I'm Schizophrenic, that doesn't make me dangerous: A Fresh Look

The misuse of the word "psychotic"

My entire life I have heard the word “psychotic” used as a synonym for dangerous. When a person displays any kind of emotional instability, or violent behaviour, they are a psycho, or were acting psychotic. It had become a fundamental rule of my native culture that to be Schizophrenic was equal to being a psychopath, and to be a psychopath was to be a killer. In one broad stroke, countless neurodivergent people had, in my mind, been painted as inhuman. They were monsters, and at the age of 18, I would learn I was one of them.

The contradictory nature of my own understanding of Self coupled with my indoctrinated view on psychosis would mean that rather than seek help, I would seek solace at the bottom of a bottle, or in pills and powders.