Would you like to know how your Life could be if you were Schizophrenic? *VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE*

Schizophrenia - any of several psychotic disorders characterized by distortions of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact.

I remember in psychology class discussing a Virtual Reality Program that would let an otherwise sane individual understand what a person with schizophrenia experiences on a day to day basis.

"Distortions of reality" according to the definition, is somewhat of an understatement in regards to what people diagnosed with this mental disorder actually experience. After some searching I was able to find the company and more information regarding the program.

Janssen's a Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM

What is it?

* A Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM is a 3D theater experience, offering people a chance to understand what it may feel, smell and sound like to experience symptoms of schizophrenia.
* Wearing lightweight polarized glasses, and sitting in a high-tech, virtual-reality technology theater, a person can view a short (6-minute) 3D theater experience of the sights and sounds, as well as selected scents and wind effects, of first person point-of-view schizophrenia hallucinations.
* Hallucinations are some of the most flagrant and disruptive symptoms that people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders can experience. Approximately 70% of people with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations (e.g., hearing voices) and 25% experience visual illusions or distortions.1

How was it created?

* Using input from individuals with the disease and a panel of expert psychiatrists, a Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM was developed with Impact Unlimited as a tool to create understanding and empathy toward schizophrenia by simulating realistic sensory hallucinations.
* The program debuted on May 20, 2007 at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Diego, CA. The MINDSTORM theater holds 11 high-tech seats with built-in audio speakers. The theater effects also include lighting, wind and scents, timed to the program presentation.
* A portable 3D version of MINDSTORM is currently being developed. A 2D video/audio-only program is also available as a DVD.

Who is it for?

* A Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM is an invaluable teaching aid for medical students, physicians, the healthcare community, and law enforcement personnel. The simulation has the potential to create empathy for a frightening condition that most people can barely imagine.
* The implications of this technology are endless in affecting those who come in contact with or relate to people with schizophrenia—friends and families of those suffering with schizophrenia, healthcare professionals, legislators and law enforcement.
* This is not intended for use with patients with mental illness.

How do you use it?

* Take a seat in the a Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM theater, put on the lightweight plastic 3D glasses and experience.

This experience simulates a severe episode of auditory and visual hallucinations and may be disturbing to some people. If you anticipate being disturbed by it, become so during viewing or believe it will disturb you after viewing, you should consider not participating or immediately discontinue viewing if you become uncomfortable during the experience. We appreciate your interest in learning more about schizophrenia.

If you are comfortable with experiencing a portion of the virtual experience then I provide you with the following video:



I will have to say that I was rather taken back by this experience. I can't begin to try and determine how one can still "somewhat" function day to day with ALL of that extra stimuli occurring within. Relevant to being in a constant nightmare is what I can best relate it to.

reply to post by UberL33t


Thanks for this, its hard to explain how these people suffer, using words. This video was intresting to me and helpful to my gf she is a nurse

s&f

reply to post by UberL33t


Great thread! S&F!

This creation reminds me of the contraption in the 1983 movie that Natalie Wood starred in called "Brainstorm"

I wish psychology would open it's mind enough to study EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) and the Astral worlds low dimensions.... I do believe it conceals the problem/solution toward Schizophrenia.

reply to post by dreams n chains


It's peculiar that you say that, I studied a few EVP's myself. In retrospect, a lot of what I recorded had similar undertones to what schizophrenics can often hear. At your leisure check this thread out:
I Discernibly Hear Dead People!! **Recordings Added, Pg. 2** I put a link directly to the page with the recordings, however I do invite you to read the OP as well to get the background of the experiment.

reply to post by Vandalour


You're quite welcome, very informative information indeed.

As a schizophrenic myself, I will be interested in seeing how accurate this feels to me.
Thanks for posting it.

As to the "how can they function?" it depends on the severity and the degree of medication the patient is on. I am fully functioning, as I am both medicated and also unafraid of the symptoms when they rear their heads.

reply to post by UberL33t


Interesting, so after watching this it may appear that I suffer from milder version of schizophrenia, if there even is such a thing as mild form. Cant say I'm surprised really.
Probably been made worse since I came to ATS huh?

reply to post by CodyOutlaw


Please don't take that as demeaning in anyway. I was more thinking the undiagnosed/misdiagnosed cases. The video states there are no two cases alike. At the risk of sounding morbid, it is a fascinating disorder. It leaves a lot of room for the speculative causes thereof.

reply to post by snowen20


What part of the video is similar to what you experience? If I may inquire that is

reply to post by UberL33t


Oh, I took no offense! I think it's wonderful of you to post this thread and video. I would agree that no two cases are alike. As soon as I get home I will give the video a watch.

reply to post by UberL33t


Well thats kind of a personal question but Ill try to be serious now.

