Living with SchizophreniaTHE JACK KEATON STORY

This is a project for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of having a psychological ailment. For questions about this blog project or its content please email the teacher Chris Jocham: jocham@fultonschools.org

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to

behave normally in social situations.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

The types of schizophrenia are as follows:

Paranoid Schizophrenia

Catatonic Schizophrenia

Disorganized Schizophrenia

Residual Schizophrenia

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

TYPES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Paranoid Schizophrenia is characterized by delusions and auditory hallucinations but relatively normal intellectual functioning and expression of affect.

Catatonic Schizophrenia is characterized by disturbances of movement.

Disorganized Schizophrenia is characterized by speech and behavior that are disorganized or difficult to understand,

and flattening or inappropriate emotions.

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia is characterized by some symptoms seen in all of the above types but not enough

of any one of them to define it as another particular type of schizophrenia.

Residual-type schizophrenia is characterized by a past history of at least one episode of schizophrenia, but the person currently has no positive symptoms (delusions,

hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior.)

Some symptoms are as follows:

anger, aloofness, anxiety, and argumentativeness

Social withdrawal

Depersonalization (intense anxiety and a feeling of being unreal)

Loss of appetite

Loss of hygiene

Delusions

Hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that aren't there)

The sense of being controlled by outside forces

SYMPTOMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Although there is no one cause of schizophrenia, an overabundance of Dopamine in one’s body has been

thought to play an important role.

Genetics also are a main cause of Schizophrenia. People who have parents with Schizophrenia have a 6 percent

chance of having the disease. People with an Identical twin with Schizophrenia have a 48 percent chance of having the

disease.

CAUSE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Prenatal development has also been linked to Schizophrenia. If a baby is born during flu season or in the

winter, they have a higher risk of getting Schizophrenia.

Psychoactive drug abuse also can increase one’s chance of getting Schizophrenia.

CAUSE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA CONT.

Treatment for Schizophrenia is mostly left up to medication. Antipsychotic drugs are meant to relieve many of the symptoms

of Schizophrenia such as delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, and anxiety.

Medication often prescribed for Schizophrenia patients includes

Aripiprazole (Abilify)

Clozapine (Clozaril)

Ziprasidone (Geodon)

Resperidone ( Risperdal)

Quetiapine (Seroquel)

Olanzapine (Zyprexa)

TREATMENT

Tardive Dyskinesia-

Tardive dyskinesia is a neurological syndrome caused by the long-term use of neuroleptic drugs. Neuroleptic drugs are generally prescribed for psychiatric disorders, as well as for some gastrointestinal and neurological disorders.

Weight Gain

Heat Stroke

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF ANTIPSYCHOTICS

My name is Jack Keaton, and I have Paranoid Schizophrenia.

Sometimes I am aware I have this disease.

Other times, I am not so sure.

At this very moment I have much clarity to tell you that this disease has changed my life.

JACK KEATON

I was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia at the age of 22 while attending Penn State. All my life I have wanted to attend Penn State to study biological engineering. I did not

notice my schizophrenia. My mother arranged a meeting with a doctor because she sensed some “monster” in me.

That’s how she described it. That’s how everyone describes it. I am a monster.

EARLY AGE

I was in disbelief when I was diagnosed. I told my mother I do not have a disease, I am simply going through a strange phase. I swore it would end quickly and I would do my best to be her boy again, but nothing changed. I became more

delusional than ever. I can’t say I took the doctors word for it. Some snobby middle aged man wanting a check for

telling me what’s wrong with me doesn’t quite qualify as an authoritative source. But I look back now and question how

I couldn’t see the metamorphosis of the present Jack.

POST-DIAGNOSIS

I tried so hard to be “normal” and promise that I am the same. All my friends and family saw otherwise. I was

anxious all the time. I would speak to blank walls. I would be angry whenever I was not alone. If my family came to me I wouldn’t say a word. I would just glare at them until they were too frightened to stay. I would shout out names such as Evan and June and claim that they are my best friends. The ones who wouldn’t leave me no matter how much I’ve

changed. But everyone could see how different I have become.

WITNESSES

The prescribed me with medication. Small doses at first to assure there wouldn’t be any side effects too extreme. They

started me off with Abilify and Lithium. In a little bottle with my name on it, as if they have been there for me all my life. As if I was destined to have my mind ripped apart and

to be talking to walls. I hated my medication. I hated everything. I hated the people around me. I hated the life

I’ve been “blessed” with. But I was too numb to ever express how I feel. That’s what the drugs did to me. Made

me numb. I missed my walls to talk to.

FIX ME

I can’t go anywhere. I am afraid of causing a scene at this moment, but when I become that person, I don’t care about making a scene. I don’t care about anyone around me. I just care about the friends inside my head. The only time I can

see the light of day is when I am heavily dosed with medication and even then, I am too distant to live how I’d

like to.

SOCIAL

At the age of 31 I was diagnosed with Tardive Dyskinesia. Tardive Dyskinesia is a disorder characterized by

involuntary, repetitive body movements. It is often a side effect of Antipsychotic drugs. They gave me more drugs to relieve the effects of my new ailment. At this point I feel

just like a hospital. I am always being fixed for something. They discontinued my regular medicine and placed me on

Clozapine and Ziprasidone.

TREATMENT

Now I am almost 45. I’ve spent 20 years living in fear and living with ghosts inside my mind. I have a job. Even then I can barely make a living. After all, what company wants to

hire a psycho. It is difficult and it makes me cry when ever I think about my life and how I’ve lived it. The only optimism

I have is that tomorrow, I’ll hopefully be too insane to realize why I am sad.

THE PRESENT