Don't We All Have A Degree Of It? ©

Ben Bustillo – Prohibited its reproduction

I certainly do since I know of a case that creates some special forces making me talk about it. The medical definition is somewhat ambiguous and even professionals, who know well that is almost impossible to find the right definition, disagree and do not give us a concise explanation of schizophrenia. According to them, there are many types and perhaps each individual case is one of a kind; worst of all there are not known causes of its origin, but numerous hypothesis.

            I am not an erudite on the topic or have any kind of studies qualified to determine proficiency on the subject matter. However, as I mentioned in my first paragraph, I know of a case; and most importantly, I do have an opinion based on this experience and personal research.

            Mayo Clinic defines it as “ a severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally.” Merriam-Webster medical dictionary says is “a psychotic disorder characterized by a loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life…” Two powerful definitions said in big words enough to confuse the same definers of the illness.

            Observing the behavior of this young man I see his struggle to succeed as many other people; he has had several licenses, many jobs, holds up conversations and is willing to advice or offer suggestions in how to behave in certain situations to his friends and to some of his relatives. But he has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. His mother has pushed him through all type of medications and hospitalizations that whatever little of self-esteem remaining on him, is slowly disappearing. She says is out of love and concern, which is most certainly true; but I think the motivation behind is due by her lack of care when her mother was sick by not taking her to regular doctors looking for a cure with natural remedies, causing her death.

Because she feels responsible for her loss, she is looking for a balance between the actions with her mother and son pushing strong medications and regular doctors to oversee his health. However, the effects of this decision is that is causing a slowly death to her son because these medications are destroying her son’s liver and perhaps one or two more vital organs.

            I see in this man a strong mind combating the forces who push his emotions down while he is looking for words of encouragement that could help him situate in a social system he see others have. I see an internal fight by having some beers and smoking pot a very few times a week just to show his friends he has nothing and that he can function as they do. I see a man making new plans every week but no doors open the let him in. He asks himself why are these things happening and struggles to reconcile his peace of mind with the words of discouragement he hears almost every day:  “take your medication;” to him, it means, ”you are not normal, you are schizophrenic, the doctor and your mother say so.”

            What I also see is a lazy man that does not want to work; he is stubborn to the end on whatever the issue is; he contradicts your philosophy because it does not agree with his; but these two characterizations do not make him ill. He needs words that can help him move forward with one of the many ideas that flourish in his troubled mind constantly but die in the same manner as they are born. He wants to renew licenses he had before; he wants to fall in love with a beautiful woman because he is a very handsome man; he wants to live in his own place; he dislikes bothering his parents and siblings when he feels that the medication is acting strangely in his body and mind.

Are those behaviors identifiable with schizophrenia? Because if they are, his parents are schizophrenics too as every single person of the world I can name, including the president of the United States; even God, if is true he existed.

When he is hospitalized and I visit him, I talk to his doctor, counselor and nurses male and female. I see their personal aura in their work environment and I think that if they treat this young man as schizophrenic, they are more ill than he is. Could you imagine yourself studying for many years and ending up with this type of job? They dress similarly to their patients; smell like them and their eyes look as confused as of the people they see day after day diagnosed with schizophrenia. Clearly to me, this is the consequence of treating someone with a diagnosis extremely hard to prove created by the emptiness of a better definition of an illness.

This young man bathes daily, tries to look sharp as he defines it, cooperates with everyone in his pavilion, goes to group therapy and is looking forward for the day to leave the room that he hates so much promising to himself he will never come back. To his world he is ill, to him he has nothing, and to me he is just someone struggling to find his place in the unknown world called society.

PS: Next article, schizophrenia and marijuana.