On a related subreddit, someone posted the following link containing an old article:

[https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/7/2/199/1888453?login=false](https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/7/2/199/1888453?login=false)

It got me wondering about how I actually think of schizophrenia. I guess I accept that schizophrenia is a physical problem on some level, but in reality I don't treat it that way in my own mind. I mean, sure, I take medication regularly and I'm pretty convinced I need it at this point. But when I'm forced to deal with it on my own, I treat it as strictly a psychological problem, and I do what I can to "think my way out of it", so to speak.

I guess it's about feelings of control. A little over a year ago, I had a pretty nasty psychotic break in which I became consumed by delusions. It really didn't go away until I had a medication increase. But man, did I fight that thing like hell in my own mind. I didn't *want* to believe the delusions, so I did my best to form an effective "consensus reality" in my own mind. I did everything I could to conform my mind to the selected consensus reality, and day in and day out I fought and struggled to alter my thoughts so the consensus reality acquired supremacy in my mind. It was the psychological fight that might have literally saved my life. It was an act of will. If I had waited for the medication to make it all go away before dealing with it, it might have been too late. It was almost a week before I could get in touch with my psychiatrist, and during that time I was on my own.

Fortunately, I didn't need to be hospitalized. But I learned that in a pinch, you can't always rely on medication and you have to use psychological tricks. So what I guess I'm wondering, is how others deal with things. Do you feel you can influence your schizophrenia with your thought process or do you abandon that line of thinking in favor of medication?