Snook - Disturbing Disorders Explained: Schizophrenia

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

The human mind holds mysteries that are as fascinating as they are frightening. Schizophrenia is one of the most complex and misunderstood disorders, blurring the lines between reality and hallucination. From disturbing personal accounts to the unsettling ways this condition can twist perception, today I'm exploring the dark and disturbing aspects of schizophrenia like never before. This video dives deep into the symptoms, real life horror stories, an interview with a person who lives with this disorder, and the often terrifying experiences faced by those living with this disorder. I am considering turning this into a series, so please comment other disorders I should deep dive into. Also, to support videos like this, please like and subscribe, it helps more than you know. Viewer discretion is advised, some content may be disturbing. Stay safe, and thank you for watching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some disorders don't terrify right away. Not because they're harmless, but because they don't make sense. You hear a voice whisper your name, but no one's there. You feel like strangers are watching you, following you, reading your thoughts. Even the people you trust are to feel like actors in a carefully written lie. This isn't a horror movie. This is schizophrenia. One of the most disturbing and misunderstood mental illnesses in the world.

In today's video, we'll get into what it really is. what it isn't, and how it warps reality in ways most people can't even imagine. You'll hear from people who live with it. You'll hear stories that blur the line between psychosis and something even darker. And by the end, you might never look at the human mind the same way again. If you like videos like this, like and subscribe. It helps more than you know. Let's begin.

What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is one of the most misunderstood mental disorders on the planet. And that misunderstanding is part of what makes it. so disturbing. According to the DSM-5, schizophrenia is defined by a mix of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, abnormal mode of behavior, and negative symptoms, things like emotional flatness, lack of motivation, or social withdrawal. To be diagnosed, at least two of these symptoms must be present for at least one month, with some signs lasting six months or longer. But this isn't just about seeing things that aren't there. It's about losing your ability to tell

what is there in the first place. It's not split personality. That's a completely different condition. Schizophrenia doesn't mean someone turns into another person. It means reality itself becomes fragmented, distorted, and unreliable. It usually begins in the late teens to early 30s, those signs can appear earlier. Men often show symptoms slightly younger than women, roughly one in a hundred people will be affected at some point in their lives. That's millions of people worldwide. And for many, it doesn't. doesn't start with a dramatic break. It begins with subtle shifts, paranoia, confusion, and a creeping sense that something is off until one day it all snaps. This is schizophrenia,

and for those living with it, the nightmare is real. Now what are the symptoms? I briefly just went over them, but now let's get into a deep dive of what people experience when they have schizophrenia. The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into three main categories. positive, negative, and cognitive, and some of them are far stranger than you'd expect. The positive symptoms. These are the symptoms that add something to the mind, things that aren't supposed to be there, but are. The most well-known, hallucinations, voices whispering, yelling, laughing, and commenting on your every move. These voices can be

friendly, confusing, or downright malicious. Some people see figures in the corner of their vision, or feel invisible insects crawling on their skin. Then come the delusions, deeply held beliefs that defy logic. You might believe you're being followed, that your neighbors are spying on you, or that your thoughts are being broadcasted on television. Even with no proof, even when it hurts, the belief remains unshakable. And now on to the negative symptoms. These are what schizophrenia takes away.

Emotion, motivation, personality, someone once viola. vibrant and expressive may become withdrawn, unresponsive, a blank stare where there used to be life and joy. This is called flat effect, a lack of emotional expression, others may stop talking altogether, or retreat completely from the outside world. It doesn't always look scary, sometimes it just looks like someone slowly fading out of existence. And now the cognitive symptoms. These are deeper, affecting memory, focus, and how a person thinks. Imagine trying to to follow a simple conversation, but every sentence slips through your mind like water, or trying to speak, but your thoughts won't say in order.

This is disorganized thinking, where speech becomes jumbled, fragmented, or nonsensical. In extreme cases, it's called word salad, when phrases are thrown together with no meaning at all. It's not stupidity, it's a brain at war with itself. And now the disturbing and bizarre manifestations. Then there are the symptoms that are so strange, they almost sound made up. Some believe that their organs have disappeared inside them,

that they don't have a stomach, so there's no need to eat. Others are convinced that their thoughts aren't private, that strangers can hear their thoughts or worse, insert thoughts into their mind. It's called thought broadcasting or thought insertion into the person experiencing it. It feels horrifyingly real. You can't see it on an MRI and you won't always notice it from the outside. But inside, the person's world has stopped following the rules. And every second is a battle to survive a reality that no longer makes sense.

