It is really unfortunate that the society we live in is not acceptable of the people who are specially gifted. It is really difficult to survive in this world if you have one of those dreadful diseases like Schizophrenia or Multi-Personality Disorder. This is really unfortunate considering the fact that these disorders are less because of Genes and more because of the unwanted circumstances a person might have had to face.
Schizophrenia is a social disorder rather than something that can be cured by drugs and we as a society does not make it easy for people suffering from it. Tanya Marie Luhrmann in her essay describes the change in the way scientists look at the Schizophrenia as “In the 1990s, scientists declared that schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses were pure brain disorders that would eventually yield to drugs. Now they are recognizing that social factors are among the causes, and must be part of the cure.”
So how exactly does a person get Schizophrenia? There may be a wide range of things at works here starting with:
1: Genetics
2: Pre-Pregnancy Factors
3: Pregnancy Stress
4: Social and Family Stress
5: Environmental Stress
Out of these only through Genetics and maybe a child’s birth from a particular parent can be counted as something, which the society can do nothing about and that’s also debatable. The rest are social factors, which need to be dealt with at a larger level.
So what made Psychiatrists and Doctors change their view about Schizophrenia being a Genetic Disorder to a Social Disorder. It started with the discovery of the new molecule called clozapine, which was seen as an advent of pharmacological interventions in such conditions. Clozapine had serious side-effects though which have been show here on the National heath services, UK. The death rates suddenly when through the roof because though the drug dealt with hallucinations the side effects were so severe that it led to a large number of deaths. This is really serious considering all of them were biological side effects rather than psychological side effects and therefore the deaths were not because of suicide. This clearly shows the faulty science at work here in treating with this disorder.
It was further believed that Schizophrenia was a social disease because of the outcomes of the patients being treated in socially more functional places like India. Amy Sousa who spent more than an year in northern India studying the patients suffering from Schizophrenia and their faster development compared to Western patients further undermines the idea that the best way to deal with Schizophrenia is a social disorder and a person has a higher chance of getting better without medication than with medication.
It is really upsetting how people just carelessly use the word crazy when describing people with schizophrenia. I actually remember listening to the radio when they said Amanda Bynes had schizophrenia and the dj then said “so it’s official she’s crazy”. I don’t get offended by much but that did offend me. One of my uncles suffers from schizophrenia which I recently found out. Also, my one friend just recently was diagnosed with it. I know his formed from a very stressful situation. But I know with both of them they have a paranoid form of it where they hear voices. I couldn’t imagine having to live and decipher if what you’re hearing is actually being said or just in your head. All of this personal perspective on the issue makes it hit close to home when I hear people speak about people with these disorders derogatively
Yes it is actually really sad. As i mentioned in the blog the idea that Schizophrenia just comes from Genes has changed. There used to be a thing in the 70’s where Schizophrenia and other such mental disorder were blamed on bad mothering. But since then the response to different treatments by patients in different ways and the more improvement shown in patients whose Schizophrenia has been dealt in a psychological way then a pharmacological shows how we are generalizing with things. This article by Tanya Marie Luhrmann and her experience in studying the case of such patients is really helpful. http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/beyond-brain
I particularly agree with the first point you made in your blog. It is unfair that people who have to suffer from a disease like this are made to be outcasts. Like you said they are gifted, and cannot control this. I would like to do more research on exactly how schizophrenia comes to be. From a personal standpoint, I know that my eyes turn when I see someone like that. I feel wrong for doing this, although sometimes I cannot help it. I really hope this eventually changes, here is another article on schizophrenia:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/36942.php