buying is going to make you sick.
Those diagnosed with a severe mental illness need our support and understanding. We need to recognize that they are suffering from a life-long brain disorder, that they are not violent, and are struggling to have a meaningful life, just like us.
So the next time you see a person talking to himself, making an illogical statement or laughing to themselves, say hello, talk about the weather. Let them know that you accept them, without judgment or fear.
