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Posted on Jun 13, 2007 - 1:04am by John P. in Health & Fitness, Videos
A few years ago NPR did a story called “The Sights and Sounds of Schizophrenia” which tells about a training program created by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a pharmaceutical company that specializes in treatment for Schizophrenia.
I watched the 5 minute video just one time 5 years ago and it literally changed me. It was such a powerful and moving experience that I cannot forget it and it altered my perception of mental illness forever.
I’ve tried to tell people about it over the years, but it’s just something you have to see, so finally I searched and searched until I found it again so I could put it on the blog. The only problem is that the original was a crappy RealMedia recording. So… I had to convert it to a format that could be uploaded and embedded here so you can watch it without having to install the RealPlayer.
The textbook description of schizophrenia is a listing of symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior. But what does schizophrenia really feel like? NPR’s Joanne Silberner reports on a virtual reality experience that simulates common symptoms of the mental illness.
Silberner, who experienced the simulation, says it works this way: “For five to 10 minutes, someone wanting to know what it feels like to have untreated schizophrenia puts on goggles and headphones, and sees and hears a range of hallucinations. You can choose your virtual reality — what happens on a trip to the doctor’s office, or on a ride on a city bus.” In the program she experienced, a caseworker takes the schizophrenia patient to a grocery store with a pharmacy in the back, to refill a prescription.
To create the virtual reality project, technical director Stephen Streibig consulted a group of people with schizophrenia, including Daniel Frey, 26. Frey describes what he and Silberner experienced in the program: “When you first walk into the pharmacy, you’re walking through the aisles and there are people staring at you, just staring at you from every aisle. And there’s one instance where there is a woman sort of protecting her children from you when you walk through the aisle.
Even though schizophrenia patient Frey consulted on the project, he found the simulation too disturbing to sit all the way through. When Silberner tells him she was terrified by the experience, Frey responds, “Yeah, you ought to be… Imagine not being able to take off the goggles, the helmet.”
Here is the simulation video. Please be aware that this is disturbing. It’s going to creep you out and you won’t be able to get it out of your head, but it’s just a taste of what this disease does to people and at least YOU can stop it at any time…
If you found this as informative as I did please help spread the word by using your favorite social bookmarking site (at the top of the post – Digg, Technorati, etc.), e-mailing it to a friend or just show it to a colleague in the office. I think the more people that see this, the greater the tolerance we’ll have for those less fortunate than ourselves.
If you happen to have RealPlayer installed and would like to see the original version, which is just slightly higher quality, here it is. I do NOT recommend installing the RealPlayer just to watch this however.
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By the way, I LOVE comments! Please feel free to leave one below!
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It’s funny. This didn’t bother me one bit…Hmmmm I wonder why?
However, everyone that has seen it, is bothered by it. They find it disturbing, I guess it is all in the mind of what we can controll. Seeing things, hearing things. I guess it all comes wiht my life as is. Kinda used to it. However, this video is a good insight on what people go through with this problem.
i feel odd, this didnt affect me or creep me out or anything. I may show this to my class while doing a presentation on this illness
i am a psychiatric nurse in the uk. i so wish that we knew what caused and could control the symptoms of schizophrenia – i try and compare it to diabetes and encourage my clients/service users to consider their diagnosis like this.
i would like the press to acknowledge that there are many people with schizophrenia that are not and will never be homicidal maniacs and would never hurt anyone even in the midst of the most horrible delusional ideation.
it is not a career choice and the sooner we recognize this and begin to accept, acknowledge and support those with schizophrenia the sooner that people with this diagnosis will be able to recover some of their lives