I often am having thoughts just as the ones in the video, overly paranoid that for example, when that cable guy comes in to repair something, he is part of something...I dont know what.. and he may attack at any moment. I always keep the windows and shades shut, and constantly peek through to make sure no one is lurking around out there. The whole time I am I keep having this voice like, the video...."Dont do it, They'll see you. don't do it."

I peek anyway and find no one. I just authored a thread also called, "Why was I spooked Last night", In it I explain this. The weird part is I have had mental evaluations and checked out normal. They were simple written tests mind you nothing too serious. Could I have slipped through the cracks?

I hear things no one else hears, I see things that's didn't really happen and I think things that obviously don't make sense, it's hard to explain exactly, all I can say is the video is my exactly like my life though the video is the steroid version. By the way to be honest, even now I am very suspicious of you for asking. But I'm so used to these feelings I kind of bypass them.

reply to post by snowen20


Well let me first say thank you for allowing us the privilege of understanding your experiences. Second, I assure you that my motivation for asking was merely to provide associative content to the thread.

Your allegation of slipping through the cracks is not too far fetched with today's current system imo. Another notion that I haven't yet discounted as well is paranormal involvement. I have, in my experience, seen more evidence that suggests the latter rather than it being a brain disorder.

reply to post by UberL33t


Would it be Schizo for me to agree to that statement?
That it could be paranormal in nature?

Seriously, I know I have some issues, but I sometimes think they are compounded by external events that are extraordinary in nature.

reply to post by snowen20


I make the same offer to you as I did to the above poster. Take a listen to some of the real-time EVP's I captured. To me, they have very similar undertones to the types of voices that schizophrenics hear, at your leisure of course.

reply to post by UberL33t


I read that post as soon as you posted it and immediately considered it as a probable example.
Considering what I have been talking to people about in my latest thread I can see that being the case for sure.
I have to say aside from my personal events and all the things that happen around me that it would appear only I see and hear; there are also times when I'm not the only one so perhaps something is following me around.

But i think the schizophrenic part comes in when, I hear what is probably a normal sound and apply to it something sinister or suspicious. Often times I can not pinpoint why exactly they would be suspicious only that they are.
A good example would have been last night when I was trying to sleep I heard the rain falling outside on my patio. Even though I knew it was rain I felt like it was sinister, like something else was making that noise and stalking me. I ignored it of course as usual, but that's how things sometimes go down.

reply to post by UberL33t


S&F

reply to post by snowen20

I hear what is probably a normal sound and apply to it something sinister or suspicious. Often times I can not pinpoint why exactly they would be suspicious only that they are.

You know what that reminds me of, and please humor me here... Rabies, except that you don't have the primordial desire to attack the thing that is deemed sinister by your brain, or have there been times you have felt the urge to attack?

The neurological phase

Paralysis may occur in this phase. In particular, there are spasms in the throat, making swallowing difficult.

The person affected becomes terrified of water (which is why it's also called 'hydrophobia') and becomes anxious and hyperactive.

It is in this phase that animals become mad and bite. Symptoms such as those seen in encephalitis are also present, along with increasingly uncontrolled movement, confusion and delirium.

Source

Perhaps, this virus affects the same region of the brain?

:bar f:

Go figure.

S&F

all day S&F

The op has my complete respect.

Thank you for sharing that. I have never been around someone who suffers from this. I was absolutely floored. I did not realize that day to day living would be so hard for people suffering. I don't think I will ever joke lightly again about people again. Ie: "what are you schizoid????"

I would say the closest a normal person could get to feeling schizophrenia would be hallucinogenic drugs and some forms of anxiety attacks. I have had anxiety attacks where I thought I was going crazy.

I met a guy with schizophrenia a few years ago, I was a osych major at the time and took a lot of interest in him. I still see him from time to time at parties. For the most part he seems completely normal, but there are small things.
We could all be playing a game of poker, and everyone laughing at a joke and he will get solemn and may even say something about people laughing at him and other small paranoid things which you know are just the tip of the iceburg of what is actually going on in his mind.

I (like every psych student) started freaking myself out diagnosing myself when really I just had panic attacks which can take on the attributes of many mental disorders.