#schizophrenia

#schizophrenia

Each of our cells holds a set of biological instructions (our genes). The creation and growth of cells and the proteins inside of them are activated by our genetics. As we grow during pregnancy, our genetic blueprints tell our cells to separate into different types of cells that then grow into different organs, such as our brain. From the growth of our physical command centre (our brain) comes the scaffolding of how we are able to form thoughts and see the world.

Thomas White, who is serving an abolished indefinite jail term described by the United Nations as psychological torture, developed paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis in prison as he lost hope of being freed from his Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence. Last year, The Independent revealed how he had set himself on fire in his cell as this newspaper backed his family in their six-year battle for him to be transferred for inpatient mental health treatment.

I remember my first time being committed to a psychiatric hospital. I had been living homeless and delusional outside for 13 months, and felt life was exciting and free. Unaware that I was suffering, I told myself that it was okay to get caught outside in rainstorms and that looking for food in the garbage to eat every day was an acceptable part of life.

For decades, a woman named Mary suffered from consuming delusions. Long-lost professional colleagues were meddling with her life; someone was spying on her through a camera in the showerhead; her eldest daughter was conspiring against her and putting poison on her pizza.

"The size of the cheque is the most important thing. You cannot make bricks without straw. There are simply not the cash resources available for what needs to be done."