Paranoid Schizophrenia
Paranoid Schizophrenia
Megan B. Sasser
Psychology 100-WI
Dr. Gwynne Pacheco
May 5, 2010
Schizophrenia
For almost twenty years Ian Chovil (n.d.) was unaware that his behaviors and thoughts were the results from the disabling brain disorder known as schizophrenia. Although Ian was able to go to college and earn his undergraduate degree, he failed graduate school, had no friends, hardly spoke with family, was unable to hold a job for very long, and even went homeless for a time. In a frightening first-hand account of a time in the life of a schizophrenic survivor, Ian Chovil (n.d.) shares his story:
Within two years I had relapsed and was homeless on the streets of Calgary. I was sleeping in the single men 's hostel and weak from hunger. I didn 't get to eat anything at all for over a week because I had no money. I was being watched and followed by this World War Two character who demanded I get a job in construction and shape up. Tibetan Buddhists were reading my mind everywhere I went in Calgary because I had caused the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption earlier that year. They were training me to become a great Buddhist saint which required a life of abject poverty and isolation. I went for ten years more or less like that, completely alone, living five years out west and five years in Toronto, marginally employed, homeless for periods, with no friends, no lovers. At first I was going to be a Tibetan saint, then I realized I was a pawn in a secret war that would determine the fate of humanity, then I was the chosen one that the aliens would rescue from the earth before the great nuclear war. (Condensed Story section, para. 4)
During this time Ian also had substance and alcohol abuse problems which did not help with the hallucinations and delusions he was having of people following him and reading his mind. He was eventually placed in a psychiatric hospital for his alcohol abuse and it was there he began taking anti-psychotic medication. Although it took
Megan B. Sasser
Psychology 100-WI
Dr. Gwynne Pacheco
May 5, 2010
Schizophrenia
For almost twenty years Ian Chovil (n.d.) was unaware that his behaviors and thoughts were the results from the disabling brain disorder known as schizophrenia. Although Ian was able to go to college and earn his undergraduate degree, he failed graduate school, had no friends, hardly spoke with family, was unable to hold a job for very long, and even went homeless for a time. In a frightening first-hand account of a time in the life of a schizophrenic survivor, Ian Chovil (n.d.) shares his story:
Within two years I had relapsed and was homeless on the streets of Calgary. I was sleeping in the single men 's hostel and weak from hunger. I didn 't get to eat anything at all for over a week because I had no money. I was being watched and followed by this World War Two character who demanded I get a job in construction and shape up. Tibetan Buddhists were reading my mind everywhere I went in Calgary because I had caused the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption earlier that year. They were training me to become a great Buddhist saint which required a life of abject poverty and isolation. I went for ten years more or less like that, completely alone, living five years out west and five years in Toronto, marginally employed, homeless for periods, with no friends, no lovers. At first I was going to be a Tibetan saint, then I realized I was a pawn in a secret war that would determine the fate of humanity, then I was the chosen one that the aliens would rescue from the earth before the great nuclear war. (Condensed Story section, para. 4)
During this time Ian also had substance and alcohol abuse problems which did not help with the hallucinations and delusions he was having of people following him and reading his mind. He was eventually placed in a psychiatric hospital for his alcohol abuse and it was there he began taking anti-psychotic medication. Although it took
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