Shed-A-Light

    Schizophrenia - A Tormenting Illness

    According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the World Health Organization has
    identified schizophrenia as one of the ten most debilitating diseases affecting human
    beings.

  • Imagine hearing voices no one else hears.  

  • Imagine questioning what is real and not real as if you were in a nightmare that you couldn't
    awaken from.  

  • Imagine withdrawing from friends and family as your inner world shatters and your new reality
    destroys your sense of security and sense of self.  

  • Imagine the fear of facing an incurable disease that robs you of the hopes and dreams for your
    future.

    QUICK FACTS:

    Schizophrenia is a devastating brain disorder that affects approximately 2.2 million American
    adults, or 1.1 percent of the population age 18 and older.

    Schizophrenia interferes with a person's ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality from
    fantasy, to manage emotions, make decisions, and relate to others.

    The first signs of schizophrenia typically emerge in the teenage years or early twenties. Most
    people with schizophrenia suffer chronically or episodically throughout their lives, and are often
    stigmatized by lack of public understanding about the disease."   (From www.nami.org website

“As for me, you must know that I shouldn’t precisely have chosen madness if there had
been any choice.”

Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, in a letter to his brother, written while he was involuntarily confined in the psychiatric hospital at St. Remy.