“I had been hospitalized five times before I was willing to consider the possibility that there might be something wrong with me,” relates Dr. Frederick Frese. “We are all conditioned from birth not to accept that which is crazy or insane. That which is insane is beyond the pale of that which those in our human family will accept. We accept that which is logical, that which is rational and reasonable. That which is crazy is dismissed. Therefore it is very difficult for us to accept that what we are thinking is in fact crazy.” Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Dr. Frese’s story is a survivor story, and an intriguing glance into what it’s like coping with a serious mental illness.

Frederick Frese had his first breakdown at age 25, while working as a Marine Corps captain guarding atomic weapons in Florida. He developed a delusion that enemy nations were trying to take over US weapons, while American leaders stood by — hypnotized. A year later, Frese believed he could shape-shift into animals and he became extremely nervous that he was inside an atomic bomb that was being loaded and ready to launch.

He became homeless for an entire year before cops found him, threw him in jail and finally diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. How does this story end? Did Frederick Frese become an ax-murderer, a serial rapist, a uni-bomber, or suicidal? In fact, Frederick Frese became a Chief Psychologist at an Ohio mental institution and is now married with four children and a doctorate degree!

“Where a blind person may have a cane or a seeing-eye dog, the deaf may be helped by a hearing aid, and the crippled may be helped with a wheelchair or a crutch, we too can be helped by artificial means. Because our disability is one of a biochemical imbalance, it is reasonable that our “crutch” is chemical. For us, our crutch is the neuroleptic medications that we take,” Frese explains. At one of his stays in a Veteran’s Hospital, he began taking Risperdal, a common drug used to treat paranoid schizophrenia. Though the side effects - often called “Extrapyramidal symptoms” — were often painful and movement was either difficult to initiate or control, Frese still managed to attend college and hold several jobs.

More On: Overcoming Paranoid Schizophrenia

Technorati Tags: mental disease, schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia, overcoming paranoid schizophrenia

Quickly bookmark Dealing With Paranoid Schizophrenia at:                                                

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 3:53 am and is filed under Health & Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.