My Story of Schizophrenia - Free Essay Example

I actually have an aunt who lives in Mexico who suffers from Schizophrenia. I have not been able to visit her as often, but I have heard from other family member. Through phone calls from the past couple of months, Ive heard stories about how the rest of the family who lives with her deal with it. This one story I will always remember is that she was screaming in the night because she swore that she say a burglar outside the house and that the unknown man was making threats towards her. The men in the house went to go check it out and found no signs of someone outside. Even after they told her that there was not anyone out there, she kept on screaming about the man she said she saw. The rest of my family knows about her condition; and when they told me about the incident, my family said it was just all imaginary in her head, due to her Schizophrenia. This was my first exposure to someone who suffered from a mental illness. This past summer, I visited Mexico for a wedding and got to see family whom i have not seen in four years. This was the first time me seeing my aunt, knowing she was schizophrenic. She probably didnt know I knew, it wasnt a topic open for discussion. It was difficult thinking about the difficulty she must face on a day to day basis. Just imaging how her brain works different from other was really mind boggling to me at the time. However, after the section of mental disorders in this course. I can understand my aunts condition more. All i knew about schizophrenia was what I heard in media: on the news or television episodes that touch upon this issue. I never even had a science class in highschool that talked about Schizophrenia. So when learning about this disorder, it really tried to pay close attention and treat it very serious, just because how close it hits to home. From a biological standpoint, I can see how my aunt has a high risk for developing schizophrenia. I do believe she had a chaotic and troubling childhood, due to the stories my mother told me from her childhood environment. My family grew up very poor in a home that housed 14 people. As for genetic background, we do not have much information on past relatives who might have also been schizophrenic, because of an financial issue, my past relatives did not really see doctors. Most of medical attention has taken care at home. And if it was something serious, they went to a local clinic, but it was not as advance or develop as clinics here in the United States. For them, who also had low level of education, did not really believe that mental disorders were a serious issue. As for day to day symptoms, from what I remember, I can see how some of her actions might be seen as symptoms of schizophrenia; however, I am not a treat expert nor professional in the field. She does act like she is aware of her surroundings but does not fully understand whats going on around her, in full detail at least. Her social skills are a bit off as well, just the way she talks to others is different from mines. Which in understand might be a cultural things because we grew up in different parts of the world. But, even our family members in Mexico act different around others compared to her. However, to fully understand her condition, we would have to have her see a medical professional to be able to help her and comprehend as well.