"New paths open up for those who show others a path." Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns
Foreword to the following essay on the subject of schizophrenia:
The aim is to educate the general public about the treatment of such an illness and, above all, to show those affected new paths that can be taken in addition to the necessary medical treatment.
A doctor of Hungarian origin said to me: Mr. Sokcevic - you are a wonderful person! People with schizophrenia are ordinary, sensitive, and very profound people who can see the world from a different perspective! Even during a psychotic episode, we are approachable but very sensitive and vulnerable!
After more than 10 years of exchanging emails with the absolute authority on treating schizophrenia from the Heidelberg area, I have received the highest praise to date with the words: "Mr. Sokcevic, you have an inspirational effect on my treatment concepts!" The praise refers to the treatment successes at the time my illness broke out.
Last but not least, I am writing this blog after many people said in 2009 (first treatment): "Mr. Sokcevic - write a book about your experiences and the illness!"
Up to now, it has genuinely not been easy for me to make my innermost thoughts public. Still, the driving force is that I can help others and, if necessary, put the image of the illness in a more excellent and positive light based on my experience!
"I can only talk about many things with God."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dzimi in the break room of Frankfurt Central Station around Christmas 2023
What is schizophrenia? - An idea from personal experience! In a psychotic episode, the affected person has problems processing his sensory organs and the subsequent assembly of a clean environmental analysis by the brain (hub principle). Conclusion: These people are not crazy but are at the mercy of what information the input sensory organs pass on to the brain or are displayed by the brain. The brain can then not use the emotional filter to decide what is essential and unimportant (prioritization) correctly. This means that the distorted input information from the senses, which can arrive in echo (hearing) or slow motion (eyes), is processed incorrectly in terms of ranking and focus. The brain tries to establish a common thread for building a rational world of thought but constantly fails because it is overloaded by asynchronous information processing. Thanks to modern medication, the above condition can be remedied so that the affected person gets back to a crystal-clear world of thought. The side effects are considerable, so the affected person often has to change their lifestyle (a healthy lifestyle) to compensate for them.
Transfigured thoughts about a painting from the field of abstract art
The path to happiness:
Assumption: "A healthy mind is also in a healthy body!"
The patient must create a healthy environment for the brain.
1st step: Relaxation exercises (contemplation, autogenic training)
2nd step: Verbal and written psychotherapy.
3rd step: Work therapy: Only through work can success be achieved for self-esteem. Work is the mortar of building a house: "psyche recovery."
4th step: Sport such as swimming, running, or strength training.
5th step: Maintain a healthy diet. The goal is to regain the optimal body weight.
Author: Dzimi Sokcevic, written in a night shift around 2018
"When we start new, the Holy Spirit works a miracle: He frees us, purifies us, and makes us people who love.
Frère Roger
Chronicle:
When my mother died (October 2007), I became ill with schizophrenia. At first, I took the then newest medication, Ziprasidone, but this had very strong side effects (sedation and the resulting tiredness). While in hospital, I applied for jobs and got a permanent position in IT on the Stuttgart stock exchange in excellent condition. But I couldn't hold on to this dream job for long because, at the time, I was completely unaware of the effects my schizophrenia would have on my work. Nevertheless, my visionary senior physician at the hospital told me: "You can work!"
When I started taking Ziprasidone for the first three years (2008 - 2010), I could hardly get anything organized. I slept and ate more than I was awake. Nevertheless, I made it to TU Dresden (a plate of pasta for under €2 with delicious sauces in the cafeteria) and passed some problematic exams. At first, you suffer badly from cognitive deficits until your brain recovers (2-3 years). At 30, I didn't want to go to university anymore. I looked for a job again, but this failed because of the constant tiredness from Ziprasidone and the neurotic attacks that were now emerging (a bank listed on the DAX).
Then (in 2010), I switched medication to Aripiprazole tablets and met my close fellow sufferer from Monn'em! We had both reached the first low point in our lives health-wise (< 30) and asked ourselves: "What now?" At first, we talked about our problems and challenges and motivated each other to return to work. First, my colleague from Monn'em, with moderate to severe depression, made it into a global IT company after the second attempt and with negotiating skills. Dzimi followed after a contemplative year in Porec (HR) with daily rosary and holy mass (2014) as a refugee helper, then as an IT technician, and now in service at Deutsche Bahn.
When taking Aripiprazole tablets, I had severe sleep disorders in the sense of sleep interruptions every 2-3 hours for another 2 hours. But during my first two jobs from 2015 to 2019, I thought: Anything is better than sitting around at home, which means I go to work tired and in pain! Permanent sleep was no longer imaginable for me, and I just thought to myself: 'There can't be a drug that can restore my sleep.'
"All virtue requires endurance." Catherine of Siena
Healing
Here, too, I was utterly wrong and - thank God - was taught better and could experience healing here, too. The big Gamechanger for my career (2020) came with the depot form (injection every 28 days) of Aripiprazole!
