Schizophrenia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 16, 2010 · 4:06 AM PDT

2010/09/16 · 04:06

Sometimes I see something so profound on the web that I feel I must bring it to the attention of others. The New York Times health section has what to me is a profoundly serious feature titled Patient Voices: Schizophrenia. I listened to those voices and I was profoundly moved. Listen to those voices and learn.

Many years ago I dated a woman with schizophrenia. I knew she was taking medication. I knew she had been hospitalized in a psychiatric institution. I knew she was extremely intelligent. I knew she liked me. But, I never had any knowledge of what she was dealing with. No, we did not talk about the disease. Occasionally we might talk about a session with her psychiatrist, but our relationship was a normal boy / girl relationship. We played tennis. We biked. We swam. We went to plays. We went to movies. We ate out. We necked. We went to music festivals. We skied together. But I had no idea what she dealt with.

Listening to these patient voices began to give me an appreciation. I still do not understand, but I now can appreciate what she dealt with. We hardly ever talked about voices, she was taking serious medication and had stopped hearing the voices.

Okay I know this is not a political diary. Nor is this a Kosability diary. Go listen. Gain a little bit of knowledge. That is all I ask.

Have a great day.

Poll
17 votes Show Results
Did you learn from listeing?

No

Yes

Maybe

Didn't Listen

17 votes Vote Now!
Did you learn from listeing?

No

6%

1 vote

Yes

13 votes

Maybe

6%

1 vote

Didn't Listen

2 votes

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Comments are closed on this story.