Written by: Alexa Taylor

One day while Timmy was attending class at James Madison University, he started to feel really weird. His mind started played games with him.

VoicesVoices started to fill Timmy’s head even though the room he was in was completely silent.

When Timmy opened his mouth to speak, his voice was mixed up and no one could understand him so he began to panic at the thought that he was going crazy.

As he ran out of the building he was in, he felt as if everyone was looking right at him and planning on ways to hurt or capture him so he ran as fast as he could to get away from everything and everyone.

As Timmy ran back to him dorm he was struggling with making sense of what was real and what was his imagination. There seemed to be people appearing in front of him that were not truly there.

When Timmy’s roommate ran into him, he was confused about Timmy’s rambling and had never seen him like that before. He urged Timmy to go to the doctor to get help but Timmy said he couldn’t believe anyone. This worried his roommate.

After Timmy’s roommate convinced Timmy that the doctor would not harm him or try to control him, Timmy agreed to go get medical help because his behaviors and thoughts were increasingly getting out of control.

Timmy just wanted to know what was real and what was fake. When he saw the doctor and started talking to him, it was not long until the doctor knew just what was wrong with him.

“Sir, you have schizophrenia.” said the doctor. Timmy seemed startled and asked “How did this happen to me?” The doctor listed off many causes of this mental disease to help Timmy understand.schizophrenia

“Schizophrenia is hereditary, if a person in your direct family has this disease, it will increase your chances 10%. Also stress is a leading cause of this illness, during pregnancy or child development” said the doctor.hereditary

After leaving the doctor and receiving a number to call for a treatment facility, Timmy did some of his own research about his illness.

Timmy explained to his friends that his delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech and behaviors were all caused because of his schizophrenia. He also said that with heredity and stress, other factors to cause this are prenatal exposure to viral infections, low oxygen levels during birth, and sexual or physical child abuse. delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech and behaviors

Timmy continued to study deeper into his disease though because he did not believe any of those causes related to him. He discovered that a lower level of brain tissue and abnormality in the frontal lobe of the brain also contributes to schizophrenia.

Although Timmy still deals with confusion of reality and behavioral issues at times, he has been going to a therapist and is receiving help to control this disease and is now able to go outside again and not real threaten or scared.