Healing I: Completely crystal clear and structured train of thought instead of partial surreal thought bubbles!
Healing II: Continuous sleep from 8 am onwards!
Healing III: Motivation and drive for all projects were there again!
Healing IV: Appetite has returned to normal!
"For many years and at great expense, I traveled through many countries and saw the high mountains and the oceans. I did not see the sparkling dewdrop in the grass right outside my door."
Rabindranath Tagore
Strategies for dealing with schizophrenia: First of all, you have to regain your ability to work! The priority is to complete a vocational qualification (Whatever It Costs), and then you can go hunting (job)! At first, it doesn't matter what job you have or whether it corresponds to your educational qualification. The cards are often reshuffled in life - this means working and catching up. With the experience of mastering schizophrenia, you are far superior to all other competitors. There are still the weaknesses (in my case, neurotic attacks) that you have to put at the back and the strengths (pattern recognition in social structures) to the front.
Pattern recognition is a typical feature of schizophrenia, even in the set mode. -> It never lets you go...
Easier said than done, but I work with a social neurosis at the largest train station in Germany and probably the most crucial rail hub in Europe -> Frankfurt <- with an average of 400,000 people passing through daily.
Who is afraid of people? ... after 9 months at the Frankfurt train station, you no longer fear people?
-> With this massive confrontation strategy, I have desensitized myself incredibly and have gotten used to people, but that doesn't always work, and not in every situation.
"What would life be like if we didn't dare to take risks?"
Vincent van Gogh
Outlook and personal summary:
It's been more than 15 years since I was first treated for schizophrenia!
While the innovative medications of the time were able to keep patients stable in their free time (without psychotic episodes), today's medications can also keep patients stable at work (even very stressful jobs).
I can have difficult days, too, but I keep thinking: "Anything is better than sitting around at home!"
I've been working shifts for almost 10 years, and the first few years also involved night shifts (attendance). Shift work is a component against holding down a full-time, permanent job (health). Despite this, with much motivation from those around me (doctors, nurses & friends), I managed to leap into permanent employment. I'm still below my school education (Dipl. Wirtsch. Inf. (FH)) working, but I have a job, and that's all that counts!
Every case of schizophrenia is different, and there's always something left over. You can't give up and you have to put together the 5 percent packages like mentioned.
The goal is to become an expert on your illness and to draw on a portfolio of techniques for recovery/compensation.
The trigger (triggering, formative experience) or not - I can't identify the trigger in-depth and won't be able to change it. I have to make the best of it and (without a doubt) take the life experience with me!
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You also can't blame yourself. If I had chosen life path b instead of a! If I hadn't studied, the illness would have struck me at a different point of my life! Maybe if I had started a business.
"Learn to forget what is useless and remember with love everything beautiful."
Francesco Petrarca
My father said to me after my contemplative time in Porec (2014) & job start refugee aid: "Thinking like an entrepreneur can be very helpful when you have a damaged mental health!"
"If you want to become a master, make a pact with yourself - and keep it! Talent alone is not enough.
Charles Moore
Ultimately, it is a parallel world of thought that takes place in the head of a person with schizophrenia. We (schizophrenics) always push our brains to the limit and think about many different things at the same time to still be able to work and master everyday life. We can switch off or concentrate on one thing, but we can do both - think multiple times and concentrate on one thing.
But at the end of the day, we are much more mentally exhausted compared to an average person.
The end of the beginning of the social neurosis
If there is one component in my life that I have always been able to rely on, it is my relationship with God. Even in my dark hours, when there was a lot of uncertainty about the future, I was sure things would improve with prayers and trust in God! The critical point was the permanent structure of a repetitive daily schedule in Porec (HR) in the rosary group and the subsequent Holy Mass (daily for over a year, 2014). I was able to build on this thread and subsequently started my first job in refugee aid! In the last 15 years, things have not always gone smoothly and according to plan (return to the bank). But with the power of the Holy Spirit, I am sure that this irrepressible power will lead me to the positions in life that are intended for me. A Protestant pastor told me: "Dzimi, there are no coincidences!
July 2024
If a theory would wait for experience, it would never happen!
Novalis
On June 5, 2025, I was given the most innovative medicament as a depot injection. The new medicament (active ingredient: Aripiprazole) now works for 56 days instead of 28 days and in my opinion has a noticeably better effect than the first depot (28 days).
For over a decade, I've been plagued by anxiety in social interactions (e.g., conversations), which I've only been able to manage permanently, even with various techniques. Today, I'm on day six of the new medication's effectiveness, and a second stage of healing has taken place for me: I am fearless!
The day the new medication is administered (June 5th) is the Catholic Church’s commemoration day for St. Boniface.
In remembrance at the tomb of St. Boniface with Dzimi Sokcevic in Fulda (Cathedral), June 2025
June 2025
"Do not be afraid of the Lord who passes by us and whispers in our ears, who bends down and reaches out his hand to lift us up when we fall. Do not be afraid to let him into your life." (Pope Francis)
