With the latest research concerning this horrible condition, it looks like leading experts are on the wrong path once again. Schizophrenia is not an incurable brain disease, nor is it without a cause. There are many causes and for each sufferer the cause is different. The hardest part is decoding the language and finding clues of how it developed in the first place. As a recovered Schizophrenic I can tell you Schizophrenia is a survival mechanism brought on by a major traumatic event. The condition itself is purely psychological. The damage to the nervous system is only an effect. It is known when a person experiences high levels of fear, it causes disturbances in the brain chemistry, this is where the brain theory is formed. Before the onset of Schizophrenia, there are already psychological disorders present, lets just say when other disorders are not dealt with Schizophrenia is born. Once Schizophrenia appears, the cause is then buried within the subconscious, allowing the sufferer to survive without confronting the cause. Schizophrenia develops automatically allowing the sufferer to lose touch of reality and create a world of their own. Reaching these people becomes impossible because in most cases they do not know how to be reached. Even though they are living in a hellish nightmare filled with delusions, hallucinations and thoughts of destruction, Schizophrenia in many ways is safe. The language of the Schizophrenic appears to be so baffling to the average person but if anyone was to listen more carefully at the language clues could be explored. Examples of how Schizophrenia operates:A person with Schizophrenia is so disconnected with their feelings that reaching the person becomes an exhausting task. Fear of getting to the root of the problem most often keeps a psychiatrist from reaching their patient. Without any insight into the cause, sufferers are left to struggle, not because they do not want to get better but because they do not know how. As scientists look for ways of correcting the brain it will only lead people farther from the truth in what Schizophrenia really is and how to overcome it. At the age of nine I developed this horrible condition and suffered for many years. It wasn't until I was an adult in my late twenties that I discovered the cause. Before then I lived in a world of delusions, hallucinations and a self created world of self destruction. At the time I was not aware of how sick I was, I thought people were the devil's soldiers out to get my soul. The environment around me played an important role in making Schizophrenia possible. The things I learned around me fueled my belief system, things became distorted, anything to escape the reality of certain events that played a role in the development of my condition. The onset of Schizophrenia developed automatically after I was sexually abused. In that one incident, at the age of nine my mind could not handle what had occurred so in order to survive mentally I lost my mind and normal thinking became something of the past. My new world became one of perverted thinking, voices and a great inner need to close everyone off. Trust became non-existent and nobody was ever going to get close again, the risk of being exploited again was too high. I spent many years trying to ward off evil that I imagined seeing in other's. The person who abused me was replaced with the devil stalking my mind. The traumatic event was hidden in my subconscious and laid dormant for many years. Denial became my best friend. At the time I believed that I was the only good person on earth and in order to escape the devil's followers I had to run constantly. If anyone tried to get close to me I believed in my mind it was all a trick for the devil to take my soul. Everyone around me became a pervert. As disturbing as it sounds, this is the case. It wasn't until the age of 26 that I started listening to the voices and started seeing a pattern in how my thoughts formed. All my thoughts had one key ingredient and this was sexual dysfunction. I started noticing that my world revolved around one known factor, sexual abuse. When I made the conscious choice to recover and open myself up to what had been buried subconsciously, the road to recovery became a reality. The process became extremely painful, feelings that were never dealt with began to surface in full force. I was left for days in agonizing pain, sobbing about an issue that destroyed my life for years. The one thing that helped me get through recovery was holding onto to the fact that my feelings can not hurt me and grounding myself to the here and now. Sometimes I became so enmeshed in a whirlpool of emotions I thought opening up was going to kill me. What kept me going was I wanted to rid myself of this horrible condition that controlled my life since I was a child. I wanted to live and most important I wanted to open myself up to love. Schizophrenia robs a person of any capability to feel, love and enjoy life. I had suffered enough, and it was time to let go of my Schizophrenia as a survival tool. I could stand alone, I could heal and no matter how painful it was I was going to be a survivor. It was a three year journey back from hell. There has been a drastic change in my life. I no longer hallucinate, hear voices or talk like a crazy person. I have worked through my issues and alone I might say. It has been an incredible journey of finding out who I am and as painful as it was confronting the cause, I have found myself. Where I am now is wonderful and I am thankful that I found the courage to leave that hell I once lived in. I think I have become normal, what ever that means. It feels good to walk down the street without paranoid delusions or intrusive thoughts that everyone is out to get me or the inner need to keep everyone at a distance. I can not say enough how important it is to strive towards recovery. There is hope and lots of it. Unfortunately nobody has designed a recovery book for people who wish to recover. As a sufferer you must trust your gut feelings in what you think could be the cause and work from there. I am now pursuing publication for a book I wrote called Crazy Child. It provides the full description and causes. Hopefully it will be out soon in order to help others beat this condition. I believe as soon as the myths about Schizophrenia loose their influence over psychiatrists and anyone working in the mental health fields people will be in positions to help others gain insights into the causes for each individual. Until then, people will continue to suffer needlessly, this seems so unfortunate. We must educate the public and the mental health workers in order to ensure that people are not left believing that Schizophrenia is an incurable brain disease. Tracey May Feel free to comment or ask any questions. I welcome any feedback. TraceyRMay@bc.sympatico.ca  |