Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which brain functioning is disrupted. People suffering from Schizophrenia are often unable to decipher what they are experiencing from reality. Although the person suffering from this particular illness could be highly educated and well spoken, their symptoms can make it near impossible to understand what is happening in the world around them. Some people suffer from intense audio and visual hallucinations, while others may experience slight delusions and are able to recognize the onset. Signs that usually indicate the onset of schizophrenia are not only audio and visual hallucinations, but also include delusions, thought disorder, and an inability to convey ideas and thoughts clearly to family and friends (Spearing, Melissa). The following is a look into the mindset and delusions of Susan K. Weiner, a woman who has suffered the affects of schizophrenia.
Susan starts her first person account with stating her educational background and job at the time. She had been teaching at a high school and decided that she wanted to return to school as a graduate student and assistant at a West Coast college. She describes how she enjoyed this life and was very happy, until later that year she would experience the onset of delusions. Susan is very descriptive in her account of her delusions. They started off as nightmares for her, each getting more and more gruesomely violent until she had awoken from her sleep thinking that her unconscious had been influenced by some sort of evil dictator. She describes the nightmares in very bloody and morbid detail, explaining how she had interpreted this as a sign that this evil dictator was attempting to convert her into a serial killer. She felt that there was a g...

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... she used in a final attempt at suicide. Susan has relapsed three times since first being diagnosed. Because of all of the prescriptions and side effects Susan is now unable to live life to the fullest. She says on a good day she can clean up a little and garden but on a bad day her body aches and she gets massive headaches. Although she is now able to cope with what has happened to her, she is saddened by her inability to live out her dreams. She believes strongly in the quote from Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never give up.”

Works Cited

Weiner, S. K., (2003). First person account: Living with the delusions and effects of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 29(4), 877-879. Retrieved from http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/4/877.full.pdf

Spearing, Melissa E. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm

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