I watched the youtube video that simulated the experience of a person diagnosed schizophrenia. Let me begin by saying that watching the video was an alarming yet eye-opening experience. The effect of the video, for me, was largely due to it being in a first-person perspective. At some points in the video, I found myself feeling suspenseful of what was about to happen next. From the first-person perspective, the voices that were being heard in the person’s head started to feel real to me. It disturbed me how the person had so much trouble with basic tasks of answering the phone and getting a pizza from the door. Furthermore, I found it interesting that the person with schizophrenia did not say anything to the person that came in at the end of the video. Often, the media dramatizes disorders such as schizophrenia for effect. Movies and tv shows depict people with extreme cases of schizophrenia to keep the audience engaged. This video did a good job at keeping it moderate which, for me, made it more relatable. I think its unsettling how the media protrays people with schizophrenia because it makes it seem as if these people cannot be treated. The video, however, showed the perspective of a schizophrenia patient with and without treatment and the difference was noticable. From the video, I gained a greater understanding of the challeneges schizophrenics face that most people would see as normal every-day tasks. I would encourage others to watch the video in hopes that they have a similar experience.

After watching the simulation schizophrenia video, I was shocked to see that some people undergo so much stress in their daily lives. Simple activities that I take for granted are an obstacle. Before watching the video I was honestly scared what would be shown and how I would handle it. During the video, I felt uncomfortable and uneasy, I tried to immerse myself as much as I could to really gain that feeling if I was experiencing these things in real life. I felt a sense of paranoia from the voices in the background and overall didn’t like the mental atmosphere that was portrayed.

In the media schizophrenia is portrayed as crazy and incapable of self control. I don’t that the media portrays schizophrenia correctly because these people undergo so much in their daily lives with simple activities that it’s hard for them to have touch with reality and essentially know what is real and what is not real. I don’t believe that these people are crazy in the slightest, their reality is altered and each person who has this mental problem has different ways of dealing with it, the way that they deal with it could come off as uncontrolled or crazy to someone who is uninformed about schizophrenia. Overall, I think that the media should do a better job showing the true side of people with schizophrenia because it is nothing like the way that they are showing it now.

We often see schizophrenia to be depicted in the media as horror-related. For this week, I watched a schizophrenia simulation, and it was my first time watching a schizophrenia simulation. The simulation did not really feel like a scene from a horror movie to me because it depicted a more realistic experience of a schizophrenic patient and was not made for the purpose of entertainment. For example, the voices in the person’s head were normal voices instead of deep and creepy whispers that are often portrayed in horror movies. The simulation, however, did make me feel nervous and anxious while I was watching it. I was able to know more of what it is like inside a schizophrenic person’s head, in terms of what they see and hear.

Schizophrenia is usually depicted as scary in the media. My previous exposure to schizophrenia only includes creating a short film with several friends for a humanities course in high school. From that project, I have always seen schizophrenic patients as very traumatized and lonely. This particular simulation, however, did not really show the emotions and feelings of the patient. Although the simulation and media portrayals are similar in showing the frightening aspects of schizophrenia, the simulation gave a more personal perspective, in which we can feel the anxiety of the person. Because the simulation was a video, I was not able to fully experience other aspects that a schizophrenic patient experiences, such as smells and feelings.

This week in Psychology, we were given a video to watch, which simulated what having a psychotic episode as a schizophrenic patient would be like:

Often, in the media especially, schizophrenia is depicted as someone who has no control whatsoever of their life.  In movies, schizophrenics are viewed as the abnormal ones, either being portrayed as a “crazy” person or as someone who has potential to succeed, but is too blinded by their never-ending hallucinations and daydreams.  This exaggerated view of schizophrenics, however, is far from reality.  As the video showed, people with this mental illness can absolutely live “normal”, healthy lives.  Just like with any mental illness, some days are worse than others and staying regulated on their prescribed medication will help patients with these daily struggles.  People with schizophrenia are often depicted in a way which makes people almost scared of their disorder or worried of how they will function in society.  When in fact, people will this disorder can certainly live long, healthy lives, when on the proper medication and with daily routines.  The media often exaggerates issues or things in the public eye in order to grab anyone’s attention.  This ultimately casts a negative shadow on these misunderstood and feared disorders, like schizophrenia.  Simulations, however, like the one in this video, begin to help people understand the experiences schizophrenic patients go through every day.  They have struggles, just like the rest of us and the more we can understand each other’s pain, the more we can begin to heal it.