Ch.14 1st Impression Post: Mental Illness

--Original published at Rickster's Psychology Blog

This video really opened my eyes to Schizophrenia. I was never very sure what exactly what Schizophrenia was. I always pictured the voices in the victim’s heads be more like whispers and sound like the victim’s actual voice. I never really thought of the voices being loud, emotional tones, or convincing enough to the point where the victim let the voices control their behavior. I thought the voices for the victims were more annoying than convincing and the victim would surrender to the voices’ demands so they would stop speaking.

I didn’t think the hallucinations were so subtle to the point where they were realistic like when the pizza box said “poizon” instead of pizza. I thought video portrayed the voices of the victim to be parents or significant role models of the victim.

I always thought of traditional superhero villains when I thought of Schizophrenia. The Joker from Batman movies and cartoons comes to mind first. Then a video game character from Call of Duty, Alex Mason, also strikes my memory.

I always thought the Joker had schizophrenia because of his complex and dark personality. He always had schemes where’d he plan them to where they were organized, dark, and dramatic. I think one of the main pieces of the Joker’s persona which made me think he was Schizophrenic was his scary clown theme. Another reason why I thought he was Schizophrenic was because when he had the opportunity to kill Batman, he wouldn’t do it. The movies made this very apparent to the point where there wasn’t a doubt Batman survived just so they could keep making movies. I think the Joker like committing crimes and causing tyranny but he wouldn’t enjoy it as much if Batman was dead. It looked like the Joker enjoyed causing chaos like a sport and he enjoyed the challenging competition which Batman provided. The Joker’s thinking process was so unnatural which is why I believe he is a pop culture symbol for Schizophrenia.

The video wouldn’t any help to categorizing the Joker as a Schizophrenic. However, the list of symptoms defines the Joker as a victim of Schizophrenia. We know from the The Dark Knight, the Joker’s father suffered from it because his solution to making a sad young son happy was to carve the his face so the marks resembled a permanent smile. This means Schizophrenia was in the Joker’s genes. Then the dark thoughts and agitated body movement the Joker had in the movies confirmed he was a Schizophrenic.

The second portrayal of Schizophrenia I know comes from a video game character. Alex Mason from the Call of Duty had a different way the Schizophrenia manifested itself. He was on a mission to kill Castro but only ended assassinating Castro’s body double. He was captured by the Russians. One of the Russian generals brainwashed him. The general implanted numbers into Mason’s head. The Russians planned to Mason release back to the United States. When Mason got back to the US, he would use the numbers he was brainwashed with to activate Russian sleeper agents. The sleeper agents would then release a toxic and deadly gas called Nova 6. Even after the Russians’ plans were stopped, Mason continued to see and hear the numbers. They would still instruct him to do certain things.

Due to the voices in Mason’s head instructing to conduct certain actions and the hallucinations of numbers is why Alex Mason another pop culture symbol of Schizophrenia. Mason fits the video’s description of Schizophrenia very well because both characters had voices in their heads and hallucinations.

This assignment was definitely an eye opener to what Schizophrenia really is. I had no idea hallucinations could be so subtle before watching the video. I feel like I’ll have an easier time putting myself in Schizophrenic’s shoes if a situation occurs where I have to interact with a victim after completing this assignment.

First Impression Post; Mental Illness

--Original published at olivyahvanek

From watching this video, I learned a lot more about the symptoms and reactions that people who have schizophrenia have. Before watching this video I never really realized that that is how they react and that is what is constantly going through their head. I think that people living with this mental illness are portrayed differently in the media, than how they really react in real life. Although actually experiencing these side effects and symptoms is much different in real life, than they are in this video, it still strongly affected me while I was watching it because the video actually showed how hard living with this mental illness really is for people. It showed me how hard it must be to suffer from one of these mentally illnesses because I had a hard time from just watching a video about it. In the media people usually portray schizophrenia as a mental illness that actually makes people go crazy and act insane all the time, rather than actually showing what is going on inside their heads. I think that the media shows this mental illness to be much worse and harder for people to live with than it actually is in real life because they make people with schizophrenia in the media way more crazy and uncontrollable, where as people in real life that have it are not nearly as uncontrollable as they are making them seem. Doing this simulation showed me what people that have to live with schizophrenia go through every single day and it makes me realize what kind of things they have to go through just to live a normal life. Doing this simulation really opened my eyes to mental illnesses and actually showed me what they are like in real life, rather than learning false information from the media.

The Misunderstood Condition of Schizophrenia

--Original published at Sherika's Psych Blog

Schizophrenia is often ones of psychologies most misunderstood psychoses. Often times in the media, the condition is treated as not as the life altering psychosis that it is but instead a condition that is romanticized in nature along with mental health and illness in general. In the YouTube video titled, “Types of Schizophrenia- A day in the life of (Scary),” the video walks the viewer through the life of someone living with the condition. Allowing the viewer to experience audio-sensory stimulation that someone living with either undiagnosed or diagnosed condition of Schizophrenia might live through.

The video starts of light-hearted enough with the viewer going about their daily morning routine, getting prepared, dressed, and even enjoying a morning cup of coffee. However, the video soon takes a differing turn as the viewer begins to hear disembodied voices and even believes that the phone rings. The voices soon begin to fill the viewer with doubt, arguing that people are conspiring against them, attempting to poison them, and even convince the viewer to not take medicine that is prescribed to them. All while filling the viewer with doubt and negative thoughts about themselves.

The viewer then hallucinates that weather people on the television is talking to them or that someone harmless like a pizza delivery person is out to get them. Overall the experience itself felt stressful, like I myself was constantly at war with my own thoughts and felt paranoid all the time. Like what if the delivery person who is still standing outside my home and notices me looking through the window really wishes harm against me?

Overall, the entire experience was nothing like what the media romanticizes Schizophrenia to be and the only shows I’ve ever seen get it right or weekday detective dramas that have officers on a local and federal level who interact with suspects or witnesses that have Schizophrenia. The media still, however, has a long way to go when it comes to the portrayal of conditions like Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses and mental health in general.

Chapter 14 First Impression

--Original published at JVershinski's Blog

I thought this simulation was very cool to be a part of. It was interesting to be taken through a day in the life of a schizophrenic, and it helped to show the things that are not normally depicted by the media. Without much knowledge or background with schizophrenia, this video really helped to show someone what a schizophrenic could experience in a typical day. I think that the voices heard played a key role in how I personally felt in the simulation, and the continuous conflict did not make focusing easy. The hallucinations were quite interesting to see and would not settle well with me if I was experiencing them.

In the media, schizophrenics are typically depicted as very insane or crazy. They are shown as people with no control of themselves or the actions they take, and are spoken of as if they are an alien. They are treated as someone completely different and isolated from the real world. This is not how it should be. While schizophrenics do experience things that a “normal” person wouldn’t, this does not make them insane or crazy. Yes, the hallucinations they experience and the voices they hear are typically associated with the mentally insane, but the life we followed in the video does not seem insane. It was certainly different, and the person acted differently than a “normal” person would have, but I think that the media takes things too far with people who have mental conditions, and pushes the boundaries with how they show them.

Chapter 14 First Impression Post

--Original published at Courtney's College Blog

For this assignment, I watched the video stimulating the life of someone with schizophrenia. The person had shaky vision and heightened senses. The sound of the water droplets in the sink, car beeping, and outside noises were prominent. There were many negative voices in the person’s head that sometimes were fighting with each other, and other times telling the person that he is “stupid,” along with other negative adjectives. He did not take his medication. There was a news story about a robbery on the television. The man kept thinking, “they know,” which leads me to believe the man did it. The people on the television were directly talking to him. When the pizza came, the man was hesitant to open the door, and made the interaction as quickly as possible. He believed that the pizza man was a part of a group plotting against him, and that the pizza was poisonous. He heard pounding on the door, and thought someone was breaking in. It was actually a woman who lived with him, and it was unclear whether she was a wife, mother, or another figure. She noticed that he did not take his medicine and told him to take it. She told him that he should go outside, which was percieved as offensive to the man.

The stimulation is similar to how schizophrenia is seen in the media, although schizophrenia cannot be classified as whole because every person shows it differently. People with schizophrenia are commonly known to not take their medicine. They are withdrawn, which is shown because the man stayed in his house all day with no desire to leave. I was also not surprised by the man’s heightened senses. People with schizophrenia sometimes are criminals, as seen in the news broadcast. Also, I expected the man to have trouble making decisions. I wish the video showed the man talking. Schizophrenia in the media is shown by abnormal speech and sentences that do not make sense, so I wonder how the video would have portrayed that. The video was intriguing, and I am looking forward to learning more about mental illness in this chapter.

First Impression: Mental Illnesses

--Original published at Jessica K's College Blog

One of the many mental illnesses people are aware of are typically mood disorders like anxiety, insanity, schizophrenia, and many more. Although mental illnesses have been studied more extensively, many individuals don’t understand the impact it has on a person’s life on a daily basis.

For example, schizophrenia is one of the more well-known mental illnesses, but also one of the more dramaticized in modern movies and novels. Many depictions of the illness describe schizophrenia as inflicting the individual with violent delusions and sounds, inhibiting the person’s life as well as acting violently around others.

However, based on scientific research and real-life accounts, people who suffer from schizophrenia is far less than violent, only experiences hallucinations and auditory delusions to protect themselves from potential threats.

In a video produced by the Janssen Pharmacutical Company, a person suffering from schizophrenia typically keep themselves inside their house, avoiding food and water for the potential threat of poison, as well as experiencing auditory disturbances to amplify their anxiety and fears of being critiziced. In a real-life situation, schizophrenia is rarely violent to others, and movies only assume that the mental illness is related to grand and violent episodes.