And now that you have a decent understanding of schizophrenia, let's get into some stories of people who live with this illness. Schizophrenics of Reddit. What is the scariest hallucination, visually or audibly, that you have ever experienced? Snipers. One Friday evening, I was watching TV. and happened to be playing with a flashlight that I'd left on the coffee table. Boom.

Next thing you know, I'm in a full-blown hallucination. I heard a special forces team out the window as they were sneaking out of my backyard. I flashed the light around the room, and they got quiet, and they misunderstood my intent. They thought the light was mounted on a rifle. Next thing you know, they're calling me outside as part of a SWAT response, and I'm on my hands and knees on my porch in the dead of night, asking them, do please not shoot me. I must have stayed out there for two hours, with my hands locked behind my head, as the snipers got more and more nervous about what I might do.

Eventually, they decided that there was no way to diffuse the situation, and they shot me. I spent about five minutes laying down on my front porch, then crawled inside my house to die. I phoned my mom to let her know that I had been shot and that special forces had killed me. Needless to say, she wasn't buying it, and talked me down on earth a little bit, but that wasn't the end of it. She had me go to the ER and stayed with me on the phone until I got there. I'm still in full-blown hallucination mode, so while I'm waiting in the ER, I hear the leader of the Special Forces unit chatting with the front desk nurse.

He knows that I'm there, and it's coming to get me. Luckily, the doctor found me at first and didn't really know what to do with me, so he gave me two milligrams of Atvian and discharged me. So I drive home, still hallucinating, and now somewhat high from the Atvian, all I can see are types of quivian. crazy stuff on the way home. Once I get home, the Avian mellows the hallucinations and do something enjoyable, and I spend the rest of the weekend with playful hallucinations. I can't really describe the fear of having special forces snipers aiming at you for two hours straight. What's terrifying here isn't just the hallucination. It's the moment of realization. That split second when his reality collapses, and he's forced to confront the idea that his mind

is no longer trustworthy, but the thing is he believed that he was about to get shot by a special forces team for two hours. Your brain is playing constant tricks on you. Imagine facing that every day. It's not just frightening, it's exhausting. And now let's get into another user's experience. My great-grandmother died because of her hallucinations. I was not alive then, but she had apparently was not given the appropriate care and ended up living on her her own. She locked herself in her house. It was found dead weeks later. She apparently had thought people were out to kill her, so she armed herself and was so scared she didn't move. I'm assuming until she died. She was found with her legs basically pickled from the amount of time she wet and

shit herself and had downed quite a few bottles of whiskey. When her house was cleaned and sorted through, they also found dozens of stolen purses with literally nothing taken from them. To me, that is the most terrifying way to die. So convinced that people are coming to kill you that you starve yourself to death while pickling yourself to death. My cousin, who is my age, also has it. She frequently believes that she is more than human and has to go back to the hospital frequently from psychotic episodes. From what I gleam, she hears spirits and occasionally sees them.

She also has so many S-word attempts that breaks my heart. It's hard to get close to her because, again, she sometimes thinks she is beyond human. When she's in that state, although not scared in any sort, she alienates herself to the point of Sward tendencies. I'm glad modern days we have more of a solution for her. I don't want her to end up like our great-grandmother. I fear occasionally that I may have symptoms of it, but not to that extent. It's mostly during manic swings of my bipolar that I hear things and see things.

I've never directly seen anything other than motion from the corners of my eyes, and I just hear inaudible whispers. but when it happens, it comes with a massive overwhelming fear of impending doom, which is the scary part. Hearing whispers is okay, hearing whispers and being confident that you're about to die, that adds a layer of terror to the whispers. To be honest, what I should do is stop smoking weed, need mushrooms and plain WOTG psychedelics, knowing full well that this demon is in my possible genetics.

