Schizo- what? Schizophrenia.

My morning was like the past two mornings. I woke up at 8:15 and got ready by 8:50. Then we (the four females taking the Intro to Psychology class and a friend we met) met up by the quad at 9. After that we walked all the way to the V-Dub where we act our daily breakfast. By 9:45, we were already in class - 15 minutes early. That should put a smile on our professor's face, right?

Then Dr.J started his lecture about schizophrenia. You may be thinking schizo-what? Schizophrenia. It is a mental illness that usually attacks those in their late adolescence or early adulthood. The signs and symptoms vary from one to another because there are various levels of schizophrenia. However, psychologists have narrowed the category of symptoms and signs down to five major ones: delusions, hallucinations, bizarre speech, disorganized speech, and negative symptoms.

So in the book we are reading, "The Quiet Room," the author, Lori was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It shows her life as a schizophrenic and gives the readers a glimpse into the life of a schizophrenic. She hears voices all the time that seem to take full control over her actions. Lori believes that the voices are real but it is not. People tried to throw logic at her and inform her that the voices are imaginary and that she should not listen to them. Then she started hallucinating about stuff that never happened, but according to Lori, it seems real. Finally, through clorazine, Lori is able to rehabilitate her life but never fully back to her old life.

Our professor then told us about his experiences working in a psychiatric hospital. He have met people like Lori and he told us how certain they were that they were not ill. He told us he helped a guy who believed he was Jesus Christ, reborn. That is crazy! But that made me realize the true meaning of the reason I took this class. Of course I decided upon this class because I want to know about human behavior, but I want to put my knowledge of it to good use. Maybe I might major in psychology after all and help people like Lori. Obviously I was taken aback by her life when I first started reading it, but then I tried to put myself in her shoe. How might I have reacted? Would I have listened to the voices? My views have changed.

Now, I am left with a ton of questions. I want to find out more about schizophrenia such as the biological theories and neurology to it. When and how was it first discovered? Since schizophrenic experience the illness differently, is it possible that schizophrenia can be short term? If so, then how many of our population may have it? Since there are so many questions, I should do some research. Who knows, I may become a psychiatrist one day.

Well that is all for now while Courtney, Mercedes, and I prepare to go to the "College Q&A" meeting we have scheduled for the girls on our floor. I am sure we will gain a lot of useful information from it. So long for now.