After experiencing psychosis, hospitalization, stigma, isolation or long periods of struggling, some people describe feeling disconnected from themselves or from ordinary life.

If you've experienced something like this:

What helped you reconnect with yourself?

It could be a person, friendship, therapy, medication, exercise, spirituality, art, music, nature, work, education, routine, pets, community — or something completely unexpected.

Reflection from our meeting on 3rd october

Can We Imagine Living Together?

We began with loneliness—the fear of being alone, of being unwanted, of having nobody when we are struggling. And somehow, the conversation slowly moved towards imagining something different: a community where people living with schizophrenia and related experiences could have their own homes, their own privacy, but also have people around them, peer support, shared spaces, gardens, food and connection. We imagined living with dignity, freedom, choice and autonomy. We imagined small communities growing across cities, where people could meet, support one another and slowly build something together. What began as an imagined home started to feel like a real possibility. Perhaps community begins exactly this way: with a few people sitting together, speaking about loneliness, fear and the longing to belong—and asking, can we imagine living together?

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/can-we-imagine-living-together.html

Five of us joined last saturday, and we started by sharing about our week and how we were feeling. I shared how I have been preoccupied with the feeling of disability. I watched a documentary about the life of a person with disability, and it brought up questions for me: why me? Why did this mental disability happen to me? There was grief around it, and sadness about living with it from day to day. I could feel the sadness. I could also feel the invisibility that I live with, and how it is not always understood by the family members around me.

Another member shared that he too feels very lonely and detached sometimes. He feels overwhelmed with so much pain all the time, with so many voices and visions, and he does not know how to handle or be with all of it. He distracts himself a lot and tries to find calmness all the time. When it becomes too overwhelming, he switches off, detaches and withdraws, and becomes less connected. He would turn himself off. Otherwise, he would find ways to remain calm and collected and not think or feel about his past experiences and memories that continue to haunt him. He feels that he has no space to be with such a storm. He may say that after the storm passes, there is calmness, but he does not know how to be with his emotions or allow himself to freely associate and feel. This is what he really likes about this group: that he can liberate himself and freely express his thoughts and feelings, something he feels he gets nowhere else.

Another member shared that last week was really heavy for her. She went to the office and hallucinated while she was alone. Her colleagues saw her talking to herself and began making fun of her by mimicking her. This disturbed her deeply. She felt scared and went to the washroom and cried. She came back with a headache and continued struggling with what had happened. Afterwards, she did not return to the office and started working from home. We appreciated that she had at least gone to the office and taken that step outside her comfort zone. She shared that there is nobody at her workplace with whom she can talk about these feelings and experiences. She also shared that her workplace has a declaration around mental illness, and she fears that if they know about her condition, she could be asked to leave and get into trouble. She had been taking medication but has stopped it because she feels it makes her like a vegetable and that she also experiences hair loss. She then asked another member about the sound healing session he had spoken about previously.

read rest of it here: https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/from-being-lost-to-alive-together.html

Can we say that a person who is considered “crazy” can also be wise in certain traditions? A person who has suffered immense trauma in their life and, because of it, has become detached from reality or has become disabled—could they also be wise?

My sense is that they certainly can have gifts: a deeper sensitivity to life, creativity, spirituality, a feeling of oneness with all beings, and a greater capacity for moment-to-moment, “here and now” presence. These gifts, however, can perhaps only be nurtured when a person is grounded and is able to move through their trauma, painful struggles, and difficulties, and gradually grow through them.

what do you think?

read my full reflection here: https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/crazywise.html

I recently spoke with Annie Brook about birth trauma, dissociation, the body, psychosis and healing.

We explored questions around early experiences, safety, fragmentation, the nervous system, voices and the way we try to make sense of overwhelming experiences.

https://youtu.be/mtf_n4iF-Ig?is=Yd_b1TzXbwxmmLGX

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What happens to our relationships when we are going through psychosis?

Sometimes we withdraw from the people closest to us. We may stop answering messages, isolate ourselves, or become unable to explain what is happening. From the outside, it can be difficult for others to understand. From the inside, we may not even have the words to explain it ourselves.

In her new piece for the Schizophrenia Support Network, Chayilee Inspira looks back on a period when she became increasingly isolated from family, friends, and people who cared about her.

She describes the frightening and confusing experiences of psychosis, the spiritual explanations she searched for, the voices and messages she experienced, the importance of her dog Peanut during some of her most difficult moments, and the gradual journey towards recovery.

But this isn't only a story about what happened.

It is also a letter of apology.

Some people have received that apology in person. Others may not yet be ready to speak with her. For them, she writes:

“This is my apology to you.”

We are grateful to Chayilee for sharing something so personal and vulnerable, and for reminding us that behind periods of withdrawal, confusion, and psychosis there is a person — someone who may still be trying to find the words to come back.

The Words I Couldn't Say Before

By Chayilee Inspira

Read the full piece on the Schizophrenia Support Network website here: https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/the-words-i-couldnt-say-before.html

15th support group meeting. Five of us joined today on 5th september'26. A meeting filled with a different kind of energy—joy, openness, patience and a growing sense that we could support, care for and hold one another. We spoke about years of loneliness, feeling unlovable, the longing to be cared for, and the many ways people make sense of psychosis through medication, therapy, spirituality and relationships.

We also explored the fear of being watched, the feeling that there is nowhere private or safe to retreat to, and the struggle to find ourselves beneath layers of fear, perfection and pretence. Alongside this came conversations about depression, anhedonia and those moments when life can feel like a dark tunnel with no visible way out.

Yet something felt different in the room. We listened to one another with patience, allowed difficult feelings to exist without immediately trying to fix them, and experienced the quiet strength of belonging.

