Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published June 9, 2014 Schizophrenia Bulletin doi:10.1093/schbul/sbu081
First Person Account
How Do You Know if You Are in La La Land?
Jason A. Jepson Sometimes it can be a feeling not necessarily in touch but kind of like feeling someone else’s presence. One time I thought Bill Murry (comedian, actor) helped me to write a poem. He thought of the line Chasing windmills. The man inside your head Holds his laughter While you hold your breathe At oncoming cars And pedestrians He chases windmills And belongs with Friends inside his head Streaming on the page No punctuations From the chaos of conversing Taking a lower dose of sleep meds But no vitamins In the crowd in his head He is often called upon But outside his own mind he is no one
• Do you believe someone is stealing something from you? • Are you getting messages from the TV or radio that no one else can hear? • Do you hear voices in your head no one else can hear? • Do you believe a person or persons can inject you with their thoughts or take your thoughts away? • Do you believe people are against you? • Do you see things or smell things that aren’t there? Forget thinking that you are a super hero with special powers because that is a delusion. Thinking that you are special enough to get messages from the TV is also wrong. Schizophrenia trades rational thinking with irrational thinking. It can have staring at a wall for long periods of time or pacing up and down a hallway. It can only be treated with medication, and still you senses can be jumping around. - If 1 and 5 people have a mental illness then 1 and 100 have schizophrenia. Sensory Hallucination Seeing—Just now a person who was in the same restaurant my mom and I were having breakfast in, threw my notebook on the floor. My notebook didn’t actually end up on the floor, but I faintly saw him standing up frustrated. He was frustrated because I saw him as a delusion, and not as a real vision. Smelling—You may be at a fish place and smell hamburgers. Hearing—Could hear voices that can be insulting or uplifting. Sometimes you think people are listening in to your conversation or can know your thoughts.
It isn’t the best poem, I guess that is Bill Murry’s fault. I didn’t believe it at first but then I got swept up in it. What Should You Do? Sometimes medication stops working, and sometimes it takes about 10 years to be put on the right medication. Remember the pressures in finding the right medication doesn’t fall on your shoulders. All that stuff is hard to understand so it is better to leave it to a professional. You should be compliant. I have taken pills and have gotten injections. Some have worked a little some haven’t worked at all. I am trying a new medication as I write this. Whatever happens, make sure you hang in there. Listen to your doctor, attend group or one to one therapy, and remember you are not alone unless you choose to have a pity party or something. I personally have stopped drinking because alcohol can affect your meds negatively. Sometimes you just have to play by the rules.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected]
Page 1 of 1
Downloaded from http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on November 14, 2015
Schizophrenia—It is like being in a crowd sometimes and everyone is making you turn turn turn around to listen to them but you are too busy driving the bus. Here are some question to ask yourself or a person living with schizophrenia:
First Person Account
How Do You Know if You Are in La La Land?
Jason A. Jepson Sometimes it can be a feeling not necessarily in touch but kind of like feeling someone else’s presence. One time I thought Bill Murry (comedian, actor) helped me to write a poem. He thought of the line Chasing windmills. The man inside your head Holds his laughter While you hold your breathe At oncoming cars And pedestrians He chases windmills And belongs with Friends inside his head Streaming on the page No punctuations From the chaos of conversing Taking a lower dose of sleep meds But no vitamins In the crowd in his head He is often called upon But outside his own mind he is no one
• Do you believe someone is stealing something from you? • Are you getting messages from the TV or radio that no one else can hear? • Do you hear voices in your head no one else can hear? • Do you believe a person or persons can inject you with their thoughts or take your thoughts away? • Do you believe people are against you? • Do you see things or smell things that aren’t there? Forget thinking that you are a super hero with special powers because that is a delusion. Thinking that you are special enough to get messages from the TV is also wrong. Schizophrenia trades rational thinking with irrational thinking. It can have staring at a wall for long periods of time or pacing up and down a hallway. It can only be treated with medication, and still you senses can be jumping around. - If 1 and 5 people have a mental illness then 1 and 100 have schizophrenia. Sensory Hallucination Seeing—Just now a person who was in the same restaurant my mom and I were having breakfast in, threw my notebook on the floor. My notebook didn’t actually end up on the floor, but I faintly saw him standing up frustrated. He was frustrated because I saw him as a delusion, and not as a real vision. Smelling—You may be at a fish place and smell hamburgers. Hearing—Could hear voices that can be insulting or uplifting. Sometimes you think people are listening in to your conversation or can know your thoughts.
It isn’t the best poem, I guess that is Bill Murry’s fault. I didn’t believe it at first but then I got swept up in it. What Should You Do? Sometimes medication stops working, and sometimes it takes about 10 years to be put on the right medication. Remember the pressures in finding the right medication doesn’t fall on your shoulders. All that stuff is hard to understand so it is better to leave it to a professional. You should be compliant. I have taken pills and have gotten injections. Some have worked a little some haven’t worked at all. I am trying a new medication as I write this. Whatever happens, make sure you hang in there. Listen to your doctor, attend group or one to one therapy, and remember you are not alone unless you choose to have a pity party or something. I personally have stopped drinking because alcohol can affect your meds negatively. Sometimes you just have to play by the rules.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected]
Page 1 of 1
Downloaded from http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on November 14, 2015
Schizophrenia—It is like being in a crowd sometimes and everyone is making you turn turn turn around to listen to them but you are too busy driving the bus. Here are some question to ask yourself or a person living with schizophrenia:
