My names is Leo and I like to create comics, specifically about mental illness, disability and lgbtq+
I aim to release 1 comic every 2 weeks
My pronouns are she/he/they, I identify as non binary and trans 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
I’m also bisexual and am somewhere on the aromantic spectrum 🩷💜💙
I am disabled and mentally ill
I am currently in the process of getting diagnosed with schizophrenia and have autism and use aac part time to help me communicate
Other than comics I might also make aac emojis and illustrations
I’m all about inclusion so I’ll try and make my comics as accessible as possible by adding alt captions and representing a variety of people, however I do make mistakes sometimes so feel free to correct me if my information is incorrect or out of date
Feel free to send in asks if you have requests for a comic you’d like to see
I hope you enjoy my comics, thanks for reading 🩷
DNI (do not interact) : racists, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, rad queer, ice/trump supporter
This is not an extensive list of types of delusions, these are only a few common types of delusions, there are other less common types of delusions which are not mentioned in this comic
Art inspired by the plushie dreadful’s schizophrenia bunny
I recently learnt that they had some controversy due to how they portrayed mental illnesses so I wanted to make it clear that I don’t support their business I just thought the bunny design was cute
Hello! I found ur schizospec post very interesting and informative (new interests is brewing) !
I was wondering if you can do a Derelization one?
I rarely see awareness about it, especially for the more physical reaction to it ( personally I've experienced things that are considered aggressive behavior, screaming, hurting myself/others, and falling/collapsing)
I usually see the mental aspect of it, like "oh I don't feel real/normal/ect" but the person looks visually calm (I also experience this)
if posted already please direct me to it?
(same thing with dyslexia if possible!)
Apologies for the long ask, discard if it's overwhelming, and/or triggering!
Hi!
I haven’t done any comics on derealization or dyslexia yet
I plan to cover derealization in a future comic about dissociative disorders, I’ll make sure to include some of the physical symptoms/reactions that can occur during derealization
I’ll also at some point make a comic on specific learning difficulties (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) but it’ll probably be a while before I start working on it
Sadly I’ve been quite bust recently but hopefully soon I’ll have more free time to work on my comics!
I finally made my own autism service dog (Eevee, a black Labrador) in the Tomodachi Life world!
I also made a psychiatric service dog for another character (He’s not real though, I don’t happen to know anyone with a psychiatric service dog, still, no less important than any other service animal!)
🐕🦺🦮
Miss Eevee has always made every day brighter and helped me through the seemingly impossible. I wouldn’t have made it through high school and daily adventures without her💖💖💖
How to check up on your loved ones who have schizospec disorders/psychosis:
• Keep a steady flow of contact. Don't expect them to initiate conversations or hangouts. Social withdrawal is a common symptom, and it is probably a lot more difficult for them to keep in contact. Just reach out as often as you feel comfortable. It can be as simple as sending them a meme, or asking what they've been up to lately.
• Take notice of how they are acting. If it's normal for them to talk during a hangout, but this time they are mostly silent, take that as an indicator that something is off. If they normally love drawing, ask them what they've been drawing lately to make sure they are still taking part in activities they enjoy. They might not tell you outright that they are declining mentally, so try and gage their behavior and compare it to their normal.
• Make sure that they have other people to support them. Ask if they've talked to their family, friends, or therapist lately. Isolation exacerbates psychotic symptoms, so check in to see if they are being social or connecting with people. It's also important for them to have a safe person to turn to in case their mental state gets worse.
• If you are aware of what treatment methods are effective for them, make sure they are still utilizing them. If you feel comfortable, ask them if they are still taking their medications, going to therapy, journaling or whatever else they are using for treatment.
• If they share that they are struggling with getting basic tasks for living done, offer to help. You can text them reminders and encourage them to do things like brush their teeth. You can offer to go grocery shopping with them. You can come over to help clean or even just stay on the phone with them while they clean.
• If they share that they are struggling mentally, take the time to listen without judgment. Don't give reality checks unless you are explicitly asked to. Just be a safe space for them to open up about their experiences and how it affects them. Try not to look shocked or treat them like they are "acting crazy". Just be as neutral as possible and sympathetic to their struggles so they can feel safe to tell you these things now and in the future. You don't need to find solutions right away, you can just be there to listen, that is a huge help on its own.
• If it seems like your loved one is declining mentally, lean into that relationship. Check in more, listen to them more, help them more if you can. You don't need to treat it like an emergency unless you believe it truly is one (if they are at risk for hurting themselves or others, then look into mental health and medical assistance). Just be there for them in whatever way you can. If you truly care about them, don't turn your back on them when they need you most. You can help more than you know just by being there, especially during the hard times.
Hello! First off I just wanted to say your comics are very informative and helpful! I have trouble keeping focused on large blocks of texts so the cute and descriptive drawings that go along with the explanations are very helpful! I enjoy learning more about the wider neurodivergent community.
Anyway.
Could you provide an explanation or comic about what exactly a psychotic experience could look like and how a person would feel during it, or point me to a resource that explains psychosis effectively?
