Hello, my son also has high functioning ZSA. He is 30 years old, has a high paying career as a software developer, leaves on his own, pays his own way, has many hobbies, does his own laundry, works out, etc, etc, etc. He does spend a lot of time alone and suffers of loneliness, which kills me to see him suffer but he is working on improving that part of his life. He has not had consistent treatment as when he does recover from an episode he stops all medicine and therapy. He is building self awareness and insight into his illness. I am wondering if youâve always have had insight into your illness and if not, what was it that made you finally fully understand what you were dealing with? Trying to figure out how to influence him in a positive way and with respect. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Insight is probably too strong a word for my initial understanding of the illness. Awareness of mental and personality differences and thoughts of being somehow âspecialâ is closer to the mark. And insights gained were lost or forgotten from time to time. I feel âhigh functioningâ people are often tempted by pride in their abilities and intellect to test if they can go it alone or whether theyâd somehow been misdiagnosed.
I think a degree of objectivity, and an ability to apply the same methods of scientific rigor to myself and my perceptions as I might to my work were sparks to insight. To him Iâd say: Software Developer, debug thyself. Some form of journaling or other measures of progress can be helpful. After several near-relapses, I realized pride was getting in my way and it was self-destructive not to think of medication and therapies as cheap insurance.
As far as loneliness goes, developing social confidence takes work and itâs not something you can think or analyze your way through without practice and mistakes. Set goals, take classes, join clubs, revise those goals as necessary and forgive yourself those inevitable mistakes. There is no easy mode, but a myriad of self-imposed hard modes.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! Love that approach, debug thyself. 
Hi and welcome to this site @Thinker333 . My daughter has made about as âfullâ of a recovery as is possible for her. Her years as ârecoveredâ now outnumber the years of her psychosis. I am grateful every day for the help I received from those who posted on this site. You will find out, if you read, that good ideas come from here, which when added one to the other, can build a road out, tiny bit by tiny bit.
One thing that helped me a lot was reading the book âIâm not Sick, I donât need Helpâ by Dr. Amador. I used his LEAP method of communicating many times, one subject at a time, to promote healthy changes for my daughter (like getting her to open her bedroom door to me and accept a plate of dinner nightly), and later even to find a reason for her to stay on medication that was forced on her (it would help her to find work).
Come back here often to read, comment when you feel like it, and keep trying to help your son to improve his life. Best of luck!
My boyfriend is relatively recovered. He still hallucinates but does not respond to them and works full time. He has paranoid sz. I donât take care of him Iâm just dating him. He developed schizophrenia at a later age and has insight.