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Having a reason to get up in the morning can make the world of difference to someone
with schizophrenia, or any other major mental illness. I know it's something I still
struggle with. Like most people I have lots of good reasons to get up, reasons that would
motivate most people, but I still sleep in every chance I get.
For people with schizophrenia there are at least four factors at work that contribute to sleeping in. They are the medications, the illness itself, the structure of daily life, and a spark. People tend to blame the medications a lot, but people often blame the undesirable things they experience on their medications instead of the illness itself. Nonetheless, medications are contributing factors that can make it very difficult for people to get up in the morning. Whether that is unavoidable or not is another thing altogether. People forget that many side effects caused by medications are temporary and will fade away within a couple of months. By that time a daily pattern has become established. As far as side effects go, trouble getting up in the morning would be a major reason I would negotiate with my psychiatrist for a medication change. On Stellazine, which is a very old medication, I was up at 6 every morning. On Olanzapine, which is quite recent, I get up around 9, and getting up at 6 throws off my whole day. As far as medications go, Olanzapine is safer and more effective with less risk of an irreversible side effect known as tardive dyskinesia. Many hospitals, prisons, group homes and even families impose a daily structure on the individual with schizophrenia, whether they like it or not. I've noticed that if I have to get up early two days in a row, I often wake up early the third day whether I have a reason to or not. The group home here in Guelph uses this gentle push philosophy to get people moving. They have a program including various chores and activities. I think I would hate it, and I wonder if people might naturally become more active as they adjust to their medications, but it definitely appears to work at this group home. A daily structure begs the question, "Do they have a reason to get up?" since no imposed daily structure will be very successful completely on its own. This is what I call a "spark" Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Getting Up in Schizophrenia is owned by . Permission to republish Getting Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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