So, I guess the scariest is the invisible, impending doom. Medicated paranoid schizophrenic here. Out of all the various recurring, excruciating delusions of pain, death, and extreme paranoia, few have come to scare me as much as this one. Buckle up, folks. I'm awoken, the night sky illuminated by a half moon. Outside my window, possibly a reflection, a face looks back at me.

Bearded. Helmitted. Looks kind of like those biker zombies from seven days to die to give a bed. better picture. The face contorts and twists and turns and goes inside out, then back to normal. Looks like it's laughing now. Starts moving towards me, through the window. Now it's at my bedroom, not three solid turds from my face laughing. I scream silently, too afraid to make a sound, to even blink. The face hovers, menacingly staring deep into my soul and shedding it to pieces. In a rare moment of clarity, I start praying to every God I know from Jesus to Odin to

Krishna to Osiris and back, begging for mercy, please, anything but this. The face then loses its face, becomes a skull, a bastardized mix of human and cow that is hard to describe with words. It had horns. It was horrifying. I thought I knew I was going to die. This laughing skull was going to kill me. In a final act of malice, it crept towards me, staring deeper and deeper into my eyes, further shredding and searing my soul with its pure hatred. I closed my eyes for the first time in ages, and when I opened them, it was gone.

Looking around, my alarm clock displayed 304 a.m. The half moon, a sideways frown, reminded me that I was in danger, that the skull, the face, it was sent here to hurt and kill me. I didn't sleep again for another two days, and even then, I'd almost collapse from exhaustion. That's the end of that memory, as painful as it is to relive.

It is important because it reminds me why I take my meds, to never be afraid of things like that again. I have a reoccurring memory of killing someone with my car and hiding the body in my garage. This never happened, and I've never had a garage. This was one of my first hallucinations that pushed me get help. Even after years of therapy and medication, I still occasionally feel the pressure and anxiety associated with the event, which never happened.

Trust me when I say, I have researched and confirmed over and over that this didn't even happen, though it feels as real as eating breakfast this morning. And before we get to the next story, there's something you really need to understand. People with schizophrenia aren't just confused, and they're not just plain pretend. When they see something that isn't there or hear a voice no one else can hear, to them, it's as real as the chair they're sitting on. As real as the shirt on your back right now. Think about that.

Look at what you're wearing. Feel the fabric. The texture. The temperature. That's how certain they are of what they see. You can tell them it's not real. You can beg them to snap out of it, but in their mind, you're the one who's confused.

Schizophrenia doesn't just create hallucinations. It literally erodes the boundary between what's real and what isn't. They're not just seeing things. They're convinced of them. The voices know their name. The shadows follow them for ages, and the thoughts in their head aren't yours anymore. And if no one believes you, if the people around you keep insisting it's all in your head, that only makes the delusion stronger. Because now they're a part of it too. Part of the setup, the lie, the trap. To someone in the middle of schizophrenia or psychosis, there is no doubt. And that's what schizophrenia so terrifying and so easy to misunderstand.

On to the next story. A demon appeared on a door on my balcony and said, You can't help me. No one can help me. When I went inside, it moved up the wall into the ceiling and said that I was coming back in two minutes to take me to hell. I started feeling a pulsing move up my left arm, which led me to think I was going to have a heart attack. It came back and I was so scared that I ran out of my apartment. What followed was a situation that lasted in real life only about two days, but the timeline in the delusion lasted six months. At some point during the night, the cops tased me about 10 miles from the house, and my heart ended up stopping. In the delusion, the demon had captured me, and taking me to hell where I was chained and being

forced to smash my head into a glass wall. In real life, I was in someone's backyard trying to bash my head through their sliding glass door. Apparently, the owner of the house tried to shoot me with a shotgun, but missed. At some point, I was too tired in the delusion and fell to the ground. The demon continually told me that this was only going to get worse if I didn't continue. I had no energy, so I gave up. Two zombie-looking Dobermans came and ate my entire body from the neck down until I was nothing but bone. I watched my muscles and skin slowly grow back until I was whole and I was told to continue smashing the window with my head. The window broke, and I fell into the bottom pain, which cut me in half. I immediately

was transported it into a room that was unbearably hot. Each breath I took was a gasp and I couldn't get it in the air. There was someone in front of me holding a glass of water with condensation on it, but I only had enough strength to barely crawl towards it. Every time I got close enough to touch the glass, the person took a step back. There was a clock on the wall, then I watched six months go by. The only thought I had for this entire delusion was, I'm never getting out of here. No thoughts of my family or the past, just endless despair.

about never getting out. Eventually, I got close enough, and when my fingers touched the glass, I was transported to another place. It was a void where there stood a massive black dragon with bright green eyes. The undersides of his wings were the same bright green. He moved his head towards me, which is about three times the size of my entire body. And whispered, it is only going to get worse from here. Then he spewed a black smoke from his nostrils that entered my ear. The next thing I experienced can only be described like this. Imagine having to be seen. 5,000 copies of yourself that are all having the most intense, mind-splitting migraine that you can never imagine. But all those minds are happening inside of your mind. I lost all sense of existence

in the pain. Then I was in space, staring at the earth, and in my own voice, I heard the words, you created all of this. Then I woke up and was trapped into a hospital bed in the ICU. I looked like someone I dragged me behind a car naked, just covered in gashes and wounds. For a long time, I was completely traumatized. But those last words actually have changed my entire life. I know now that my entire reality is created by my mind and knowing that I no longer fear anything. I think that when people die,

they release a huge amount of DMT which causes a time dilated dream state, depending on what you are thinking before death. In my case, going to hell. That is exactly what happens. From the time I saw the demon to when I woke up, only two days went by, but I was in hell for six months.

I'm not schizophrenic, but my younger brother is, and I shared this experience with him so I feel like I can fairly contribute on his behalf. He was about 12 when he came into my bedroom one night, late after we had all gone to bed. Must have been around midnight. He was scared and shook me awake, telling me we had to hurry up and hide because they were coming to kill us. I asked him, they who? And he said, the three people out front. I recognized that he was in the middle of an episode, so I reassured him no one is out front. All was safe.

Go back to sleep. He started crying and whispered to me that, please, please, let's go hide. They're going to kill us. I got up and said, show me these people. And he said, okay, and took my hand, and in a slouched crawl, led me into the living room and pointed to the window. We had an old Victorian house with huge windows and heavy thick drapes. And whispered, out there, they're out there. Just look, but don't let them see you because if they see you, they will bust in and kill us.

I said, okay, and to pacify him, I slowly peeked out one of the curtains and saw, Nothing. So I looked away and said, Johnny, there's no one out there. See, as I'm yanking the curtain back to expose the outside. He lets out this god-awful scream and grabs me and tries to drag me upstairs all the time crying loudly. They saw us. Now they're going to kill us. Hide. This wakes up the entire household and my mother comes running out asking what is going on and my brother tells her that there are three people out front with big knives and they're going to break in and kill us all, that we have to hide. My mother grabs him by the shoulders. and says very calmly to him. There is no one outside. Look at me. You were safe. There's no one

outside. My brother starts to cry again and says, but mommy, there is. Please believe me. They're going to kill us. Please, Mommy, believe me. My mother motions to me to open the front door. My brother goes spastic and flying his arms tries to pull us all away from the front door screaming, don't, don't. They're going to kill us. Mommy, they're going to kill us. My heart breaks for him and the genuine fear he is feeling and I tell him, it's okay. I promise if I open the door, and you see those people, I will slam it shut and we'll run and hide, okay? But if I open the door and we don't see those people, you have to stop crying and go back to bed, okay?

In a tearful nod, he says yes, and then hides behind my mother as we all gather around the door. Just to be safe, I peek out the front door blind and see no one, so I slowly open the door and he shrieks a whimper, and I open the door wide and say, see, nothing. We all look and there really is nothing. As I start to unlock the screen door, our huge German shepherd that's out at night comes up on the porch, starts wagging his tail excited to have a late night company. I turned to my brother and say, see, if there were people out here, don't you think Cheff would eat them up all alive? We all gave a nervous laugh as my brother shakes his head in agreement. So I said, there's no one out there, right?

