Living with Schizophrenia is a 39-minute video
explaining what it is like to have schizophrenia and how people cope with
it.  Several people with the illness
discuss their own experience, and an expert, Dr. Andy Campbell, also gives his
own perspective.  The people talk calmly
and with plenty of assurance, having plenty of their own experience to draw on.  The aim is to provide useful information to
people suffering from schizophrenia and their families, and the video is
impressive in managing to cover many issues concisely, while retaining depth
and balance.  The video was made in
Australia, but the interviewees do not go into detail about medications or
treatment options, and so what they say will apply equally to the USA.  It’s especially moving to hear people with
schizophrenia talk lovingly with their relatives, and to see examples of how it
is possible to live with the disease and still have a good life. 

Note
that this item is not currently available through Amazon.com.  It
is available directly from the publisher, Guilford Press.

© 2003 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Christian
Perring, Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College,
Long Island, and editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main
research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: MentalHealth, General, Memoirs