“Know thy enemy” Has anybody ever experience madness through the eyes of the suffer and never felt fear, just the will inside you which says “hold on”. The key to healing is behind those wild frighting or frightened eyes.
Hi Lea,
I’m not sure what you’re saying. Are you saying that you really try to empathize with a family member who has schizophrenia?
someone who is diagnosed with schizophrenia can loose ground fast and sometimes has Blank look on their face and that can be scary. I saw that in my Son after be become non-complaint on medicine. usually it takes 3 to 4 months after stopping medicine to have the blank look. of course, if someone does not take medicine, the blank look shows at times.
No. Far beyond that. The person in question is currently my partner. Four years ago, I literally fell over heels, one Sunday morning on a walk around Granada (Spain) enjoying the peace and calm and the excuse of buying some bread.
He was with a Russian I know who live on the streets. Malnourished, dirty, no shoes and only a plastic bag with with what the Police had given him upon his release the day before. spread out over the pavement (sidewalk).
Instantly I knew that that he was in deep trouble. Originally from’ Bruxelles’, -Bruselas, and seriously mentally disturbed. In all my years of travelling all over the world, I had never seen a Human Being fall so low.
Maybe, I should have just just walked away. Just like everybody else. No, I stayed and I observed. two weeks later, I decided that this was a Life worth saving. Against all the odds. So, began my first hand experience of what it is like to be homeless and defenceless in a country where you hardly speak the language. The vicious circle of the co-morbility of Paranoid Schizophrenia, drug abuse. 20 years of Psychiatric hospitals, High Security Prisons and life on the street. Family rejection. Social stigmas. The man might have well been sentenced to Death.
In French a person who lives on the street is called an “SDF- Sans Domicile Fix” No fixed address. Well, I infiltrated that infra world. Some people chose it, other find themselves trapped in it. Starvation is not the problem. The weather you get used to, material belonging come and go through theft and Charity. You eventually ajust to being constantly being pushed around the Police, junkies and the Fatigue of basic survival. Loneliness is what kills you. Drives you to drink. It can happen to anybody. Regardless of social status, race, age.
in summary: there is a huge difference between “Empathy” from a distance and getting down on your hands and knees next to seriously mentally ill person and living every moment night and day for a month at his side. Observing and learning! “an once of practice is worth a ton of theory.” Some people are natural healers and have a gift. I just happen to be one.
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