My brother says no, so I remind him of our agreement, and he just looks off like dejected and scared. So I unlocked the screen door and let Cheff in to love on my brother. for a few seconds. Suddenly, my brother looks over at the screen door and freezes. I see it and say, remember, there is no one out there. My brother in a forced whisper says, they hide him behind the tree. Don't look. They think we can't see them. Hurry, shut the door. I again remind my brother that he said there was no one out there and he again starts to cry and says, but they're hiding behind the tree. I didn't see them, but now I do. They're still there. Frustrated, I said, okay, if they're there, what do they look like? And he proceeds to say, the big guy in the middle is wearing jeans

and a black leather coat. He's holding an axe and smiling great big at me. The other man is shorter and wearing jeans and black boots like a motorcycle guy wears, and he has a hat on over long, dirty blonde hair, and the woman is wearing a long dress and a floppy hat with long black hair and she has a knife too. The short guy has a gun. Then urgently he whispers, I think they saw us. We all quickly turned to look out and I say, there's no one out there. And I open the door and send Chief back out saying, get him, Chief, get him. Chief gladly bounces back outside, only to look around and confused like, what am I supposed to get? My brother says again in a whisper, they saw us. Then he lets out of the scream, shut the door, they're coming, shut the

door. I look out and see nothing, and Chief has decided that he's had enough of this game and goes and lays down by the front steps guarding the entrance. My mother looks beyond frustrated and extremely tired. We've got school and work in the morning, and here we are at 3 a.m. struggling with my brother's mental illness. Somehow, though, what we are suffering through doesn't compare to what he is suffering in his mind, and all I can do by the time is watch my mother cry as she hugs my brother. Long story shorter, I go outside and walk the path to our door by the tree and wave my hands at him, then reinter saying, see, no one's there. Now you promised, stop crying and go to bed. He nods his head and says, can I sleep with you? I say yes. We relock everything and wary from lack of

sleep, I'll march back to bed. I sighed deeply wondering how I was going to have the energy to go to school and mom the energy to go to work, and I let my brother sleep with me. Just as I'm drifting off, I hear a whisper in my ear, don't move. They're standing in the doorway. They're going to kill us. And I opened my eyes and I see nothing. Here we go again, I thought. To those who don't know schizophrenia is, a family illness because it affects the entire family, not just the person suffering for the diagnosis. As a family affair, we all suffer. through the delusions and hallucinations, and if we're having a hard time dealing with it, can we even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be my brother, trapped in his mind,

and seeing things only he can see. It's a horrible way to live. And although there are hundreds of more stories of people outlining what they've experienced, I believe these few stories show how truly terrifying schizophrenia is. It's like living in a horror movie, and your brain is the enemy. And now it's time to hear someone's firsthand experience with some people. schizophrenia. Hey, how you doing? Hey, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I experience schizophrenia. I have auditory hallucinations. I don't, I don't see things. I just hear them. Okay. I've had it for about 10 years. Thank you for the background. And yeah, for everyone watching, he suffers from

auditorial hallucinations only, because there's kind of two different types of schizophrenia. If I'm correct, not too different, but you can sometimes experience visual hallucinations, auditory or just auditory, no, visual. Is that correct? Yeah. All right. And on to the first question. When did you first realize something wasn't right? And what was going through your head at the time? When I first noticed it, it was, I think I was at home at my parents' house in the living

room and the voices kind of just turned on. For people who were living with me or knew me, they could tell something was wrong for months, but it wasn't clear to me until the voices, like, just turned on. And when the first voices kind of turned on, like, what was that, was it scary or was it, like, natural in some sort of way, or did it feel completely like otherworldly, so to say? I mean, it was really clear, and it sounded like a real person's voice, but it wasn't through my ears. It's through, it's like I can hear it in my mind. So it was off-putting and worrying. And I told someone right away. I didn't want to play with that. So I just told someone right away and then I got help.

And how old were you when that first happened? 10 years ago, I think it was 21. Okay. Most people get or start showing signs of schizophrenia when they're like 18 or late teens to early 30s, right? Or if you know about that? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yep. It can be hereditary and my great grandmother had it. It can stay dormant in you for a while without you knowing. Interesting. And was it just? triggered by anything because I know some people say, you know, smoking weed can trigger it or doing certain drugs can trigger it or was it just kind of out of the blue for you? I think it was just out of the blue. Interesting.

