Hi, I’m Liz Argall, I’m a cartoonist, mental health advocate, non-profit consultant and technical writer. I make spaces (be it lands of the heart or code) more resilient and adaptive.
In a world where labels can be narrow, silencing boxes, I cultivate using labels with complexity, alchemy and empowerment. Humans are incredibly resilient and adaptive, so it’s no wonder that if you have enough mysterious health challenges for one label you may well have other labels that can apply as well.
For me these labels are ADHD, Autism, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (all diagnosed late in life) and Psychosis Vulnerability Syndrome (I’ve had three psychotic episodes and do a range of things, including taking anti-psychotics to keep it that way).
If you’d like to get nice comics and be part of a community of awesome, come join my Patreon, there’s a free tier :-)
Did you know that 3 in a 100 people will have a psychotic episode in their lifetime? Weird huh? For comparison, according to Gallup, about 1 in a 100 people in the USA are vegan and 4 in 100 people are vegetarian.
For most of us who go through this harrowing ordeal (at least often harrowing in the West, mileage can vary) the expectation is you’ll just brush it off, get on with your life and avoid ever mentioning it again.
Can you imagine if people who survived plane crashes were treated that way? Oh well, you’ve only been in one plane crash (and now have confidence in your own mind damaged, traumatized, relationships damaged, financial costs, navigating disabilities, difficulty getting/retaining employment), best get on with things and not make to big a deal of it.
While some labels, such as Autism, can improve a person’s experiences and the way they navigate life, schizophrenia does the opposite.
People with the label schizophrenia are more likely to experience discrimination, violence, trauma, incarceration, over mediation and thanks to diagnostic overshadowing, less likely to be treated for cancer, heart attack, diabetes or just about any other condition.
Everything a person presents with is far more likely to be treated as just part of their “illness of the mind”. People with schizophrenia are less likely to receive life saving medical interventions, even the basic stuff, they’re less likely to receive CPR.
So it says something about the gap, the life choking silence and loneliness when you consider that I’ve heard so many talk about the relief that came when they were finally diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Finally, they had something to hold onto, after being bounced around so much.
I craved the label schizophrenia after I was shattered by my second and then third episodes. I wanted to feel less alone, I wanted to feel companionship. I’d been through this massive trauma and because “I wasn’t crazy enough,” hadn’t “suffered enough,” I felt like I had to navigate it alone.
I don’t want anyone to feel as alone as I did.
It wasn’t just imposter syndrome that kept me from spaces identified for folks with schizophrenia. Though that was definitely part of it, I was so fragile I was scared being an outsider in yet another place. I was also actively discouraged from finding psychosis specific peer support by some mental health professionals.
Peer support is so powerful, but this era of DSM labels cuts us off from each other. I feel like there were mental health professionals that didn’t want me to “learn to be crazy” or “learn to be ashamed” by accessing better support from spaces associated with schizophrenia. Those are their biases, not mine. When I think of folks with schizophrenia, I think of peers I can learn from. These are folks with incredible knowledge, skill and versatility, who have been through more than I have and know more than I do.
I have a Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD), where I am on the spectrum depends on a range of factors, including age, how active I am, and how frequently I access physical therapy. Turns out I have a couple of spectrum disorders.
A more extreme form of hypermobility is called Ehlers Danlow Syndrome (EDS). I have learned so much about myself, and ways to be kinder to myself, thanks to EDS spokespeople and services. We are on a spectrum together and I’m grateful that folks who’ve walked some very hard miles can help my journey have a little bit more ease, a little less loneliness.
A few scant years ago, hardly anyone knew about EDS or HSD, but these numbers grow and the peer support grows. We’ve also seen how so many folks can blossom now that they can understand themselves and get support when we look at Autism spectrum disorders.
We need the same kind of destigmatization, knowledge and grace for folks that are on the Psychosis Spectrum of Disorders, folks with Psychosis Vulnerability Syndrome.
It doesn’t matter how you came by psychosis, you are a valid human being. People can get caught up in origin stories and diagnoses, but at the end of the day a psychosis survivor is a psychosis survivor. We have a vulnerability, we likely have a complex web of vulnerabilities. We are whole human beings who are more than our psychosis.
I want people to be able to get support, feel valid, feel safely seen whether they’ve had one episode or many. I want there to be a multitude of stories. I want folks with schizophrenia to be honored for their expertise and the level of trauma they’ve been through. I want folks to know they don’t need to have that level of pain to access healing and peer support. “Just” one episode is more than enough to justify time and space for healing, peer support and acknowledgement of loss.
I want people to know that psychosis survivors come in all shapes and sizes. We have all sorts of careers, we are all worthy of hope. The fact that I have a career in IT and am a strong technical writer is important to me. Because of the vast walls of stigma, there aren’t enough folks with non-mental health related jobs who are open about their experiences. But that doesn’t mean we’re not here.
Through art, stories, advocacy and celebration of others, I hope we can claim better space for the rainbow of psychosis survivors in the world, reduce stigma and increase hope.
In a world that is mad making, we need each other more than ever
Would you like to stay in touch?
Subscribing to my Patreon is one of the best ways to stay in touch and support me as a creator.
There’s a free tier, you’ll get behind the scenes snippets, it has a pretty fun vibe and you can even direct message me!
You can also e-mail me at liz@lizargall.com
And check out the footer below for my various social medias, although they are vulnerable to the algorithms and won’t get all the material available on my Patreon.
Further Reading
We all contain multitudes, here are a few of my multitudes
Psychosis Recovery
A recovery resource for anyone who’s been through psychosis or has a loved one go through it.
