Q&A: What is worse cancer or a mental disorder such as Schizophrenia?

There are times in life that change the mental well being of humans. In my opinion there are three things which affect this. Our mental state will rise and fall due to time, surrounding and circumstance. The time factor includes our age, whether we are mature enough or not, the surrounding deals with where we live, among believers or non believers, our company, our friends and most importantly the peer pressure involved, and finally the circumstance depends on a time in our lives, either a calamity or a time of joy, that affects us either having a positive or negative impact on us. These are the very same things that also affect our Imaan. A great test from Allah (SWT) indeed.Be that be Cancer or Schizophrenia they are all test from Allah(swt).

I am aware that people feel hopeless, helpless and have suicidal temptations at times, but if someone loves, fears and remembers Allah, Allah will solve all his problems and grant for him through unexpected means. Surah Tallaq Ayah 2-3.

In my humble opinion, no matter how hard a calamity befall us, we should accept it from Allah. To Him we belong and to Him we will return. If you put your trust in Allah (SWT), there is no need for a special cure for the diesease. It is a test from Allah (SWT) that we are given the oppurtunity to choose whether we decide to turn to Him, the Almighty, or choose other options such as suicide etc. It is also an oppurtunity that brings us closer to Allah (SWT), by uttering His Dhikr, praying to Him and other forms of worship that give the heart peace.

In Surah Ar Ra’ad it says: The remembrance of Allah puts the heart at peace. And as mentioned above, this involves all sorts of worship, as any worship is remembrance of the Almighty Creator.

If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both! But glory to Allah, the Lord of the Throne, (High is He) above what they attribute to Him! AL-ANBIYA’ 21.022

Prophet Muhammed(p.b.u.h) said:
“For the ones whose concern is this world, Allah will scatter his affairs, place poverty between his two eyes and he will not get from the world except what is written for him. As for the one whose intention is the Hereafter, Allah will gather for him his affairs, place contentment in his heart and the world will come to him willingly” IBN MAJAH, SAHEEH-UL-JAAMI NO. 6386

Well first you’re in the wrong damn category.

Being a Schizo is much worse. They are so many uncertainties. The support system from family isn’t that great. Treatment in hospitals isn’t that much better, even though health care workers will say that they are. It’s not really something you can come to terms with unless you’re heavily medicated 24.7 to keep the hallucinations at bay and function normally.

@ kungfu gal i laughed out loud.

i think cancer

Both are terrible conditions, if I were to force my self to rate them I would go with Schizophrenia, its much more than hallucinations, paranoia, imagine if somebody would walk up to you and informed you that your mother doesn’t exist, its all a figment of your imagination. The movie “Beautiful mind” is an excellent depiction of the life of a sufferer. As Alicia says in the movie, “How do you know for sure?”. Now Imagine people walking up to you all day and informing you that your reality is not real.

This is a good question. It took me a while to be able to come up with an answer. I think it would depend on the situation. I have a niece who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was only 10 years old(onset in usually in the late teens) and she is also developmentally slow, her IQ is only a few points above retardation. She is now 31 and life has been hell for her. She has been on good medication for many years, but still has hallucinations at times. She doesn’t have much of a value of life other than just existing. Although she lives on her own, she will always need someone to take control of her life. Our biggest concerns are what will happen to her when we are all gone, who will take care of her. Many people with schizophrenia have no concept of heaven and hell so there is no afterlife to look forward to.

Terminal cancer can be excruciatingly painful and many people would rather die than go through the treatments and the pain. The suffering affects them and their families sometimes stretching the limits to where they cannot cope. Their minds are still fully functioning though. People with terminal cancer have accepted that death will come, it is harder for them to leave their family members though knowing how devastating their death will be. Even when family knows it will happen it is still difficult when the time comes.

I can really only look at this from the standpoint of a mother, sister, wife and daughter. I would rather not live my life with schizophrenia because that kind of life can be hell for the person and their family for many years. If I had terminal cancer at least I would have the opportunity to say my goodbyes and I would have the concept of an afterlife and know that upon my death I would get to spend eternity with God.

I’d rather be schizoid…cancer sucks, and it’s a lot more painful.