August 13, 2025 • 41 mins
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Some disorders don't terrify youright away, not because they're
harmless, but because they don'tmake 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
(00:22):
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 livewith 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.
(00:45):
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 whatmakes it so disturbing.
According to the DSM 5, schizophrenia is defined by a
mix of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized
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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 6 months or longer.
But this isn't just about seeingthings that aren't there, it's
about losing your ability to tell what is there in the 1st
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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 slightlyyounger than women.
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Roughly one in 100 people will be affected at some point in
their lives. That's millions of people
worldwide. And for many, it 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
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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 3 main categories, positive, negative
and cognitive, and some of them are far stranger than you'd
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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 yourevery move.
These voices can be friendly, confusing, or downright
malicious. Some people see figures in the
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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 ithurts, the belief remains
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unshakable. And now on to the negative
symptoms. These are what schizophrenia
takes away. Emotion, motivation,
personality. Someone once 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.
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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 follow a
simple conversation, but every sentence slips through your mind
(04:00):
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 withno meaning at all.
It's not stupidity, it's a brainat war with itself.
And now the disturbing and bizarre manifestations.
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Then there are the symptoms thatare 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
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insertion into the person experiencing it.
It feels horrifyingly real. You can't see it on the 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
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understanding of schizophrenia, let's get into some stories of
people who live with this illness schizophrenics have.
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.
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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 theymisunderstood my intent.
They thought the light was mounted on a rifle.
Next thing you know, they're calling me outside as part of a
SWOT response and I'm on my hands and knees on my porch in
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the dead of night asking them toplease not shoot me.
I must have stayed out there fortwo 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 defuse the situation and they shot me.
I spent about 5 minutes laying down on my front porch, then
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crawled inside my house to die. I phoned my mom to let her know
that I've been shot and that special forces have 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 ERI hear the
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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
2 milligrams of AT Vien and discharged me.
So I drive home still hallucinating and now somewhat
high from the AT Vien. All I can see are types of crazy
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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 fearof having Special Forces snipers
aiming at you for two hours straight.
What's terrifying here isn't just the hallucination, it's the
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moment of realization. That split second one 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.
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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'd
apparently was not given the appropriate care and ended up
living on her own. She locked herself in her house.
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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 it down 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.
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To me that is the most terrifying way to die.
So convinced that people are coming to kill you that you
starved yourself to death while pickling yourself to death.
My cousin who is my age also hasit.
She frequently believes that sheis more than human and has to go
back to the hospital frequently from psychotic episodes.
From what I glean, she hears spirits and occasionally sees
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them. She also has so many S word
attempts it 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 S word 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.
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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 thingsand 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.
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Hearing whispers is OK. 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 and need mushrooms and plain wotg psychedelics knowing
full well that this demon is in my possible genetics.
So I guess the scariest hallucinations is the invisible
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impending doom. Medicated paranoid schizophrenic
care. Out of all the various recurring
excruciating delusions of pain, death, and extreme paranoia, few
have come to scare me as much asthis one.
Buckle up folks, I'm awoken. The night sky illuminated by a
Half Moon outside my window. Possibly a reflection.
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A face looks back at me, bearded, helmeted.
Looks kind of like those biker zombies from 7 Days to Die.
To give a 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 inside my bedroom.
Not three solid turns from my face laughing.
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I scream silently, too afraid tomake a sound, 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
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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 deeperand deeper into my eyes, further
shredding and searing my soul with it's pure hatred.
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I closed my eyes for the first time in ages, and when I opened
them, it was gone. Looking around, my alarm clock
displayed 3 O 4:00 AM, 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 another2 days and even then I'd almost
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collapse from exhaustion. That's the end of that memory.
As painful as it is to relive itis 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.
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This was one of my first hallucinations that pushed me
get help. Even after years of therapy and
medication, I still occasionallyfeel the pressure and anxiety
associated with the event, whichnever happened.
Trust me when I say I've 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 into the next story, there's something you
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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.
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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
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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 set up, the lie, the
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trap. To someone in the middle of
schizophrenia or psychosis, there is no doubt.
And that's what makes schizophrenia so terrifying and
so easy to misunderstand. On to the next story.
A demon appeared on a door on mybalcony and said you can't help
me, no one can help me. When I went inside and moved up
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the wall into the ceiling and said that I was coming back in 2
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 6 months.At some point during the night,
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the cops tased me about 10 milesfrom 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'sbackyard trying to bash my head
through their sliding glass door.
Apparently the owner of the house tried to shoot me with a
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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. 2
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
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whole and I was told to continuesmashing the window with my
head. The window broke and I fell into
the bottom pane which cut me in half.
I immediately was transported into a room that was unbearably
hot. Each breath I took was a gasp
and I couldn't get 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.
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Every time I got close enough totouch 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 nevergetting out.
Eventually I got close enough and when my fingers touched the
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glass I was transported to another place.
