Things you shouldnât ask or say to someone on the schizophrenia spectrum or it will be rude:
âDo you want to hurt people?â (Weâre statistically more likely to be hurt and manipulated by others.)
âDo you see anything right now?â (Makes us uncomfortable and paranoid and causes us to focus on whatâs reality and whatâs not)
âAre you hearing voices right now?â/âwhat do the voices say about me?â (We arenât here for your entertainment, and this will make us uncomfortable and distrustful of you. And same as above comment.)
âThatâs so cool!â (Itâs a disorder and disability that is painful and hard to live with)
âI wish I had thatâ (Lord, I wish I was exaggerating.)
âSo, you have multiple people in your head?â (May fuel a delusion, or youâre confusing it with Dissociative Personality Disorder)
âAre you dangerous?â (If we didnât seem dangerous before telling you, why do we seem dangerous now? Again, weâre more likely to be abused and to hurt ourselves.)
âWhat medications are you on?â (Too Personal. You donât need to know that.)
âMaybe itâs spiritual/real.â(any theory that itâs not a mental illness can cause confusion, paranoia, mistrust, fuel a delusion, or feeling misunderstood.)
âWeâre all a little crazy, haha!â (Our brains look and work differently than majority of the population. Itâs not comparable to bad or weird choices and quirks you have.)
âDo you trust me?â/âYou trust me though, right?â (If we do, it could make us feel worried you doubt us. If we donât, itâll make us uncomfortable and feel like lying or fuel our mistrust.)
âYou dont seem like you have schizophrenia/schizoid/schizoaffective/schizotypal..â (We arenât all the same, and a lot of us are in different places of coping and have different severity of symptoms and how we hide them. Itâs exhausting hiding and coping with our symptoms. Could also fuel a delusion of not being sick. Just donât say that.)
âI knew someone with that.â (We really donât care; that person isnât us.)
Things you can say without being rude if someone lets you know they have a schizophrenia spectrum disorder:
âIs there anything I need to know about how this affects you?â
âWill there be times youâd like my support?â
âHow can I support you if you need it?â
âThanks for you letting me know/Thanks for opening up about thatâ
âIs there anything I need to look out for to make sure youâre safe and comfortable?â
âIs it alright if I ask a few questions so I have a better understanding?â