What is Schizophrenia?

The main focus of my film opening will revolve around Schizophrenia as a disorder and how an individual deals with their symptoms. In order to be able to portray this condition, I decided to conduct some research on the proper ways in which to do so.

One of which was talking to my AICE Psychology teacher about it. When I explained the premise of an artist with Schizophrenia, my teacher was thrilled since she knows we had studied extensively on this subject earlier this year and can use what she had taught us, but she was also very supportive of the idea of a positive portrayal of the disease. I asked her if there were any specific guidelines that we had to follow in terms of portraying Schizophrenia as a mental disease mainly because I know there commonly are for mental issues, such as suicide and I wanted to make sure to treat this sensitive subject with as much respect as possible. My teacher explained to me that there weren't any concrete rules on what we could or couldn't portray, but wanted to ensure we portray it in a positive and accurate light.

And so, I conducted my own research. The main symptoms of sufferers include:

• delusions
• hallucinations
• disorganized speech and thoughts
• catatonic behavior
• negative symptoms (taking away a characteristic)

What I noticed from several people who documented their struggle with schizophrenia, such as Allie Burke and Cecelia McGough is that each is that the disorder affects people differently. Not everybody with schizophrenia exhibits every one of these symptoms. I also found out that there are certain triggers for people, such as a color scheme that reminds them of a consistent hallucination or even the feeling of being stressed can trigger a schizophrenic episode. Additionally, many may have their own delusional thoughts, such as persecutory (people are always out to get them). In those with extreme cases, their speech patterns are often loosely associated and go on unrelated tangents that often get unusual with emotion (by lack of or too much).

After viewing real cases of this disorder, it really hit me just how much of an impact Schizophrenia has on people. People are terrified of the outside world, hear voices, see demons. It's terrifying, but seeing people overcome these hardships is exactly the momentous message I want to be able to represent within the main character of my film. The research I have conducted will allow me to understand and flesh out not only the mind of my character but the story line as well.

It's time to put this research to work!

Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Jl9_59tfY&t=157s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fpa1X6zT6k&t=598s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaFqw8XnpA&t=446s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbagFzcyNiM