For this impression I picked the first one. In films and movies which regard the topic of mental illnesses they are either glorified and romanticized or seen as an abolishment and or a sin. After watching the video it demonstrated different sensory and understanding which other people with schizophrenia face. Before watching the video it had a sensory and I thought there was a possibility of something startling me as someone with schizophrenia might face. The beginning of the video was fairly normal but as it progresses it demonstrated different voices in their head and possible fear. After the fear, more panic sets in and it continues. Most of the fear which people struggle with are self doubt which control their thoughts. It is as though everything is against them which they hear in their head. After watching the video it showed the individual with schizophrenia before they took their medications and it was as though everything was attacking them. This video didn’t change the idea of what I thought people with schizophrenia were. In the media, it is mostly similar to this since most of the media views people who have schizophrenia without medication, similarly to this video. Based off of what happened in the video, without the medication it could possibly escalate to what is shown in the media. The difference was how livable it is. The video didn’t show the impacts of it with medication but most media outlets show it as debilitating. Lastly, I didn’t realize how much self doubt and presence of depression/ thoughts linked to depression were in schizophrenia. The majority of the internal voices which were in the film were self-doubt and internal hatred. The main feeling, I felt the person expressed was worthlessness or the fear of being worthless. I originally thought something would pop out and startle me but what the person was doing was normal daily activities and having internal fear and thoughts of self doubt.
Chapter 14 impression post
Published
Loretta Gabrielle 
I watched the video too, and I know what you mean. The media makes schizophrenia seem like its just one visual hallucination after the other. I was always waiting for the “jump scene”, but it never came. Visual hallucinations like that are very uncommon compared to the auditory hallucinations that schizophrenics experience. The video is limited because it only simulates sensory experience. What can be just as terrifying are delusions and negative symptoms, which are much harder to detect. These negative symptoms are what makes daily life debilitating to people with schizophrenia. Catatonia, flat affect, and avolition are all symptoms that would make it very difficult to be able to, or even want to, go about daily life. So although the video simulation did not seem that intense and people with schizophrenia are capable to going about their lives as normal with treatment, this disorder should not in any case be taken as less than what it is.
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I chose this prompt for the assignment too, so I was also able to watch the video and understand the different references you make to it. The thoughts of self doubt and voices in the person’s head seem to contribute more to positive symptoms of schizophrenia. There is an added presence of inappropriate behaviors, including disordered thinking as the individual switches from one irrational fear to the next after watching the news and then interacting with the pizza delivery man. This person also experiences the positive symptoms of hallucinations and delusions, as she constantly believes people are out to get her when in reality they are acting completely normal. She is under the illusion that the news reporter knows something she has done, or that the pizza the man delivers to her is poisoned. This person definitely seemed to be experiencing feelings of worthlessness, with the repeated self put downs, which may contribute to the negative symptom of avolition. Avolition occurs when a schizophrenic person loses motivation and a will to live, and these constant insults and doubts about herself would likely lead to the development of this symptom where she no longer feels any worth for herself. As you mention, I would hope that medications are able to help schizophrenic people cope with both the positive and negative symptoms of their disorder because it seems like a difficult life to live each day without any help.
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You did a really good job on your post! I too chose the prompt where we had to watch the schizophrenia simulation. From what we learned in class about this psychotic disorder, the video seemed to be a pretty accurate representation of what it is like inside the head of someone with a schizophrenia diagnosis. A psychotic disorder is characterized by one losing touch with what is what real and what is not. These disorders have both positive symptoms, something being added to the situation, as well as negative symptoms, something being taken away. Some positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking and speech. The simulation demonstrated some of these symptoms pretty well. The negative symptoms include catatonia, which is the loss of movement, blunted affect, meaning loss of emotion, and avolition, which is the loss of motivation. These symptoms are very well-known for schizophrenia, but there are other kinds of disorders where people are also dealing with these symptoms. One kind of disorder is delusional disorder, which is when people have delusions, but they aren’t as unrealistic and severe as the ones schizophrenics suffer. There is another psychotic disorder called schizoaffective disorder, which is essentially schizophrenia diagnosis along with a mood disorder diagnosis.
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