Learning about mental illness

To the editor:

I was attending my Rural Human Services classes during the week of April 13. We were studying mental illness. We not only learned about schizophrenia by reading about it, we also saw a video by Patricia Deegan, Ph.D., and heard her story about living with schizophrenia. Each of us in class was given a tapeplayer, earphones and a tape of “Distressing” voices. We were told we would go through four stations to take tests, be evaluated and visit with one another. Then we were instructed to put on the earphones and adjust the volume and start our experience. I think we all failed miserably at one of the tests where reading a page was involved. When we visited, we tried to talk over the voices in our heads, and I even busted out laughing at one point because the voices sounded so ridiculous. How would I look doing something like that in public?

That evening we watched “A Beautiful Mind” and this time I had an understanding of what Russell Crow was dealing with, how he thought he was protecting his wife from an imaginary person and he nearly harmed her.

Mental illness is biological and may be hereditary. It has to do with brain chemistry and it distorts a sense of reality.

This training took me from a place of judgment to a bit of understanding and compassion. And for that I am very grateful.

Patricia Wade

Palmer