But yeah, I've heard that it can be triggered by like weed and stuff like that. How are you officially diagnosed and what was that experience like for you? Was it surprising? Was it scary? Were you kind of, you know, overwhelmed that you were schizophrenic or did you kind of expect at that point. I expected it at that point because I was in the clinic first for like six days and they told me that's probably what I had. I was diagnosed like a month or two after that. I didn't really know what to make out of it. I definitely wasn't ready. Yeah. I don't know how you could be though.

Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine. Can you describe what it feels like to experience a hallucination or for your case, a auditory hallucination? It's really weird because it's, it's, it's really weird because it's off-putting and it makes you anxious and makes you nervous. I mean, depending on what kind of auditory hallucination you're having. Like some people can hear noises. Some people hear random phrases. I hear voices that follow a storyline and they have identity. So it's hard. And they play with delusions and manipulation and lies. And that kind of leads us to our next question. What's one delusion you've had that felt completely real at the time? There was a time. I was at my grandparents in the front yard and they live in the country and they have a very long driveway

to their house and there was the voices were telling me that they're going to come and get me and they're going to do whatever they want to me and my family and uh i was outside in the front and i saw a car come in it was like a white impala it came in to the driveway and just stopped and sat there for like 30 seconds a minute and the voices were saying it was them and then they decided for some reason to leave and the car actually left and I don't know what the deal was with that car and it was out in the country so there's no cars that should be in the driveway. Does that kind of come with a paranoia as well? Because that seems like you're paranoid about everything or only certain things?

Only certain things that have to do with the voices, I would say. And so they kind of lead you to be paranoid or are you paranoid and then it leads to the voices or is it kind of both ways? For me, it leads me to be paranoid about certain things that, like, pertain with the voices. How do you tell what's real from what's not, especially during an episode? And, for example, the car, like, did you ever kind of have a inclination in your mind that, hey, this isn't real? This is probably just the voices playing with me?

Or is it just, you know, your delusion. And so you completely believe it? Or do you kind of have a moment to step back and realize or what? For me, I've never had like really bad episodes where I'm just thinking it's definitely real like that. But the fear drives you. And it's not like I was giving into complete delusion, but it was definitely scary. Because of the fear, I was like, no, that's not real. I can't believe it.

I don't want it to be real. Like, what are the voices saying to you or like threatening? Were they coming to hurt you or something like that or something else entirely? Yeah, they were threatening to come and get me. They threatened like legal action. like they say I signed a contract that like gave them rights to me or they say that they're going to call the police and they're like I'm a criminal and I've done things that I can be arrested for. I don't know.

Interesting. Or they just, they're like criminals and they just threaten stuff all the time. Like physical violence and abuse and stuff. And have you ever had that sort of delusion and then warned a family member? Because in the video, I read a story about someone who had that. then they went and warned their entire family that someone's there to hurt them. Have you ever done that or has it never gotten to that level? Thanksgiving a couple years ago, the voices were threatening and I got really,

I guess, cut up in the delusion and I called the police because the voices said they were going to come and get me. And the police officer just, he found out I had schizophrenia and mental illness and he handled it pretty good. That's great. Everything was okay. Has medication helped you or has it come with challenges? There's weight gain and depression, sleepiness, drowsiness. I don't really deal with many of the symptoms, but the medication definitely helps. You can tell, other people can tell when I'm off of it.

Does the medication completely drown out the voices, or does it kind of just damper it? I don't really know how to explain it. It doesn't affect the volume of the voices. It doesn't stop them. I know that some people it does stop the voices, but, it doesn't even affect like the audio volume of them in my head. I still hear them, probably even the same amount. It helps with like paranoia stress and anxiety, stuff like that.

So you just don't believe them. So just like, they're just like, oh, that's the voice. And so it kind of separates you from the voices, so to say. Yeah. Interesting. How has schizophrenia affected your relationships with friends, family, or love relationships or anything like that? How has it affected that?