There was a void where there stood a massive black dragon
with bright green eyes, the undersides of his wings with 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
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my ear. The next thing I experience can
only be described like this. Imagine having 5000 copies of
yourself that are all having themost 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.
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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
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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're thinking before death, in
my case, going to hell, that is exactly what happens.
From the time I saw the demon towhen I woke up, only two days
went by, but I was in hell for six months.
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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'd 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
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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 OK and took
my hand and in a slouched crawl led me into the living room and
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pointed 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 OK 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.
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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 goingon and my brother tells her that
there are three people out frontwith big knives and they're
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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 fly in his arms, tries to pull us
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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 OK. I promise if I open the door and
you see those people, I will slam it shut and we'll run and
hide, OK? But if I open the door and we
don't see those people, you haveto stop crying and go back to
bed, OK? And a tearful nod.
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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
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the porch starts wagging his tail excited to have a late
night company. I turn to my brother and say see
if there were people out here don't you think chef 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.
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So I unlock the screen door and let chef 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's 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
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there and he again starts to cryand says but they're hiding
behind the tree. I didn't see them but now I do.
They're still there. Frustrated I said OK if they're
there what do they look like andhe 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
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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 flop
happy 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 turn to lookout
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.
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Chief gladly bounces back outside only to look around
confused like what am I supposedto get?
My brother says again in a whisper they saw us, they know.
Let's 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.
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We've got school and work in themorning and here we are at 3:00
AM 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 reenter saying see no
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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 weary
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
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a whisper in my ear. Don't move.
They're standing in the doorway.They're going to kill us.
And I open 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 from the
diagnosis as a family affair. We all suffer through the
delusions and hallucinations, and if we're having a hard time
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dealing with it, can we even begin to imagine what it must
feel like? To me and 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 fewstories show how truly
terrifying schizophrenia is. It's like living in a horror
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movie and your brain is the enemy.
And now it's time to hear someone's first hand experience
with schizophrenia. Hey, how you doing?
Hey, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I experienced
schizophrenia. I have auditory hallucinations.
I don't. I don't see things, I just hear
them. I've had it for about 10 years.
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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?
All right. And on to the first question,
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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 it was at home at my
parents house in the living roomand the voices kind of just
turned on for people who were living with me or knew me, they
they could tell something was wrong for months but it wasn't
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clear to me until the voices like just turned on.
And when and 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
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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, 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 I was 21.
OK. Most people get or start showing
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signs of schizophrenia when they're like 18 or late teens to
early 30s, right? Or if you know about that.
Yeah. OK.
Yep, it can be hereditary and mygreat grandmother had it.
It can stay dormant in you for awhile 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
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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
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schizophrenic or did you kind ofexpect it at that point?
I expected it at that point because I was in the clinic
first for like 6 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.
I don't know how you could be though.
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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, it's, it's really weird because it's off putting and it
makes you anxious. It makes you nervous.
I mean, depending on what kind of auditory hallucination you're
having, like some people can hear noises, some people hear
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random phrases. I hear voices that follow a
storyline and they have identity, so it's hard and they
play with the illusions and manipulation and lies.
And that kind of leads us to ournext question.
What's 1 delusion you've had that felt completely real at the
time? There was a time I was at my
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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 they
want to me and my family. And I was outside in the front
and I saw a car come in. It was like a white Impala.
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It came into 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 that for
some reason to leave and the caractually 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
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paranoia as well? Because that seems like, you
know, 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 being
paranoid about certain things that like pertain with the
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voices. How do you tell what's real from
what's not, especially during anepisode 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 playingwith me?
Or is it just, you know, your delusion and so you completely
believe it? Or do you kind of have a a
(27:46):
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'm giving
into complete delusion, but it was definitely scary.
And because of the fear, I was like, no, that's not real.
I can't believe it. I don't want it to be.
(28:06):
Real. Like what are the voices saying
to you? Or like threatening where they
come in to hurt you or somethinglike that?
Or something else entirely? Yeah, they were threatening to
come and get me. They threaten 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
(28:27):
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
(28:49):
someone's there to hurt them. Has that have you ever done that
or is it never gotten to that level?
Thanksgiving a couple years ago,the voices were threatening and
I got really, I guess, caught upin 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
(29:11):
handled it pretty good. That's great.
Everything was OK. Has medication helped you or has
it come with challenges? There's weight gain and
depression, sleepiness, drowsiness.
I don't really deal with so manyof the symptoms, but the
medication definitely helps. You can tell other people can
tell when I'm off of it. Does the medication completely
(29:32):
like drown out the voices or does it kind of like just damper
it? I don't really know how to
explain it. It doesn't affect the like the
volume of the voices. It doesn't stop them.
I know that some people it does stop the voices, but it it
doesn't even affect like the audio volume of them in my head.
(29:53):
I still hear them probably even the same amount.
It's it helps with like paranoia, stress and anxiety,
stuff like that. You just don't believe them.
So just like you just like they're just like, oh, the
that's the voice. And so it kind of separates you
from the voices, so to say. Yeah, interesting.
