Do you know what schizophrenia is? Schizophrenia is defined as a mental disorder that affects how an individual thinks, feels and behaves. This week I had to watch a video about looking through the eyes of a person with schizophrenia and how he may perceive things in everyday life. I was shocked when I watched the video, because it was like I was looking through the eyes of a man who was living in a horror movie. The man in the video, whose eyes I was looking through, had voices that were never there constantly telling him what to do and other voices telling him to do the opposite. The man also kept thinking that he did a crime and that people were after him because of it, heard voices telling him not to trust anyone, illusions telling him he was worthless, and the food that he had in front of him was toxic and would kill him. Overall, the man kept hearing and perceiving things that were false, the house he was in was kept dark to make the situation more frightening when it was a bright and sunny day outside. At the end of the video, a woman came into the house and erased the tension that was built up during the video. She told the man that he forgot to take his medicine and to let sunlight enter the house, and once that happened the house did not seem frightening any more.
This video frightened me because I am not a fan of horror films. Though I am not an expert on individuals who have schizophrenia, this video reminded me of numerous cases that I see in fictional television shows and movies. Compared to how I typically see schizophrenia in the media, this video portrays my viewpoint on them really well. By this I mean a dark room, voices from people that are not actually there telling the man many different things, constant negative comments being directed at the man telling him he is worthless, and someone else in the film saying that the schizophrenic individual forgot to take their medicine. Yes, this video shocked me but the reason why it truly shocked me was because at the beginning of the video it said that the symptoms that I will experience in the video represents a compilation of a range fo sensory occurrences as reported by actual patients, meaning that people with schizophrenia could be living in a horror film every day.