Reflection 48 of 52: Can you feel what it is like to be in someone else's mind?
December 01, 2014
If
you have been following the Luka Magnotta trial (the man who killed and
dismembered Lin Jun last May) you are a witness to the challenges around
assessing and diagnosing schizophrenia. As Christie Blatchford notes in a
recent Vancouver Sun article there is a difference between schizophrenia, a
major mental illness, which is treated by anti-psychotic drugs and a
personality disorder, which is difficult to treat and not described as a
disease. Even the experts seem to have challenges figuring out which is which.
Every
week I see people on the street in our inner city neighbourhood who appear to
have some form of mental illness and I wonder what it is like in their heads.
Elaborate hand gestures and wild looking conversations with themselves are
commonplace. I watch them closely to ensure they don’t turn on me but also to
try to comprehend their world.
I
got a glimmer of that world when my brother shared a story of a golf tournament
he attended in support of the BC Schizophrenia Society. He had to wear a
headset while he golfed so he would get an insight into the schizophrenic
brain. He heard taped voices degrade his
every move. "You are nothing but scum", "You are the worst f’ing thing to walk the
earth"…that type of horrible messaging. Even hearing about it from my brother shook
me up. I cannot comprehend living with that kind of negativity. Imagine that
ranting in your head 24/7.
Then, by happenstance I was at a dinner party last week and met a doctor from
Denmark who was visiting here in Vancouver and doing a practicum in a psych
ward. I quizzed her about the subject and learned even more. She said there is
often a religious component to their thinking. They might believe they are
Jesus or God and fear that taking drugs will remove their power to heal others.
Wow, just think how that would feel. She said they are often surprised that other
people don’t hear voices.
Substance
abuse is also associated with the illness (almost 50%) and, in Denmark, they recognize
the need for these people to smoke. Their use of nicotine is much higher than
the general population. While the health professionals would rather they don't
puff for the sake of their physical health, they understand the adverse impacts
of denying them this craving.
Understanding
what it would be like to have that level of mental illness can only make us
more compassionate and, as a society, learn better ways to provide support. The
BC Schizophrenia Society has a lot of helpful information on their website.
Now
when I see people with erratic behaviour on the street or read about extreme,
disturbing cases in the news, I don't just shudder, I think what it would be
like to have those nasty voices in my head.
This
learning that came at me from so many directions, my neighbourhood, my brother
and a chance meeting has prompted us to add the BC Schizophrenia Society to our
corporate Christmas charity list.
Taking a walk in someone else’s mind may not be physically possible yet but every one of us can picture it, if we try.
Taking a walk in someone else’s mind may not be physically possible yet but every one of us can picture it, if we try.
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