When I try to have conversations with people they don't understand me. What should I do?

Probably both. I don't disclose my condition and I try to have normal conversations with people. They think it is Lashon Hara. I get accused of saying the wrong thing alot and they don't agree with my ideas. I don't mean any harm, just trying to have normal conversation. Maybe I am not using the right words to say what I mean, unless I just don't think normally and it affects my conversation. How should I manage it? I see a doctor regularly. How can I have better conversations with people?

Feeling misunderstood is often confusing and frustrating. It was not clear in your post if the doctor you see is a psychiatrist, psychologist or a medical doctor. Many medical docs, although well intentioned, are not really trained to help with mental illness. I recommend speaking to a mental health professional that you trust and then share with them the material that other people say does not make sense.
Adam Lynn

PS I am on alot of medication, but maybe I need to have it adjusted.

No, it is nothing like that. I am not suicidal in any way. I had difficulty communicating with someone and it caused me to have a minor legal problem. That led to the bondage of prescribed drugs, and the thought police " therapy." I think my whole "illness" is really not mine, but the society that I live in.

i am a very very normal person and i was hospitalized for schizophrenia but it was really a combination of ppd,anxiety,trying too hard to be a tzadeikus, and a sister in law that was driving me up the wall, trying to turn people against me....so it led up to becoming crazy but Boruch Hashem I'm on the way to recovery, I still have to be on medicine but i'm deeply grateful that i'm holding here. i feel very fortunate, Hashem truly had my benefits in mind because after what happened to me my husband and family are much much nicer to me not only because i am nicer to them, they saw me in bad shape and everyone was very worried about me, my husband esp. became much more dedicated to me and he now sees that marriage is not only to have a good time but that he has to give too and he's definitely more eager to chip in... I'm also very fortunate to have a great therapist and i'm learning how to deal with a very, unstable, immature, difficult sister in law I hope my sister in law is not reading this because she already tried to spread a rumor that I'm sick which i'm not Boruch hashem she wasn't successful and people told her i'm not sick

I don't consider myself to be sick, either.B'H. But it seems to me that I have been forced to take meds and report to a "Therapist" because of legal troubles I have encountered. The therapist is most like a probation officer that is checking up on my behavior, even though I am not on probation. Wanting to know all of my business and then writing it down to someday incriminate me for something. I just don't trust them, it is all part of the legal system that has worked against me labeling me as mentally ill. When I try to have conversations with people I always get mixed messages and multiple meanings out of what they are saying. Besides hearing "Please elaborate" I also heard "Police elaborate". It is a language I have made up. Words have multiple meanings and I am always wondering about them. For instance, my name is Meshugala or Meshuga Louisiana(LA) or Meshuga Los Angeles (LA) or Just an endeared crazy person, etc. So these multiple meaning statements are prophecies that I am always trying to figure out. I like to look even simple words up in the dictionary so that I understand what people are saying to me but I always use all of the definitions which makes it difficult to communicate sometimes with looseness of association because sometimes I am afraid if I say too much it will narrow down the meanings to fewer definitions.

i actually thought that most and or all schitzophrenic people were "wierd" (i'm totally stereotyping, right?) anyway, i just talked to a girl who's quite older than me but went to school with me and graduated a long time ago. she became sick with schitzophrenia soon thereafter. nothing to do with anything, i also dated her brother (who was my age and in my class in elementary junior high) a little before she became sick. i know i hadn't seen her or heard from/of her since the days i saw her in school, but i never really knew what had became of her. a few days ago, i called her mom to get her number and perhaps get in touch with her again. it worked! i talked to her, (call her shoshanna*) today. she broke my visualized stereotype! she seemed so normal, so calm, so unconvoluted i thought she sounded saner than me, and i have bipolar disorder. just goes to show you that not all sterotypes are correct and that people with schitzophrenia or any other crippling disease can truly lead normal lives, if they catch it early, get the right care and the right meds. she doesn't really do anything with her days, just sleeps til 11:00 am or 12:00 pm and takes care of her two cats (i forgety the names) but at least she's up in this world and trying and leading her own life. i respect her for that. besides, when i don't have school, i sleep til like 11:00 am or 12:00 pm too.

atara

p.s.* shoshana is not her real name. just used this alias for anonimity.

I'm posting the name of a book you all should read. If any of you have been diagnosed or have a loved one diagnosed, it is a very important book to read because it explains that it is usually not so weird or so hopeless when someone is diagnosed, and that a lot of medication is not the way to go--it may be okay to use for a very short time, but it's really not good to use for long, and it is usually a bad idea to use medication as the only way to get better. It won't work. An excellent support system works much better than medication for most. I know this is true, becasue I've been through this. The author of this book has been curing so-called "hopeless cases" with attentiveness and kindness since he was in COLLEGE, and he is not the only one who can help people. His book doesn't only explain what works and what doesn't--it also has a list of doctors and places that can help in a kind and loving way. The reason these listed doctors and facilities have a much higher rate of success is because they treat the patients with compassion and respect, which people suffering from so-called mental disorders desperately need.

I copied this from his website for you. I read this book a while ago and found it very helpful, and I think it will help you, too.

Toxic Psychiatry:
Why therapy, empathy, and love must replace the drugs, electroshock, and biochemical theories of the “new psychiatry.”
by Peter Breggin, M.D.
Paperback published 1991 by St. Martin's Press

Toxic Psychiatry remains Dr. Breggin's most complete overview of psychiatry and psychiatric medication. It has influenced many professionals and lay persons to transform their views on the superior value of psychosocial approaches compared to medication and electroshock.

Im new to the forums, just looking around and seeing Whats out there.

I always try to give advice, my advice isnt perfect.

Hey but try to stag in touch with youre friend, that helps a heck of alot , If Makes people feel sabres and thats What is important.