Schizophrenia

    "From Andrea Yates to 'A Beautiful Mind', schizophrenia can bring the voice of heaven or hell, flashes of evil or genius, and blurring of reality". ~Newsweek, March 11 2002.

    The movie "A Beautiful Mind" depicts the story of  John Forbes Nash, a brilliant mathematician who was an MIT professor and later chose to study and go on to teach at Princeton University. While studying for his doctorate, he wrote a paper which 45 years later would win a Nobel prize for economics. He also sacrificed about 30 years of his life to paranoid  schizophrenia.  

    As the Andrea Yates murder trial concluded, Dr. Philip Resnick of Case Western Reserve University testified that she suffered schizophrenia and depression when she drowned her children.      

    Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain and has a biological basis.  It is not the result of outside factors such as a difficult childhood, a broken home, or bad parenting.  Some of the characteristics of the disease are hallucinations, thought disorder and delusions.  While there is no known cure, it is treatable by drug therapy.  In extreme cases, individuals may have to be hospitalized.  With proper treatment, many can lead fulfilling lives.

The following websites provide more information about Schizophrenia and how it is treated:

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Last Updated March 27, 2002
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