Thursday, April 10, 2008

Living With Schizophrenia

Before I knew...

When I was younger I spent most of my time with my grandparents. I never knew there was anything wrong. But the one thing I knew was what my mom always told me. She said to me "it was hard for me growing up; my mother spent most of my childhood in a mental hospital." At the time I didn't really know why she was in there. Later on my mom started telling me different sorts of stories. She told me that she would talk to things like the wall and have conversations with herself as if someone was there. One time my mom told me that my grandma tried running away because someone in her room told her to. That she would go into all sorts of mood swings. Yelling at people and getting mad for no reason. My grandma believed in things such as witchcraft. I think she was afraid of it. She would always have statues of Jesus and crucifies around the house and light religious type candles. I never thought that those things around the house meant anything. She told me she was in that hospital because she was bi-polar and had schizophrenia.

I don't know a lot about schizophrenia. I grew up around it without even realizing it. The only thing I do know about schizophrenia is that basically someone is having all sorts of mood swings. Being all happy one moment and the next all mad and in a pissy mood. Basically changing their mood in the snap of the fingers.

People who have schizophrenia must be strong. But what I want to know is how someone with schizophrenia leads a normal life? What causes someone to have to live with it? How does it affect that person who has it, their family, friends, and anyone around them?

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