I spend 99% of my time with people who do not have schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. I spent the first 20 years of my illness completely isolated from others with my same illness. I married a "normie" and have been surrounded by "normies" the majority of my life. I do frequent one support website for schizophrenics.  My interactions on that website have been educating. Having met only one other schizophrenic in real life, I was surprised at how high-functioning and articulate we are, by and large. I assumed most schizophrenics were pretty out-of-it and caught up in an imaginary world. I have experienced some cattyness from other female schizophrenics and hostility from the more downtrodden, easily agitated schizophrenics on the website. So my experiences have not even been that great socially. But I learn something new everyday from my support website and it's members. I feel obligated to visit the site daily because I have much more to learn about schizophrenia and have no one else to educate me. Schizophrenia.com is a trusted resource for the latest schizophrenia news. If I spent all my time with my "normie" friends and family, who do not share the same struggle, I am afraid that I might forget I have schizophrenia. It happened to me before. I experienced few symptoms for 20 years on Abilify and started to believe that maybe, I too, was a "normie."  I wanted it to be true. I wanted to quit my medications, lose weight, and continue to be voice-free. Of course, that is not what happened. I had a major psychotic episode. Although I love and enjoy my non-schizophrenic family and friends, I also need a daily dose of schizophrenia.com to keep myself honest and aware of my illness.

Having said that, my next post might be titled "When support groups aren't supportive," because every other day is like that for me. I don't know why I always feel like I am being attacked by other schizophrenics, especially female schizophrenics.