21 million people are wrong: YouTube not the way to know what it's like to have schizophrenia

Last week my friend’s son waited in the emergency department of a Sydney hospital for four days. He is 21 and has schizophrenia. On the first night he got up and walked out. The police went to his home, broke down the door, tackled him to the ground and took him back to the ED. A security guard was installed at the end of his bed, the injuries sustained during the police scuffle left untended. He’s a mental patient after all. It’s not a physical problem. The entire scenario could be interpreted as symbolic of society’s attitude towards schizophrenia, which is a combination of fear, neglect and wonderment.The top search related to schizophrenia on YouTube is “schizophrenia simulation” – short films attempting to simulate what it’s like inside the schizophrenic mind by recreating psychosis with hallucinations, voice-hearing, delusions and disorientation. The most popular schizophrenia simulation has had more than 21 million views. People are clearly intrigued by what has been described as our most mysterious mental illness.Video simulations are inadequate when it comes to representing schizophrenia.Credit:E+But who exactly is searching out this information? Family and friends wanting to understand how it feels? People who suspect they may be suffering from…
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