AlgorithmRESEARCHE
What is Schizophrenia?
What is Schizophrenia?
• hallucinations - hearing or seeing things that do not exist• delusions - unusual beliefs that are not based on reality
and often contradict the evidence• muddled thoughts based on the hallucinations or
delusions• changes in behaviour
Schizophrenia is a long-term mental health condition that causes a range of
different psychological symptoms. These include:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Reality? Fiction?
• schizophrenia is a disorder which blurs the line between what is real and what is unreal.
• these false delusions and compromised realities do in fact seem very real to its victims
Source: “Schizophrenia: a beautiful fight” from:
The 4 types of SchizophreniaThere are actually four different types of schizophrenia, a distinction which
often gets lost under the umbrella that the term "schizophrenia" provides.
• 1)”paranoid" schizophrenia,• 2)"disorganized" schizophrenia,• 3)"catatonic" schizophrenia, • 4)"undifferentiated" schizophrenia,
Source: “Schizophrenia: a beautiful fight” from:
How to build a relationship with a schizophrenic
• entering this world with an open mind and heart.
• understanding
• Participate in the story• You need to gain the trust and love of the person undergoing a
schizophrenic experience.
• It takes a tremendous amount of love and endurance to stick with a schizophrenic,
• not give up on them and to not despair.
Copyright: Yvonne Nahat 2007 Website: www.schizophrenia-help-online.com “how to help a schizophrenic”
How to convince a Schizophrenic for treatment
• The cold methods of traditional medicine should be
considered skeptically when wanting to help a schizophrenic
• Be sure that you have found a doctor who will talk with the
schizophrenic and won’t just do his or her diagnose
• A loving understanding and in depth participation on the part of
the one who wants to help is often the first step in aiding a schizophrenic in his or her first steps towards betterment.
Copyright: Yvonne Nahat 2007 Website: www.schizophrenia-help-online.com “how to help a schizophrenic”
The one who wants to help should:
• offer trust and love• needs to be prepared for an in depth journey into the psyche of another person
• Be there for the psychotic, no matter how trying they might be
•Try and find out the story the person is living through
• Enter his world of reasoning.
• gain the trust of the person undergoing a psychosis is of the utmost importance.
•If you are trying to get in touch emotionally with a schizophrenic be prepared to take a lot of blows.
Copyright: Yvonne Nahat 2007 Website: www.schizophrenia-help-online.com “how to help a schizophrenic”
Why Filmmaking?
Watching movies affects the brain
• Different editing and directing styles affect brain activity
• In cinema, some films lead most viewers through a similar sequence of perceptual, emotional, and cognitive states.
Source: “ watching movies affects the brain” By Marc Chacksfield at:
Effect of Watching Movies
• All of our senses are affected through movies• Our psyche is directly impacted by movies, especially
when we hear music that arouses emotions as we watch
• They also elicit emotions by stimulating our senses
Source: “effect of watching movies” at
Movies For Better or for Worse • They can re-traumatize• they can worsen anxiety and
depression• The effect depends who is seeing it
• movies can make us more aware of what's happening
• TEACH US compassion and empathy
Film as a teaching tool
• Psychiatric educators should familiarize
themselves with the variety of film options when teaching about schizophrenia.
• They have already begun using A Beautiful Mind as a tool for instructing a wide
variety of trainees.
Source: “Beyond A Beautiful Mind:Film Choices for Teaching Schizophrenia” at
Filmmaking Therapy
• a way to vent their frustration, loneliness and fear through the art of filmmaking.
• Turning thoughts and dreams into a vibrant visual story
• these films help explain the experiences of the patient and become an inspiration to others.
http://sanfrancisco.parenthood.com/directory/article/therapy-through-filmmaking.html
Therapeutic Filmmaking
• It offers some way in which to express emotions about
personal experience
• By expressing personal experiences, you can find
healing and recovery
• filmmaking as a therapeutic process incorporates not only content but
also interpersonal relationships among characters.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/866539/film_theory_filmmaking_impact_on_mental.html?cat=72
Combining elements of talk, art, and narrative therapies with the process of personal filmmaking, therapeutic filmmaking represents a novel contribution to the field of psychology.
Lars von Trier's Antichrist: Horror Filmmaking Therapy
• Two years ago I suffered from depression.
