Jeannie Kramer - On Being Schizophrenic

Schizophrenic

On Being

by Jeannie Kramer

Copyright 2015 Jeannie Kramer

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2015

ISBN 978-1-68213-742-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-68213-743-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Abstract

Purpose of the Study:

Schizophrenia has been baffling the medical establishment and schizophrenics for a very long time. I am amazed by the number of people I meet, even in the field of psychology who believe that once a schizophrenic, always a schizophrenic.

The purpose of this study is to shed a little bit of understanding on the mystery that we call schizophrenia.

Method:

This project is an account of my experience as a chronic schizophrenic and my recovery. The last chapter is an account of theories that help me understand and explain my experience.

Conclusions:

People who are sexually molested as children have difficulty establishing psychological boundaries so that activity from deeper levels of consciousness flows into the persons attention, like dream images superimposed on ordinary experience. This is one explanation for one type of schizophrenia.

A safe environment and loving support from people who have some understanding of schizophrenia can make it possible for the schizophrenic to explore her/his inner world, create a self, and establish psychological boundaries, eventually becoming able to function in the world.

Chair: ________________

Signature

MA Program: Psychology

Sonoma State UniversityDate: ____________

Acknowledgments

With deep love and affection, I thank Lee Morgan and Leonti Thompson for believing in me when I didnt and for holding the space for me to return to the world in my own way and time.

I am also grateful to my learning communitySandi, Tiber, Margaret, Sherry, and Hafizafor assisting me in the birthing of this baby. My special thanks and acknowledgment to Art Warmoth and Mac McCreary for holding the space for our learning community.I thank my Friday afternoon friendsGuli, Bill, Lucy, Evelyn, Fran.

Mary Belle, Susan, and George for their continual encouragement, love, and the occasional kick in the pants.

Introduction

One way to approach this project is to assume the point of view of a psychologist or other professional and read it as a case study of a woman who, after an interesting and rather stressful childhood, developed schizophrenia in early adolescence, experienced schizophrenic episodes periodically for twenty-two years, and then found ways to create a self and become a relatively functional and integrated human being.

This woman has a very broad and sophisticated understanding of the issues and theories concerning schizophrenia. Though she thinks the literature is woefully inadequate, she does demonstrate a fond familiarity with the available material.

Another way to approach this project is to read it with tenderheartedness as the life story of a young woman who found creative and interesting ways to make impossible situations livable.

This is, in fact, an account of my experience as a chronic
schizophrenic.

The first part of this work is a story and is written in the style of an informal story. Here I tell of the circumstances I believe led me to develop schizophrenia, of my experience as a schizophrenic, of therapy, and the mental health system.

Dreams and hallucinations have been an important and interesting aspect of my life. In part 2, I relate some of my creams and hallucinations. When I describe my dreams, I include my personal process for working with and understanding my dreams.

In part 3, I relate some of the theories that help me explain my experience with schizophrenia to myself and others. Because it is my personal experience, I am endeavoring to explain, story weaves in and out of theory. I only write about theories that fit with my experience. I believe theory is born out of a need to understand experience. Even though I run into many theories that I disagree with, I dont necessarily think theyre wrong, only that they may be describing someone elses experience. I dont feel qualified to discuss or criticize theories that dont fit my experience, so I dont.

I like R. D. Laings approach to schizophrenia, and I think his approach is useful because he takes the attitude that the person experiencing schizophrenia may have been ill before the psychosis began, but that the psychosis itself is a healing process that begins deep inside of the individual in an effort to create a self that is whole. In his work with schizophrenics, he found schizophrenia to be a process that needs to be lived through, experienced, and completed (Laing, 1965).

John Perry takes a similar approach to working with schizophrenics. He too believes that schizophrenia is a healing process for reorganizing the self. He also found several themes common in the psychotic experiences of many of the people he worked with. Perry believes that the images and delusions experienced in schizophrenia are meaningful and important to the process of creating a self (Perry, 1974).

Both R. D. Laing and John Perry found that by providing a safe and accepting environment, with people who were respectful of the experiences of the individuals they were working with, the individuals experiencing schizophrenia would go through the psychotic process and come out the other side better able to live fulfilling lives.

Many of the psychological theories Ive come across in my experience and in my reading assume that schizophrenia is an illness, or a deviance, that needs to be treated. Some of these approaches, when used in the treatment of schizophrenia, appear to have therapeutic results with some schizophrenics and make no difference at all in the lives of many others.

Reality therapy has been used in the treatment of schizophrenics who have been hospitalized for a long time and have settled into a life of institutionalization. The results of using reality therapy in working with long-term chronic schizophrenics have been somewhat encouraging (Glasser, 1965).

In my own therapy, Ive experienced the transactional analysis approach to treatment (Bern, 1961) and the gestalt therapy approach (Perls, 1951). I think these forms of therapy are useful insofar as they provide, for the schizophrenic individual, a healthy relationship with someone who accepts him/her without judgment.

I really dont believe anyone with an attitude of superiority, or of knowing whats best for another, can have any kind of meaningful exchange with a schizophrenic. In order to understand what the psychotic individual is experiencing, and what he/she needs, it is necessary to befriend the individual as an equal, an interested, and respectful equal.

I believe that with all these methods of therapy, and many others, when the schizophrenic begins to relate to and functions successfully in the world, it is because they have concluded the psychotic process and are ready to return to ordinary experience. I think the method of treatment may well be coincidental, and that the most important and healing thing about all forms of therapy is the relationship between the therapist and the client.

The method for treating schizophrenia that is most widely used is antipsychotic medication. I believe the major tranquilizers that are used in the treatment of schizophrenia work by suppressing the psychotic process. As a result of this suppressing activity, the psychotic individual experiences his/her psychosis with less intensity and acts out less.

Though the side effects of these medications are often quite distressing, treating schizophrenia with antipsychotic drugs is useful in that the drugs make it possible for a small number of trained staff to manage the lives of a large number of psychotic individuals.