Family, it brings you closer because you're dealing with problems and you're coming together. With friends and relationships, it's sometimes you can have delusions where it targets your friends and you might not want to hang out with them anymore. I have had that in the past. Just people that I'd rather not trust or be around. Typically friends that are like not as close or no are friends. So you just might think they just might do something because you're not as close to them. That makes sense.

in this interview, had any voices or like throughout this interview or like, are they just always on in the background or anything like that? Well, that's the thing about them. When you're, when I'm talking, I can't really hear them or pay attention. Like when I'm talking out loud. Yeah. With people. That's like the best time to get away from them because you're distracted.

I'm not paying attention. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. How is living with schizophrenia changed the way you see yourself or the world around you? Because of the nature of my view. voices that follow a storyline. I, morality and evil, good and evil and like faith and religion all comes up and, uh, it makes me think about my own evil, my own demons and like other people's.

Yeah, it just makes me question things a lot more and think. Is there anything that makes the schizophrenia worse on a bad day, stress or anything like that? Oh yeah. Anything that causes stress can heighten the voices or the symptoms. And is there anything that consistently, like, quiets them. Like you just said, talking helps. Are there any sort of other activities?

I mean, in my head, I would think, like, maybe video games or something kind of help because you're distracted or does that not help? Or what type of activities

help you more? Yeah, things that are more interactive that require concentration. Video games, because there's chatting and there's music, listening to music,

like blasting it in my ears. I love doing that at work. But sometimes it just, it's drowned out by the voices. and you're, it's like all consuming and you're almost pulled into just talking to them and arguing. Whenever you have a voice talking to you, do you talk back or like, do they yell at you or do they just talk to you or how many there are there? Like I'm very interested into kind of like the storyline you kind of described.

You don't need to get too personal but just like vague, I guess. How many are there? It's been a lot, like some of them aren't even around anymore, but they always try to take an identity. I've had, like, movie actors and actresses, but, like, it's their voice, but it's obviously not them. If someone watching this just got diagnosed, what would you want them to hear right now? To keep hope. Have something that you believe in.

You need something that drives you. You can't really be ready for this, so you just need to have a good support system, and you need to know that you're stronger than you think you are. and if you think you're weak, that's probably a sign that you're actually strong, or stronger than you think at least. Yeah. Well, I appreciate your time and your answers. I think a lot of people will find this very valuable.

Thank you so much. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Myths versus reality. Schizophrenia is one of the most misunderstood mental disorders in the world. And when something is misunderstood, it becomes feared. Feared things get twisted in the news and movies, even in everyday conversation. So in this section, we're going to run through a few quick-fire questions.

Rapid myths you've probably heard about schizophrenia and then immediately break them down. Try to answer them yourself before I do. Let's see how much of what you think you know is actually true. After that, we'll go deeper into why these myths exist and the damage they continue to cause. Let's start. Question 1. People with schizophrenia are dangerous and violent. No.

Studies show that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to be victims of violence. than perpetrators. The vast majority are not violent, especially when treated. Question two. Schizophrenia means you have multiple personalities. No, that's disassociative identity disorder, a completely separate condition. Schizophrenia affects perception and thought, not personality fragmentation. Question three, once you have schizophrenia, you can't recover? Also, no. While schizophrenia is a chronic condition, many people do recover with treatment. Some live independently, hold jobs, and even raise families. Question four. You can always tell if someone has schizophrenia. No, there are high-functioning people with schizophrenia who mask symptoms or only struggle

during episodes. It's not always visible and not always dramatic. Question five, all hallucinations are scary voices or visions. No, again. Some are mundane, like hearing someone call your name. Others might even seem comforting or confusing. It's not always terrifying, but it's always disorientation. So why do these stereotypes exist? A big reason, movies and media, from psycho to split to Joker, schizophrenic characters are almost always portrayed as unstable, violent, or dangerous. They're rarely shown as real people just as tools for fear. And when the news cover mental illness, it's often only in the context of crime reinforcing the idea that mental illness equals danger. But the truth is more complicated. Yes, untreated psychosis can lead to confusion.

and unpredictable behavior and even risk, but violence is not the norm. In fact, people of schizophrenia are up to 14 times more likely to be victims of violence and abuse than to commit it. By believing, we isolate people who are already struggling and we make them afraid to speak up to seek help or to be honest about what they're experiencing, which can lead to untreated schizophrenia, which then becomes dangerous. The most disturbing cases in history. Schizophrenia isn't just a disorder of the mind.

