I have just finished putting my ideas for chapters in the book in the order I feel most appropriate, although this is subject to change as new chapters are added, or some taken away. Anyway, here is the current order and brief descriptions of each chapter.
- Introduction
- Description(s) of schizophrenia - specific symptoms, multiple historical sources, famous psychologist/psychiatrist description, tests to determine diagnosis
- History of schizophrenia - History from around the world, United States specifically, ancient texts, the development of the psychiatric system.
- Descriptions of personal symptoms - How schizophrenia manifests in me and how it affects me.
- Account of first hospitalization - An account of the first time I was hospitalized,
- Other hospitalizations - A description of the circumstances of and experience of other hospitalizations.
- Hypochondria - Another mental illness that I have been sorely affected by.
- Managing personal relationships - How I maintain a marriage, friends, and family despite the difficulty incurred on someone with schizophrenia.
- The lost years - An account of the blur of life I experienced between the ages of 16 and 19.
- My educational journey - Describes the impact of, and journey of schooling.
- Interaction anecdotes - Describes what I have determined on the subject of relating to people based on key conversations and observations.
- Philosophical changes - Personal crisis on a philosophical level as I make my way through a confusing world.
- The evolution of delusions - How my paranoia and accompanying symptoms have changed over the years.
- I am not my brain - My struggle with an idea of a separation between me and brain, with the brain being overly controlling and unstoppable as a single entity.
- Using logic and mental discipline to quell symptoms - The systems I have developed to assist with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
- Sacrifices made to manage symptoms - The list of things I must sacrifice, including a little bit of humanity, in order to successfully manage symptoms.
- Schizophrenia as an advantage - How it is possible to use certain aspects of schizophrenia in a positive, and beneficial, way.
- Understanding mental illness (schizophrenia specifically) using computer analogies - How I see the way schizophrenia affects those afflicted using analogies to computers, specifically programs.
As I have said, these are subject to change over time as the ideas get more and more refined. If you have any specific questions about schizophrenia that would not fit into any chapter I have currently considered, I welcome such things and may be inspired to add a chapter.
Hi, I'm @Duvet, Kat I'd be very interested in Chapter xiv I am not my brain. I once asked my shrink was the brain the computer and the personality the program and bearing that in mind with my diag of Paranoid Schizophrenic which part was broke. He said he suspected both were broke as he was aware of drug abuse a long time ago that lead to the full blossoming of my illness. Another reason it interests me (this particular chapter) is I have Christian views due to be slightly superstitious and I cannot accept that I (My personality) is a gathering of electro chemical stains in a grey muscle contained in a bone dome that can function when many other parts of the body are removed. I made a rhyme which is a bit tenuous but perhaps true "Among the muscles that enforce the rule. The grey one stands pretty tall. Going back to my Christian view I like to believe I, my personality is my soul and one day somehow when my body has ceased to function I will either be released or rest. Given that the only time I am aware of existing goes back to the date of my birth I sometimes wonder how much time has already passed? How many incarnations has the Universe been through and I sometimes Tell myself God is Big The Univers is small and remind myself you can make it a bit smaller by removing the end letter "e" if you remove any letters from God you don't have anything and again I say to myself that faith in a higher plain is maybe what seperates us from the physical... trouble is I suppose scientists might say at the end of the day you are still just an electo chemical stain. I say that in the hope that anyone reading this might consider that in life you can remember things that you did when you were very young as if they happened yesterday yet no part (Teeth excluded) of you hasn't been replaced healed renewed and you are not the same gathering of physical cells/neurons electricity that you were when you remember doing the things you did when young.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting point of note is in what way does a brain either broken or working dictate how a personality feels? I have learned that schizophrenia at least the symptoms can be due to an increased supply of dopamine to the receptors in the brain which causes/renders the personality to be broke and as such personality is affected. I know I am paranoid yet other healthy people feel paranoid too! I tell the doctors what I believe has happened to me and they say that didn't happen that is impossible and they write me off as a paranoid schizophrenic. I don't have trouble with the things I claim they do!. I know I have focused on the area that interested me most but I was honestly impressed with your layout for the piece of literature you hope to produce and if you get it done I'd quite like to read it and see just how others? are affected. It sounds and looks as though you are a professional and I hope it stands up for some merit which at this stage it seems capable of achieving! Thanks for sharing this Kat!