Catatonic Schizophrenic

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Interview: Catatonic Schizophrenic

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Bobbob's picture
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Ok. So I watched it. Looks like the poor guy was punished, as would be the case in the day, for possibly being gay. He seems terrified of the situation/system he finds himself in.  What are we watching  here, Skeptoid? 

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skeptoid's picture

A close family member worked in in-patient psychiatry for 35 years. I didn't get an indication of this guy's sexuality either way. I can say that based on what I know this poor guy is severely mentally ill. He presents a reality where his ability to cognitively assess his situation is beset by delusional ideation. He says he thinks he's in the hospital because of how he plays the piano and stands. Someone who was not suffering from the condition and not on medication would be giving much better answers if his goal was to present himself as sane. He irrationally alleges that if he professes that he's sane the doctors will punish him by sending him somewhere worse. This notion comes from nowhere - with schizophrenia patients develop persecution ideation and various dangerous delusions about what's happening around them without any actual external stimuli or grossly misperceived stimuli. 

 

Schizophrenia is one of those conditions that genuinely terrifies me. The level of suffering is difficult to quantify. It's really bad. Alzheimers is another - any of the degerative or brain chemistry issues that steal a persons agency and dignity bother me a lot. Who knows if this guy in the comment section is legit, but he claims that this man was his uncle and this is what he had to say:

 

This man was my uncle. I'm not going to give any names, but for those of you who are concerned with how things turned out for him, not well. There's so much to address here. First let me say that he was being treated in this video with meds. Without the medication his mood ranged from complete delusion to catatonic. As for being gay, I don't think he had much of a sex drive at all. With or without meds. As for the idea that he was put here because he was gay by some unloving family, that's ridiculous. I don't have time to say all the things my family tried just to make his existence somewhat peaceful just for his own sake. My family had a couple of openly homosexual and lesbians in it even back in the sixties and with the exception of my mother's father no one gave a shit. My uncle suffered with meds and even more without. After forty some odd years, most of which he spent in institutions, he took his own life by way of drug overdose. By the way, the comment about the plot twist, he never had a piano was funny because he didn't. His seeming obsession with piano came and went as did obsessions with religion, especially the Catholic Church and government. As far as I know he couldn't play a lick. He was very ill at his best and a living shell at his worst. I hope that answers some questions because that's all I have to say on the matter. He's been gone since the late eighties and I really hope that other members of my family don't see this video, mostly because of the comments from people that somehow think they understand him better than the people who suffered with him. One last thing, I think people thought that he was talking about sitting or standing effeminately or something. No, he was talking about sitting or standing motionless for hours. Usually not even his facial expression would change but when it did it was usually related to something in his mind only. I really can't begin to tell you all how heartbreaking the whole thing was. He did seem intelligent and with meds he did remind me of a high functioning guy with autism I once met.

 

 

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Bobbob's picture
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The patient's nephew writes: 'One last thing, I think people thought that he was talking about sitting or standing effeminately or something. No, he was talking about sitting or standing motionless for hours.'  

 

Ok, thanks for the clarification. My bad for assuming. It's a shame that in the end they were unable to help the poor guy. 

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