I want to be a playwright
Itās a good book. Itās the true story about one womenās life and what she does with it despite having schizophrenia. I wonāt tell you any more because I donāt want to give away the whole story in case you are planning on reading it.But yes, itās a good read.
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the bohemian dreAm LOL
Of all of the literature, research included, that I have read, it is my favorite- this is because it is a story of victory.
She is still my role model, what she has done despite the illness is unbelievable.
You would be surprised at how personable she is in real life. You wouldnāt guess that she has chronic paranoid schizophrenia like I do. Sheās an example of how this illness can be defeated.
My shrink I saw as a teenager told me one thing in our last session before he retired- he knew I was schizophrenic but I was rejecting his diagnosis of psychosis NOS out of being too far gone off the deep end of the illness- he said that I write my own story.
Saks wrote her own story.
Thatās the thing about schizophrenia. Everybodyās story is different. And interesting. I mean not every book written about schizophrenia by the person who has it themselves or their family has a happy ending. In fact one of the more interesting books I read by a persons mother had the worst ending possible. Who knows or can predict if anybodies story on this forum would sell books? Some people have amazing stories whether they are a great success vocationally or if they are still suffering. But they could still be an inspiration in some way. Of course itās always nice to read success stories.
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Someone I talked to asked me about me writing a book. I figure that if I make it through a PhD program, that I should write a book, and be completely honest in it. I started on a book but itās turned into a morning journal. Perhaps I should just continue it for years and then make a book using it and my hand-written rambling from before I knew I had schizophrenia.
You make me wanna read it
Basically itās a story of someone with sz who had a lot of intellectual and social advantages with regards to fighting her illness that are/were not afforded to many others.
You totally should! I figured that you had read it, for obvious reasons!
It is hands down the best piece of literature, research articles included, on the illness- and itās because it is a story about success. It inspired me to take school seriously- now I am getting all of these honors and crap at the university- professors like me- peers are sometimes shocked at how well I did on exams and papers when we compare grades- itās ā ā ā ā ā ā ā awesome, working to my potential. I havenāt really been that adequately challenged so far, obviously I have had lots of free time, being on here, powerlifting (training 12 hours a week until this past semesterā¦) but I am in a research lab now and itās ten hours a week in addition to 13 hours of class, so coming soon, I will be challenged. Then senior year I will be conducting my own experiment, but I get course credit for that, so I will have lots of free time yet againā¦
Since I got on meds and started going to class every day, I havent made a B on my transcript, which boosted my GPA up.
It also examines comorbidity of psychological disorders and progression from being neurotic to psychotic- Saks had anorexia as a teenager, exactly like I did- however, I also had severe OCD preceding my anorexia. I was a cluster ā ā ā ā .
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Thatās sort of belittling her case, which is more severe than you would imagine. I mean she was on like way over the max dose of her medications for a good while. I am not sure how much Clozapine she takes these days, but I imagine at least the max dose. She was way off the deep end at times in her life, and she made her way back- doesnt matter if people helped her, some didnt help, in fact- some told her that she was āā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā and going to work a menial job at best.
I on the other hand am to blame for having
because my family has money, and my intelligence and memory have not been seriously damaged. My memory is a little effected (working memory is damaged) but my intelligence is certainly intact.
I just think we shouldnātā go overboard lauding someone who had a lot of advantages that made it more likely sheād do well despite the diagnosis.
I have a thing about that book - makes me not want to read it. She chose as her title a line from one of the greatest poems ever written. Is the book as great as the title?
Itās not all cut and dried firemonkey. I donāt begrudge her success. If you factor in how severe her disease was her story is simply amazing. Intellectual and social advantages, to me does not make her story any less inspiring. Yes, she had stuff going for her that not all of us had. But the world is full of people who live with advantages and disadvantages compared to other people. To me, ANY person who has schizophrenia and graduates college deserves some kudos (which sheās earned and gotten) As Mortimer will testify, the day in and day out life of going to college is difficult for even so-called ānormal peopleā. That ANYONE with a diagnosis of schizophrenia can persevere and succeed in college is what we all need to hear.
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Well for all those advantages I think she was very brave to ācome outā for all the rest of the highly functioning out there. I mean she had a lot to lose if the book and herself werenāt viewed positively. Also what about her legal work toward the involentarially committed and so forth.
Iād think a success story which advocates well-funded treatment for sz makes a better case for better funding and treatment for all people with sz.
Nor do I. That is different from not wanting to go overboard with the praise though, I think we do those with less tools, who are struggling hard to do the best they can, a disfavour by using her as a yardstick by which to measure.
Perhaps if taken as ādoing the best you can with what youāve gotā it might provide a more valuable lesson.
Sure. Someone posted a quote by her about two or three months ago.
To paraphrase: She says," I donāt want to be used me as an example of what you should be able to accomplish. I donāt say that you should do as good as me. Rather use me as example of hope".
Sorry, I couldnāt find the exact quote anywhere. But she agrees with you firemonkety.She does not say that everybody should be able to be as successful as her. Rather she says that she should be an example of hope and perseverance.
I wrote a bookā¦small salesā¦ofcourse itās not a real published book, just self published but I still like it that my book gets sold about 25 times a year.
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Thanks guys
I think my worry would be making comparisons with my own achievements, like do I really want to read about someone who runs marathons all the time, after I only did a few halfs
Iām worried Iād get jealous
Iām also competitive as a writer and playwright
Like her Iāve had a lot of advantages
yes its a good book
[quote=āmortimermouse, post:9, topic:17144ā]
progression from being neurotic to psychotic
[/quote] I have had the same thing at my early stages of my psychological disorder.
I have only been informed about my illness since 5 months, during which I became acquainted with this forum and searching for high functioning people to be in touch with and get inspired, I have been able to read surviving schizophrenia by fuller and intend on reading more, most probably this one by saksā¦