INPUT ARTICLE: Article: A person with poor self-esteem may become extremely needy. While you want to be helpful, you may also find yourself constantly getting distressing calls at 3 a.m., endless conversations about himself that drain you emotionally, or demands for meeting up when you have other social obligations. So you may have to put up some boundaries to keep the friendship from becoming toxic. For example:  Your primary obligation is to your children. That does not mean your friend is not a priority, but your child's dance recital will be a higher priority than your friend's poetry reading. Calls after 10 p.m. must be a real emergency. A car accident is a real emergency, but a breakup with a girlfriend is not an emergency. You need time away from your friend to nurture other relationships. You value your friend but also need to spend time with other friends, family, boyfriends or girlfriends, and even time to yourself. You will talk about what is bothering your friend, but also about your own life, interests, and other things. Friendships are two-way relationships that have give-and-take. Just as a therapist is not a social friend, a friend is ultimately not a therapist. In the effort to help someone with very low self-esteem, a friend may end up investing a lot of time and effort to fix the suffering friend, but not be able to. And that can make two people very, very unhappy and unbalanced. A therapist can make progress in a way that even a really, really great friend is usually not able to. People with low self-esteem unfortunately can become negative to others. Sometimes this gets so extreme that it becomes abusive. You are under no obligation to help a person who treats you in a hurtful manner, physically, verbally, or in any other way.  Low self-esteem does not give a person a "free pass" to be cruel, no matter why the person has low self-esteem. You have a right to protect yourself from further pain. You may have to discontinue your friendship, and rightfully so.

SUMMARY: Put up appropriate boundaries if needed. Remember that you are a friend, not a therapist. Do not accept abuse.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: It can be common for those with schizophrenia to stop taking their medication. You can use a few approaches to try to stick to using your medication in times when you feel like quitting :  Remind yourself that your medications treat, but tend not to cure, schizophrenia. This means for you to continue to feel better, you likely need to keep taking your medications. Use any social support you have; tell your family or friends when you are feeling well to strongly encourage you to keep going on with your meds when you feel like stopping. You could record yourself a message for your future self, telling you to keep going with your meds and why (they are a treatment not a cure) and have your family play it back to you when you feel like quitting. Accepting your condition may help to make your recovery an easier experience. On the other hand, denying that something is wrong or thinking that your condition will just go away may lead to your condition actually getting worse. Because of this, it is important to begin your treatment and accept these two facts:  Yes, you have schizophrenia and it will be challenging to deal with. But yes, you can live a normal, happy life. Schizophrenia isn't a hopeless condition. You can learn to live with it. While accepting your diagnosis is important for seeking treatment, being willing to fight for a normal life can help you to live the life that you want to live. The initial shock upon hearing the diagnosis can be a very tough for the diagnosed and their families. Living a normal life is possible but it may take some time to adjust to your condition and to find the right treatment plan for you. People with schizophrenia who take their medications and go to therapy can have very few problems with social interactions, holding a job, having a family or otherwise excelling in life. Schizophrenia is often brought on when you experience a severe amount of stress. Because of this, if you have this condition, it is important to avoid things that may stress you out and cause you to have an episode.  There are  multiple ways to deal with stress, such as by:  Each individual will have different stressors. Going to therapy can help you to identify the things that cause you stress, whether it be a specific person, situation, or place. Once you know your stressors, work hard to avoid them when you can. You can, for example, practice relaxation techniques, such as  meditation or  deep breathing. Exercise not only relieves your body of stress, but it can release endorphins which can increase your sense of well-being.  Try listening to music that pumps you up and helps you get through your workout. Not getting a proper night’s rest can contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety. Be sure to get plenty of sleep at night; figure out how many hours a night you need to feel rested and stick to that. If you have trouble sleeping, try making you bedroom completely black and silent by blocking out sounds, changing your environment, or wearing a sleeping mask and earplugs. Get into a routine and follow it every night. When you eat unhealthy foods it can make you feel negative, which can add to your stress levels. Therefore, it is important to eat right to combat stress.   Try eating lean meats, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.   Eating healthy involves having a balanced diet. Avoid eating too much of any one food. Although these are not a substitute for therapy or for a therapist, there are cognitive techniques you can try to alleviate your symptoms.  You can, for example, use a technique called normalization. In this technique you see your psychotic experiences as part of the same continuum that includes normal experiences, and acknowledge that everyone has experiences that vary from normal, everyday life. This may make you feel less alienated and stigmatized, which can have a positive impact on your health outcomes.  To cope with auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices, try listing evidence against the content of the voice. For example, if a voice is telling you to do something negative, like stealing, list reasons why that is not a good idea (e.g., you could get into trouble, it is against social norms, it would cost someone else, most people would tell you not to do it, so don't listen to this one voice). If you are suffering from hallucinations, try distracting yourself in some way, by, for example, listening to music or making artwork. Do your best to become fully immersed in this new experience as it may help to block out unwanted experiences. To deal with the social anxiety that can accompany schizophrenia, try to identify then challenge distorted thoughts. For example, if you have the thought that "everyone in this room is looking at me" try questioning the truth value of this statement. Look around the room for evidence: is it the case that in fact everyone is looking at you? Ask yourself how much attention you pay to any one person when they are just walking about in public.  Remind yourself that in a crowded room there are many people, and so people's attention is likely bouncing around to all of them, and they are probably not just all focused on you. Once you have your symptoms under control through medication and therapy, you should try to restart your normal life and keep busy. Idle time can lead to thinking about things that stress you out, which in turn may lead to an episode. To stay busy:  Put in an effort at your job. Organize time to spend with your friends and family. Take up a new hobby. Help out a friend or volunteer somewhere. Sudden spikes in caffeine might make ‘positive’ symptoms of schizophrenia worse (i.e., unwanted additions such as delusions or hallucinations); although if you normally drink a lot of caffeine, stopping or having caffeine may not affect your symptoms for better or worse. The key is to avoid a large sudden change in your caffeine habits. It is recommended that individuals not consume more than 400 mg of caffeine a day. However, keep in mind that individuals’ body chemistries will vary, as will their prior history with caffeine, so you may be able to tolerate a little more or less than this Drinking alcohol is associated with worse treatment outcomes, increased symptomatology, and a higher rate of re-hospitalization. You will be better off if you refrain from drinking alcohol.

SUMMARY:
Stick with your meds. Work on accepting your condition. Remind yourself that there are ways to live a normal life. Avoid stressors. Get regular exercise. Get enough sleep. Eat healthy foods. Try out cognitive techniques. Try distraction. Challenge distorted thoughts. Try to keep busy. Avoid taking in a lot of caffeine. Avoid alcohol.