| Home | Insight into Schizophrenia, by Steve : My brother David suffered from Schizophrenia for 18 years of his life. It is a illness that is not often mentioned in the public domain and I believe this is due to a real lack of understanding of what the disease entails and why the disease occurs. People by nature in my opinion are scared of something that they don't understand. As someone very close to this illness I don't fully understand it and only if you suffer from this illness can you truly understand the horror of such an affliction. I would like to provide an insight into the illness and to do this I will be using the words of David's psychiatrist, a truly wonderful human being: | |
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A tribute to David: "How do we measure a man? Is it great wealth? It is honours and success? Is it intellectual activity? Sportsmanship? No, it is the ability to withstand distress that life throws at us and still retain humour, integrity and kindness. He should have been full of rage, self-pity and anger, but with fortitude and bravery, he carried on through years, and years, and years. After all these years; the inevitable happened. David was not depressed when he killed himself; he could not bear his illness any longer; I don't blame him, I just try to understand."
"Often it does get better, but for a third, it does not, David was aware of this and knew he was ill and that he would never achieve his full potential - things we take for granted - a house, a wife, children, a job, a driving license, even simple pleasures, a hobby or interest maintained, a happy social interaction with family or friends. All this was denied him; and he knew it!
Simple experiences like walking down Sutton High Street could unsettle him for months on end if he had seen two people having an argument or a trip to a football match where there was crowd trouble.
Imagine sand in the machinery of the brain which interferes with emotions, concentration and sense of purpose; David worried that he was the cause of so much evil in the world. He didn't want to think that way but he couldn't stop it! Whether it was the war in Iraq or other smaller events; he felt himself responsible.
David not only had a severe form of the illness, he had almost every complication of it as well. For instance, he had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; where he had to check locks, count stairs, repeat actions to prevent harm to others. He had almost every side effect of the drugs used to control his illness; some making him stiff and awkward, others restless, others fat."