In rare cases, especially when untreated or misunderstood, it can lead to outcomes that feel like something out of a horror movie where a lot of the stereotypes come from. These are not the norm, but they are real. Richard Chase, the Vampire of Sacramento. Richard Chase was a man gripped by extreme untreated schizophrenia. He believed his blood was turning to powder, that people were poisoning him, and that he had drink blood to survive. In 1977 and 1978, he committed six brutal murders, all while under the influence of bizarre delusions. He would break into homes, believing he was invited. He believed

his actions were necessary to stay alive. He had been institutionalized before, but released, misdiagnosed and forgotten. And what followed was one of the most chilling, killing sprees in American history. Edward Einhorn, the invisible prison. Edward Einhorn, the invisible prison. Ironhorn never heard anyone, but his life became a quiet tragedy. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his 20s, he believed the government was tracking him, that his food was being poisoned, and that people could hear his thoughts. He withdrew from everyone. No one could convince him otherwise.

He died alone, locked in a self-imposed exile, not from fear of others, but from fear of reality itself. Sometimes schizophrenia doesn't explode. It just erodes the person. The case of Janney Schofield. childhood schizophrenia. Janie was diagnosed at just six years old. One of the youngest public cases of childhood onset schizophrenia. She had violent hallucinations of animals attacking her. She spoke to dozens of imaginary people. Her parents documented her story and their struggle to keep her and themselves alive. Janney's case wasn't criminal, but it was disturbing in its own

way. It showed how early, how deeply, and how destructively schizophrenia can take root and how helpless even a loving family can feel. The case of Margaret Mary Ray, the stalker of David Letterman. Margaret Mary Ray struggled with delusions that she was married to talk show host David Letterman. She repeatedly broke into his home, stole his car, and once camped out on his tennis court. The public treated it like a joke, a harmless stalker with a celebrity obsession. But the truth was heartbreaking. She was suffering from schizophrenia and desperately needed help. She was arrested, institutionalized, released, and ignored. Years later, she died by S-word.

Her final escape from a world that couldn't make sense anymore. Now onto the final chapter of today's video. Can you recover? Schizophrenia doesn't have a cure. But that doesn't mean there's no hope. Recovery is possible, not always in the way people expect, but in a way that can still lead a full, meaningful life. Anti-psychotic medications are often the first line of defense.

They help reduce hallucinations, manage delusions, and bring clarity back to thought. But they come with side effects, fatigue, weight gain, restlessness, emotional numbness. Some people stop taking them because of how it makes them feel, and others just don't have access at all. That's where therapy, family support, and structure comes in. And cognitive behavioral therapy, otherwise known as CBT, social skills training, and rehabilitation programs all play a role in recovery. It doesn't always mean these symptoms. disappear, sometimes they fade, and sometimes they stay but get easier to manage. Recovery can mean holding a job, maintaining friendships, learning how to recognize early warning signs in knowing how to

ask for help. For some, the voices never fully go away, but they learn to live with them, to understand what's real and what isn't. Roughly one in five people with schizophrenia will recover to the point of living mostly symptom-free. Another 50% experienced major improvements and quality of life with ongoing treatment. But the real numbers should be higher because recovery often depends on things that have nothing to do with biology, like access to health care, family or sports,

housing, and whether or not they're believed. Schizophrenia is terrifying, not just because of the symptoms, but because of how isolating it can be. Recovery means rebuilding trust in others, in your own mind, and in reality itself. And with the right support, many people do, not perfectly, not easily,

but they come back and that's something worth understanding and worth fighting for and that wraps up today's video i hope you enjoyed this first installment in the disturbing disorders explained let me know if you enjoyed this video what you liked what you didn't like would you like to see another disorder in a future video comment down below your ideas i read every comment and um if you enjoyed this video please like the video and subscribe to the channel and i'm sure you would enjoy another video on the channel so check it out and i appreciate you watching to the end of the video did you enjoy the interview and did you enjoy the structure of the video thank you so much for watching this is snook and i'll see you next time bye