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Living with Schizophrenia
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Living with Schizophrenia |
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UseTheIllusion Member
since 2006-02-06
Posts 223In a state of limbo |
The worst part of living with schizophrenia is divvying up the world between reality and the world which exists solely in your mind. Did the person next to me just ask a question, or was it a figment of my immensely overactive imagination? Should I give credence to that nagging suspicion that the person I just talked to hates me, or is the notion a delusion, a paranoid brain tic rippling through my conscious thought process? Such circumstances compel a person to change their previous habit and lifestyles to accommodate the new world they were thrust into, kicking and screaming. Unfortunately for people who are afflicted with this plague of the mind, it is not just mundane, everyday life which is subject to change, but the very being itself. Schizophrenia is nothing short of a life changing experience, as traumatic as any physically tangible abuse which the world can throw at a person. Anyone who comes out of the tunnel alive (I.E. the course of psychosis, medication, hospitalization, and perhaps even suicide attempts) comes out a stronger person mentally. But they come out a different person than they were before. Being ridiculed, torn down, worn down, kept awake for hours on end by ceaseless berating voices makes life a battle. Just as veterans of battle are often subject to post-traumatic stress disorder, so anyone who fights mental wars will be scarred. My previous point may take some explaining, for those uninitiated to the world of, or unfamiliar with, schizophrenia. Say one is under the very real (albeit irrational) impression that the mafia, CIA, DHS, INS, or FBI is coming after them to do some horrible things to them. To further the example, lets say this person believes that just outside of their window, a man with a chainsaw already revved up to go is just waiting for the chance to rip his way inside his or her home. Then let’s say this person opens the door, waiting for the man with the chainsaw to appear and chop them to shreds. Is that experience any less real than an actual situation where a man with a chainsaw is going to kill said person? I would argue, no it isn’t. Thus, their mental anguish is translated into an actual physical experience of fear, triggering the fight or flight response. Physiologically, the schizophrenics experience is as real as any tangible experience. Once achieves a measure of sanity, they must face the regular woes and difficulties of everyday life. And since their experience has transformed them mentally, they must realign themselves with society, and relearn things they may have forgotten during their period of psychosis. This is where the real problems begin. Paranoia, in my opinion, can be subdued, but never tamed wholly. Like the Id, it is kept bottled up in the subconscious before it bubbles up, or, in the case of the schizophrenic, trickles, bit by bit into the conscious mind. Thus the schizophrenic must deal with filtering their world between the phantoms of delusional paranoia and what is actually occurring, much like the process of the super-ego. This process creates tension and stress, which can cause a relapse of full blown psychosis. |
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Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
UseTheIllusion, This is a very well written piece. A former realitve of my past is a schizophrenic. She had periods of normalcy and was successful enough to work for two brain surgeons. But eventually she would be persuaded she was well enough to not reqiure treatment and the cycle would begin again. So while I was in college pursuing a psychology minor I invested some of my studies trying to understand her condition. We who do not experience the struggle have no clue. Thanks for daring to write this piece. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, |
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UseTheIllusion Member
since 2006-02-06
Posts 223In a state of limbo |
Unfortunately, schizophrenics often stop taking their meds after they feel they have "recovered". I am glad you liked this piece. Didn't take much to write it. |
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