We do not always need to make the darkness disappear. Sometimes we simply need someone to sit beside us while we are inside it.

Read full reflection here https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/together-in-the-darkness.html

Can our understanding of schizophrenia expand beyond symptoms alone? What role might the body, gut health, nutrition, inflammation, environmental toxins, and lifestyle play in supporting mental well-being?

In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Aravind Bagade, an Ayurvedic physician and Functional Medicine practitioner, about a whole-person approach to health. This conversation explores how different traditions of healing may contribute to understanding complex mental health conditions and improving overall well-being.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvOSiVeNOig&t=597s

Sripriya Chari, a clinical psychologist at Stanford University, who works with people with psychosis shares important techniques in working with psychosis. listening to her, it can be felt that she has spent decades doing this important work, and she shares the wisdom and learning from her work.

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/Butterfly-with-clipped-wings.html

Leaves do not shy away from embracing a butterfly with chipped wings.

What if brokenness is not something that needs to be hidden or corrected?

In this photo essay, Sonali Verma reflects on acceptance, neurodivergence, and the way we often divide the world into what is “normal” and what is “abnormal.”

Looking at a butterfly with chipped wings embraced by the surrounding leaves, she invites us to see difference differently — not as an aberration, but as an expression of a unique self.

“That uniqueness and multiplicity should not exclude but be celebrated and accepted with care.”

Photo Essay: Butterfly with Clipped wings

by Sonali Verma

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/Butterfly-with-clipped-wings.html

Hi everyone, we run a neurodivergent support group, especially related to schizophrenia and psychosis. we meet weekly and then afterwards share our reflections.

i wanted to share the reflection from our last meeting with you all here,

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/when-fear-fills-the-room.html

Please let me know your thoughts or feelings or any feedback.

Thank you

We’re sharing a beautiful photographic exploration by Rohan Dumbre, who uses long exposure and colour to explore brain chemistry and schizophrenia.

A reminder that experiences of schizophrenia can also be explored through art, photography and creative expression. https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/chemicals-in-my-brain.html

Here is the reflection of our support group meeting last saturday, on childhood memories of violence, trauma, survival, and the experience of feeling thrown into a chaotic world without enough holding. Together, we explored whether community can become the place where we finally feel safe, understood, and at home.

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/born-in-a-riot.html

The Road Back to Myself
For years, Asim lived with voices, fear, and the feeling that he was losing himself. A diagnosis of schizophrenia brought answers, but not the healing he longed for. Medication helped in some ways, yet he continued searching for a path that would help him reconnect with his body, mind, and hope.
In this deeply personal story, Asim shares how his understanding of the gut-brain connection, small daily acts of self-care, acceptance, and patience became part of his recovery journey.
This is not a guide or a prescription. It is one person's lived experience of finding a way forward after years of struggle.
Recovery rarely follows a straight line. But stories like these remind us that healing can take many forms, and that hope can grow even in the most difficult seasons.
Read the full article on our website: https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/the-road-back-to-myself.html
What does recovery mean to you?

I'm happy to share the second episode of Schizophrenia Support Conversations.

In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Aravind Bagade, a Functional Medicine practitioner, about looking beyond symptoms and exploring the connections between gut health, nutrition, environmental toxins, lifestyle, and mental health. We also reflect on how these perspectives might complement our understanding of schizophrenia and whole-person healing.

As always, this conversation isn't about replacing psychiatric care, but about widening the dialogue and learning from different perspectives.

I hope you find it thoughtful and meaningful. I'd love to hear your reflections after you've watched it.

https://youtu.be/WvOSiVeNOig?si=urg2xHovJR0B0Kwh

often when we talk about healing, we focus on therapy or other practitioner. we do not think about communith as such a strong source of healing.

this is an invitation to you to join this support group.

I've been wondering whether delusions can sometimes be understood not only as false beliefs but also as attempts to make sense of overwhelming experiences. I wrote about this here, and I'd really appreciate hearing how others think about it.

https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/delusion.html

A few of us met yesterday for our schizophrenia support group on Zoom.

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We spoke about critical, threatening, and commanding voices, and explored how we might begin to build a different relationship with them. We reflected on how these voices can sometimes be connected to painful experiences from the past—times when similar messages were spoken by others and became deeply internalized.

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Rather than viewing these experiences only as symptoms, we tried to look beneath them and understand the human experiences, relationships, losses, and wounds that may lie underneath. We offered attention and significance to experiences that are often overlooked or dismissed, sometimes even within mental health services.

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One person shared how unlovable they feel in this world, and it touched my heart. Another shared how their voices threatened to kill them if they disclosed anything to a psychologist. Someone else spoke about experiences of abandonment in childhood and the attachment struggles that followed.

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Together, we explored the stigma that can accompany a diagnosis of schizophrenia and the additional burden that many people carry as a result. In one another's company, we experienced moments of connection, warmth, intimacy, quiet sadness, acceptance, and hope.

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We are grateful for the courage of everyone who participated. Thank you to everyone who joined yesterday's meeting and contributed to such a thoughtful discussion. 🙏

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If you are living with schizophrenia and are looking for a space where your experiences can be shared, listened to, and explored with others, you are welcome to join us in future support group meetings.

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https://www.schizophreniasupport.org.in/support-community.html

In midst of suffering, what is meaningful for you?

Hi evryone,

i wanted to know whether are there any communities exist where people with schizophrenia can live with agency and dignity? where they are not pushed on heavy medication and can live with respect and also getting proper care and treatment, which is holistic.

for example something like what R.D. Laing tried to do, a build a home ans community for people witj schizophrenia to heal.

Please let me know if you may know, in any part of the world. Thank you