EC Neurology

Compassion therapy for schizophrenia is an emerging approach. There are a number of ways that it can be applied to living with schizophrenia. Its primary importance lies in how it can be used to soothe the fear and emotional pain which are caused by paranoia and critical voices. It does this by being receptive to suffering and so being motivated to do something about it. The approach is that the soothing will lighten the load of the illness so you can bear up to it better.

Schizophrenia is thought be stress induced and once you have it the stress of the terrifying symptoms perpetuates the illness. Compassion can soothe these stresses including those caused by the fear and emotional pain. It creates a nice warm feeling so all this should help with any low mood caused by the voice and delusions. Compassion also allows a connectedness with other people and allows for making new friends and partners together with for family support.

This article will outline my day-to-day experiences of compassion through the different problems caused by having schizophrenia and why I found it so useful. It wasn’t enough on its own to solve the problems of fear and pain with the illness. Yet it allowed other ways of coping so that my life much more bearable and enjoyable. What follows is my journey with schizophrenia and how applying compassion techniques helped me to come through it.