Hi! I’m happy to hear you like my comics
Trigger warning for description of psychosis
What it might look like :
- A psychotic episode may cause someone to not be able to keep up with work/school causing them to have lower grades or not complete tasks
- It may also cause difficulty keeping up with hygiene, which could look like not brushing teeth, not showering and not cleaning/organising their house
- It can also cause depressive symptoms such as a lack of joy or motivation, causing apathy and social withdrawal, which might look like avoiding friends or family and staying inside more often than normal
- People experiencing psychosis may not always want to talk about their delusions and hallucinations since they may fear judgement or be suspicious of others
- Psychosis can also cause disorganized thinking or speech which might look like jumping between topics in conversation or having trouble forming a coherent sentence
What it feels like :
- most famously psychosis causes hallucinations and delusions, they very commonly go hand in hand since delusions can be fuelled by hallucinations and hallucinations can cause delusions. Hallucinations in my experience feel very overwhelming, and can commonly cause an inability to move until the hallucination stops due to fear or anxiety, common hallucinations are shadowy figures, faces, voices, bugs, demons and feeling the presence of another being. Delusions can feel like you have uncovered a secret truth, or have important knowledge only you know, delusions can have many types such as bizarre, grandiose, persecutory, somatic and many more.
- psychosis can cause rapid mood swings, which might feel like being manic and trying to do as much as possible, to being depressed and staying in bed or not interacting with anyone
- psychosis very commonly causes significant, persistent anxiety or an inability to fully relax, sleep can be heavily impacted due to the night worsening hallucinations and anxiety, which leads to constant fatigue
- psychosis can also cause sensory sensitivities and overload
- odd/disorganised movement is also fairly common, such as catatonia, which feels like being very stiff and having your muscles forcibly contract (in my experience), or psychomotor agitation which is repetitive, purposeless movement due to mental distress, which can feel like having a lot of pent up energy and being unable to stay still, this can look like fidgeting, jerky movements, randomly starting/stoping activities, as well as running/eloping or self destructive behaviour
There are also a lot of other possible symptoms for psychosis, however these are some of the relatively common ones
To learn more about psychosis you can listen to psychotic people’s experiences on tumblr such as @schizopositivity @this-is-saneism
Some websites that are also good
Psychosis is a symptom of some mental health problems. Not a diagnosis itself. Learn what psychosis is and which mental health problems can
A service dog may perform a variety of tasks and fall into multiple categories, these dogs would be called multi-purpose service dogs. This is not an extensive list of tasks and only mention a few ways service dogs can aid their handlers.
Just want to say ur comics have helped me. I don’t think I’m gonna try to get diagnosed bc my stuff isn’t so bad and I don’t know what it would help with, but just getting more information is good. I get benign hallucinations a lot, and occasionally have episodes of intense paranoia and mild psychosis. So idk what that would even be as a disorder but it’s just. Good to hear that other people have this too and that it’s not that weird. Anyway u + Gerard way saying “everyone gets a little insane at 24” holding my mental health together
Yay I’m so happy to hear my comics have helped you
Diagnosis can be helpful to some people however formal diagnosis definitely isn’t needed in a lot of situations and you can actually receive psychosis treatment without a formal diagnosis if you want it (might vary based on where you live though)
Psychosis is much more common than people think, it might be corny but your never alone in your issues and the psychotic/schizospec community is always helpful and friendly
Hi!! Can I ask why PPD wasnt added in your comic on schizospec?
I found paranoid mentioned in your post here: https://www.tumblr.com/grub-muncher/809847500721766400/psychotic-disorders-and-schizophrenia-spectrum?source=share
But as someone with PPD, it was kinda upsetting to not see it mentioned in the comic even though the other cluster a personality disorders were... my PPD involves such intense delusional beliefs that feel very close to schizospec experiences for me, so I was just wondering why it wasn't added.
Hi, PPD wasn’t added since it isn’t technically included in the schizospec under the DSM-5 or the ICD-11, though people with PPD can very much experience psychotic symptoms, psychotic symptoms are not inherent to the disorder, it’s similar to how BPD (borderline personality disorder) can have psychotic features, however BPD itself isn’t considered a psychotic disorder.
I actually think including schizoid in the comic was a bad choice since it’s technically a schizophrenia spectrum personality disorder and not a schizospec disorder (though people with SSPDs should still 100% be apart of the community, it’s just the official classification is slightly different), and including it may have been confusing, so I’m going to create a comic in the future specifically for SSPDs to hopefully clarify the difference between the 2 spectrums
Schizotypal is kind of in a weird place since the 2 main manuals that I reference (DSM and ICD) have differing opinions on whether or not it’s a schizospec disorder but overall I slightly favor ICD since it’s the manual used by the NHS in the uk where I live
Also just to make it very clear, I believe all psychotic experiences and disorders should be included in and accepted by the community, whether or not they are classified as specifically schizospec by mental health manuals, since psychotic experiences can have a variety of causes and community is so important.
hello! I have epilepsy and I just read through your "types of hallucinations" comic, and I wondered if it would "count" as an hallucinations if it was part of a seizure/a seizure aura?
Yes, from what I’ve read seizures can very much cause all types of hallucinations, and seizure auras are classified as hallucinations
Here’s an article on it for more information : https://epilepsydisease.com/clinical/hallucinations-and-seizures
Sensory and visual hallucinations after a seizure
Doodle Bug’s Comics @grub-muncher - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
