Step inside the mind of a schizophrenic
Unless you've known someone with a mental illness or have suffered with mental health problems yourself, it's hard to truly understand what that person goes through on a daily basis.
One person trying to help people understand is 18-year-old artist, Kate, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 17. Her drawings allow you to step inside her mind and see some of the frightening things she experiences as a result of her illness.
Quote:I have always been an artist, I just didn’t realize what that meant until my mental illness appeared. I despise the term ‘mentally ill’; it implies that who I am as a person is fundamentally corrupted and broken.
Unfortunately, as soon as I tell people what I struggle with, I feel like that’s all they see me as. They see the stigma perpetuated by the media, and the inaccurate stereotypes portrayed in Hollywood. That is precisely why I am so open about what I live with.
I’ve been ‘diagnosed’ with multiple labels over the years. At the age of 17 I finally was diagnosed with schizophrenia after my parents realized my mental health was getting worse
Kate draws a lot of her hallucinations as she says it helps her deal with her illness.
Quote:In my hallucinations I hear voices, sound effects, random noises, and I often see bugs, faces, and disembodied eyes
Quote:I hallucinate bugs quite often, and my depression makes me feel worthless like a fly. These bug illustrations represent my illness.
Quote:This one crawls out of the vent in my ceiling and makes clicking noises, or I’ll see it crawl out from underneath things
Quote:This is a self-portrait. I looked in the mirror and my eyes did this thing. I painted it
Quote:I have a lot of intense emotions, and hear voices telling me to light things on fire.
Quote:Here is an example of the disembodied eyes I see. They surface in a mounds or masses on my walls or floors. They warp and move.
Quote:This is Birdie, she sings to me
Quote:My self esteem is at its lowest, and I feel insignificant. I always wish I could shapeshift into a “prettier” person.
Quote:What I live with isn’t easy and it can be debilitating, but I’m not living out on the streets screaming about alien abductions. That’s not to say there aren’t people out there who are that severe – there are. However, there are also people like me who just stay at home most of the time cooped up in their room. It is a spectrum of symptoms with varying severity levels. Each person’s experience is unique.
Organization, communication, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and managing my emotions are the biggest struggles for me.
It's great that Kate has found drawing as a way to manage her illness. She's a truly talented artist. Here is some more art by people also suffering with schizophrenia.
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