Based on my experience with schizophrenia and erotomania disorders, I decided to share this delusion/story with you. I was a high school girl who had an interest in mental health. Suddenly, by my junior year, I started to suffer from erotomania after having psychosis for two years.
To explain more the mental health terms mentioned here and in the story, the female protagonist (Maryia), who I inspire, has Psychosis which is a simple form of Schizophrenia or a symptom that includes hallucinations and delusions, Schizophrenia is the optimal suffering from psychosis, which provides for more symptoms with Psychosis that should last for more than 6 months, like disorganized speech. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder, which means it can cause delays in functioning in life, such as studies or work, which happens with Maryia.
Maryia experiences something called a "Psychotic episode," which has specific characteristics, mainly irritation. In this case, the patient's family is usually informed about his/her illness. The inner struggles with the voices inside the head and the thoughts that are fought appear to the family and the surroundings in an irritated behavior as having delusions about being spied on, which is Maryia's case.
Ahmed, the male protagonist, is suffering from ADHD as a teenager. Contrary to Psychosis, which usually occurs in adolescence, ADHD usually appears in childhood. The case of Ahmed includes several changes and symptoms at every stage.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, if you don't already know, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that appears in childhood, mostly in boys, and it includes symptoms like hyperactivity and difficulty in attention. Low functioning in studies exists with bad memory issues in adulthood. Difficulty organizing emotions, aggression, hyper-focus, hypermnesia, and sensitivity can be ADHD teenager symptoms, as well as Ahmed. He also experiences a "mental health crisis." It is not a diagnosis itself but a description of cases of patients who have a kind of mental/nervous breakdown. They can appear as a kind of aggression to the self, suicide, self-harm, or violence caused by previous periods of depression, exposure to trauma, and inability to function in life.
Both Ahmed and Maryia are mistakenly diagnosed with Erotomania, which is one of the delusions that happens when someone believes that someone else is in love with them when it is not true. To have this diagnosis, you have to not be in contact with the person you have this delusion about. This person is usually from a higher status; the patient is usually a woman and inexperienced in relationships.
I hope you enjoy reading this story, which means a lot to me.
Samar Khalefa