Everything seemed unimportant. I couldn’t work. Six
months later, just as an exercise, I wrote a script. It was
a kind of therapy.• I had to do something, otherwise I would just have slunk back
into bed and stared at the wall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist_(film) AND http://feelingsoblahg.blogspot.com/2009/09/lars-von-triers-antichrist-horror.html
From the Therapeutic Filmmaking Pilot Study
• Feelings of Mastery: doing something "cool” leads them to think more highly
and feel better about themselves.• Perceptual Shift: through a camera's lens: different perspective
on themselves• The Personal as the Subject in Filmmaking: By turning the
camera on themselves: patients learned a lot about themselves
• Film as a Catalyst for Discussion: interaction between client and therapist by opening up dialogue about issues that clients could not easily talk about or put into words.
Source: http://tfinstitute.com/id71.html
Effect of the movie “ A Beautiful Mind” on the pop culture
• brought schizophrenia into the public eye• Taught people about the symptoms and recovery possibilities
• affected and shaped our understanding of schizophrenia
• Gave hope to the sufferers
http://pitjournal.unc.edu/node/104
Other types of Therapies, which influenced Algorithm
Sharing experiences through
Art Therapy
• enable a patient to effect change and growth on a personal level
• exploration of the patient's inner world
• help people communicate their thoughts and emotions
for use with people for whom verbal psychotherapy would be impossible.
http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab003728.html & http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/001976.html
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/MindBodyandSpirit/art-therapy
Art can help people:
• manage behavior• reduce stress• develop interpersonal skills• increase self-esteem• increase self-awareness
http://www.arttherapyblog.com/mental-health/mental-illness-treated-with-art-therapy/#more-68 and http://www.arttherapyblog.com/mental-health/mental-health-and-art-getting-started/#more-100
Art can be utilized as a method not only to express your deepest thoughts and feelings, but as a tool to get to know yourself better and to discover your hidden talents.
Art therapists can also help address:
• emotional difficulties related to disability or illness
• trauma and loss• post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)• physical problems• cognitive problems• neurological problems
http://www.arttherapyblog.com/mental-health/mental-illness-treated-with-art-therapy/#more-68
Schizophrenia understanding in the popular culture
Schizophrenia has not been understood
or recognized and is mistreated and so its powerful symptoms manifest as
confusion and destruction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7037314.stm
Psychiatry
• Unfortunately psychiatry leans far more
towards controlling schizophrenia, rather than showing understanding towards a
patient's true needs and potential capabilities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7037314.stm
Myths about Schizophrenia
• 1: Schizophrenia Causes Multiple Personalities• 2: Schizophrenics Are Dangerous and Violent• 3: Schizophrenics Need to Be Institutionalized
• 4: Schizophrenics Are Mentally Retarded• 5: Schizophrenia Can't Be Treated
Recovered Schizophrenics
Stuart Baker-Brown
• his condition has nurtured his artistic expression.• My symptoms have eased greatly, due to my
own personal belief• I am harnessing my creative side and
now using my symptoms to work for me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7037314.stm
• Many people with schizophrenia are
naturally creative and turn to the
arts to release their inner thoughts and emotions
• If this potential creativity was nurtured and encouraged, we could find something quite unique
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7037314.stm
Influences
π (also known as Pi) is a 1998 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is Aronofsky's directorial debut, and earned him the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Gotham Open Palm Award.The title refers to the mathematical constant π (pi).
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American film based on the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr., a Nobel Laureate in Economics.[2] The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar. The film stars Russell Crowe, along with Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany.The story begins in the early years of a young schizophrenic prodigy named John Nash. Early in the film, Nash begins developing paranoid schizophrenia and endures delusional episodes while painfully watching the loss and burden his condition brings on his wife and friends.
‘Crazy Art’ Documentary Explores Art Therapy, Schizophrenia
The documentary, Crazy Art, explores how art can be used
by someone experiencing psychotic, depressive and manic symptoms to reduce and
manage those symptoms.
http://www.arttherapyblog.com/mental-health/crazy-art-documentary-explores-art-therapy-schizophrenia/#ixzz1Mh0wJDex
Parallel life with Liviu
• Ciprian Manolescu, from Romania,
excellent results from high school
former International Olympic mathematics major,
• is already associated professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA.