It’s important that you trust your doctor and/or therapist, so that you can take part in discussions about your health and share your experiences openly. It might take time to build this trust, but that’s OK.1

With medical appointments, especially with a complex condition like schizophrenia, there’s often a lot of information to take in, and only a short time to cover it all.

Talking is the most important thing. Your doctor is only human – they can’t read your mind.

If there’s something on your mind, tell them about it. Don’t worry what they might think of you. They’re professionals.

Bear in mind that you and your family are experts in YOU. You and they know when something’s not right, when you’re getting new or changing symptoms, what you find easy to get done and what you find difficult. You, your loved ones and your medical team can work as partners in your treatment, working through different therapy types to find what works best for you in every phase.

The old-fashioned way was for the great all-knowing doctor to tell patients what to do and what medicine to take. That’s now a thing of the past. Most doctors will want to encourage you to take an active role in your treatment choices.

Before you leave the doctor’s office or therapy room, make sure that you’ve both understood what’s been said. A quick recap can help you agree that you’ve both got the same expectations of what happens next.

“So, you’ve said XYZ today. We’re going to get some blood tests done, and I need to make an appointment with the nurse at reception. After that you’ll be in touch. Is that right?”

You might find it useful to be prepared for your appointment with:

• a list of questions you want to ask
• a diary of your symptoms and how bad they’ve been
• issues you’ve had to deal with because of schizophrenia symptoms or your medications

That way, your doctor gets a full, clear picture of everything that’s going on. Also, you can get any worries or concerns out in the open instead of thinking about them too much.

Before you go home, you can ask your doctor, nurse or therapist to sum up what’s been said in the appointment. Healthcare professionals can sometimes think that they have explained something well, but actually the person they’re talking to hasn’t quite understood, or they’ve forgotten something.2 Avoid misunderstandings by getting your doctor to quickly go over the main points again.

Your doctor needs a full, clear picture of what’s going on with your health. You can help by having a list of everything and how much you take of each thing. Include all your prescribed medications, plus any supplements and herbal medications. You could keep the list in your wallet or purse so you can bring it out any time you need to.

Anyone who prescribes medication for you will need to know about all these medicines and supplements. This is because some can interfere with schizophrenia medication.3,4 Sometimes the wrong combination can cause side effects. So even if you think it’s not important, be sure to tell the prescriber everything.

Not sure you caught exactly what the doctor just said? Lost the thread of the conversation? Don’t just nod and smile - you could be missing out on a vital piece of information. You can always ask your doctor or nurse to:

• Repeat something more slowly
• Write down new medical terms or medication names
• Explain things in a different way
• Clarify what they mean so you can be sure you know what they’re talking about

Some of your appointments and therapy sessions will be 1-on-1 with just you and a healthcare professional. However, sometimes you are allowed to bring someone with you. If it’s allowed and appropriate, it can be really useful to bring a friend or family member to medical appointments. They can help in two ways:

• They can bring up subjects you feel uncomfortable about, ask questions and speak up for you if you aren’t good at talking about yourself
• They can help you remember details of the appointment and go through them with you afterwards

You need to tell your doctor, nurse or therapist exactly what’s going on with you. This is so they can get a realistic picture of your health.

If you haven’t been taking your medications properly, tell them – otherwise they might think the medication isn’t working when actually there is a different problem. Maybe you can never remember to take tablets at the right time, or you find they make you feel sick so you try to avoid them.

Getting some advice about how to manage any issues like side effects is better than pretending everything is fine, going home feeling no better, and knowing things won’t change.

It’s estimated that a lot of medical information given by doctors and nurses is forgotten immediately. Researchers also found that about HALF the information that is remembered is wrong.2

There are lots of reasons for this. It’s partly that doctors tend to speak in a language that isn’t part of our daily lives with terms like “neurological pathways” and “dopamine agonists”.

It could also be that being in a medical place like a clinic can be a bit stressful in itself, which makes it harder to remember new information.

Whatever the reason, it’s a really good idea to make notes when you’re in your appointment. You could also try a recording device, maybe on your phone, to get a record of exactly what was said so you can reassure yourself later if you get confused.