For people with mental illnesses, their minds mainly amplify or deter their understanding of the world, sometimes leaving them to not properly cope to daily life. For the rest of the world, people need to understand the impact it may have on an individual and not assume that such an illness is larger than life than what the movies show them.

For more information on the daily life of shizophrenia, watch the available video on your own discretion.

Chapter 14 First Impression Post – Mental Illness

--Original published at Kaity Takes on Psychology

Mental illness is a very serious issue, particularly in America, where nearly half of the population endures some form of it. I decided to watch the video highlighting various hallucinations and delusions often seen in schizophrenic patients. Initially, the video was relatively peaceful and calm, with just about everything going right. Then, the delusions started to occur and the schizophrenic patient began to hear voices urging them not to do things like drink their coffee, take their medication, and opening doors.

I have never met anyone diagnosed with schizophrenia, but my sister’s mother in law has it, and I have heard stories of her psychotic episodes. I think it is interesting how little we see about schizophrenia in the media, especially because it is a very real illness. American culture tends to omit discussion about the more serious mental illnesses, and instead chooses to present certain illnesses in a romanticized way, as if depression or anxiety is some glamorous gift. I recall watching part of A Beautiful Mind in high school psychology, and it showed a few scary aspects of schizophrenia, but otherwise focused on the positive aspects such as the protagonists’ brilliance, which is associated with delusions of grandeur.

Schizophrenia seems to be something often pushed under the rug until it has some pertinence in mainstream media. Psychological thriller movies love to scare the audience by creating characters diagnosed with schizophrenia, but they often misrepresent the mental illness. Symptoms of schizophrenia range greatly from person-to-person, and most people with this illness do not have the same symptoms. The best way for our culture to gain a better understanding of schizophrenia is to push it to the forefront of society, and not only raise awareness, but increase acceptance. A simple Google search can inform anyone interested in learning about schizophrenia that the best way to help those in need is to be supportive and patient.

Schizophrenia: option 1

--Original published at Bogo's Blog

Watching this video, my first impression was, “this isn’t so bad.” As the video kept going I found my opinion changing drastically. The voices in his head were very terrible and negative, giving him negative feedback for everything that took place in the video. On certain things that we’d consider mundane, the voices would make them very difficult and tough to accomplish. One thing I did notice when I was watching the video was that everything changed when the wife, presumably, walks in. Her calm demeaner made the man calm down and it caused the voices to dissipate. Of the movies listed, I’ve only seen Donnie Darko as of now and comparing that to the simulation I’d say that media does not really cover the symptoms of schizophrenia very accurately. I don’t think it’s right for movies to exaggerate or understate the severity of mental illnesses because that puts the wrong impression in the minds of young children, who will then grow up believing this and forming incorrect stereotypes. The media has a lot of power lately and I think they should take responsibility for this power especially when they are addressing something as serious as schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia- Option 1

--Original published at WilliamsCollegeBlog

Before watching this video, I was not sure what to expect. I am not very aware of what Schizophrenia is and how it may affect people who have it. From what I do know however, is that people with this mental illness are not always in the right mindset and they are not able to see the world in the same light as someone else might. After watching this video of the simulation, I was somewhat scared but also surprised to see what a person with this illness goes through. There were different voices inside the person’s head, and they had different tones. This can make for a person to be very confused in how they should act to a stimulus or just how to function for an everyday occurrence. One scary thought I had was when the person was hallucinating, and the TV was saying something completely different. It just goes to show how little parts of life can be dramatically changed when someone has a mental illness such as Schizophrenia.

The way the media portrays Schizophrenia, in my opinion, is very inaccurate to how they really are. For one thing, the only way someone might discover what an illness really is, is through movies and all movies are meant to over-emphasize the little things, which is does not depict each event correctly. This just goes to show the power of the media and what they are able to do to capture the audience. Now while the media might go too far into a subject, other mental illnesses might not be covered enough or just glanced over to please the audience. This is not a good idea because then people’s judgments are once again skewed into thinking one way. This goes back to the idea that stereotypes can be formed by how the media talks about mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia.

Mental Illness

--Original published at Allison's Psych Blog

I actually have seen this video before, in an AP Psychology class I took in high school. I find it really interesting that they were able to put together that video to depict how people with schizophrenia live. I think it is so eye opening because in the media, you see people with this illness depicted as completely insane, talking to themselves and going crazy, but in this video, it shows that the person is able to completely function and act normal even though he’s having thoughts and voices in his head constantly. When you think of something like this, you don’t think about how the voices they are hearing really affect how they do everyday things and how they have to live their lives with that constantly happening. We only see them as someone different than us, someone who is plain crazy. But people with this illness are able to live their everyday lives with the help of loved ones as if nothing is wrong with them. Of course this depends on the severeness of it all, but this video showed just that. The whole idea of schizophrenia is so interesting to me, and I loved being able to experience it to see how these people live their lives.