And how has schizophrenia affected your relationships with
friends, family or love relationships or anything like
(30:15):
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 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.
(30:38):
Typically friends that are like not as close or 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?
Well. That's the thing about them,
when you're, when I'm talking, Ican't really hear them or pay
attention. Like when I'm talking out loud.
(30:59):
Yeah. With people, that's like the
best time to get away from them because you're distracted.
I'm not paying attention. Yeah.
OK, that makes sense. How is living with schizophrenia
changed the way you see yourselfor the world around you?
Because of the nature of my voices that follow a storyline,
I morality and evil, good and evil and like faith and religion
(31:22):
all comes up and that 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. Than 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
(31:42):
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
(32:02):
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
(32:23):
talking to you, do you talk backor 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? I It's been a lot.
Like some of them aren't even around anymore, but they always
(32:45):
try to take an identity. I've had like movies, 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.
(33:06):
You can't really be ready for this.
So you just need to, you need tohave 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.
(33:27):
Thank you. Myths versus Reality
Schizophrenia is one of the mostmisunderstood mental disorders
in the world. And when something is
misunderstood, it becomes feared.
Feared things get twisted in thenews and movies, even an
everyday conversation. So in this section, we're going
to run through a few quick fire questions, rabid myths you've
(33:48):
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 one. People with schizophrenia are
dangerous and violent. No Studies show that people with
(34:11):
schizophrenia are far more likely to be victims of violence
than perpetrators. The vast majority are not
violent, especially when treated.
Question 2. Schizophrenia means you have
multiple personalities. No, that's dissociative identity
disorder, a completely separate condition.
Schizophrenia effects perceptionand thought, not personality
(34:32):
fragmentation. Question three.
Once you have schizophrenia, youcan'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 4. You can always tell if someone
has schizophrenia. No, they're high functioning
(34:52):
people with schizophrenia who mask symptoms or only struggle
during episodes. It's not always visible and not
always dramatic. Question 5.
All hallucinations are scary voices or visions.
No again, some are mundane, likehearing someone call your name.
Others might even seem comforting or confusing.
It's not always terrifying, but it's always disorienting.
(35:14):
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
(35:36):
the idea that mental illness equals danger.
But the truth is more complicated.
Yes, untreated psychosis can lead to confusion and
unpredictable havior and even risk.
But violence is not the norm. In fact, people with
schizophrenia are up to 14 timesmore likely to be victims of
violence and abuse than to commit it.
I believe in these myths. We isolate people who are
(35:57):
already struggling, and we make them afraid to speak up, to seek
help, or to be honest about whatthey'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
(36:18):
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
(36:39):
were poisoning him, and that he had to drink blood to survive.
In 1977 and 1978, he committed 6brutal 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,
(37:01):
misdiagnosed and forgotten, and what followed was one of the
most chilling killing sprees in American history.
Edward Einhorn The Invisible Prison Edward Einhorn never hurt
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.
(37:24):
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 Jenny Schofield Childhood Schizophrenia Jenny
was diagnosed at just six years old, one of the youngest public
(37:46):
cases of childhood onset schizophrenia.
She had violent hallucinations of animals attacking her.
She spoke to dozens of imaginarypeople.
Her parents documented her storyand their struggle to keep her
and themselves alive. Jenny's case wasn't criminal,
but it was disturbing in its ownway.
It showed how early, how deeply,and how destructively
(38:07):
schizophrenia can take root, andhow 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.
(38:28):
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, andignored.
Years later, she died by S word,her final escape from a world
that couldn't make sense anymore.
(38:49):
Now on to 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 alwaysin the way people expect, but in
a way that can still lead a full, meaningful life.
Antipsychotic medications are often the first line of defense.
They help reduce hallucinations,manage delusions, and bring
(39:11):
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
(39:32):
rehabilitation programs all playa 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 the
job, maintaining friendships, learning how to recognize early
warning signs and knowing how toask for help.
For some, the voices never fullygo away, but they learn to live
(39:53):
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% experience major improvements in 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, likeaccess to healthcare, family or
(40:14):
support 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
(40:37):
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 if you enjoyed this video, please like the video and
subscribe to the channel. And I'm sure you would enjoy
(40:57):
another video on the channel. So check it out.
And I appreciate you watching tothe 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.
Some disorders don't terrify youright away, not because they're
harmless, but because they don'tmake 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
(00:22):
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 livewith 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.
(00:45):
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 whatmakes it so disturbing.
According to the DSM 5, schizophrenia is defined by a
mix of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized
(01:07):
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 6 months or longer.
But this isn't just about seeingthings that aren't there, it's
about losing your ability to tell what is there in the 1st
(01:30):
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 slightlyyounger than women.
(01:50):
Roughly one in 100 people will be affected at some point in
their lives. That's millions of people
worldwide. And for many, it 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
(02:13):
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 3 main categories, positive, negative
and cognitive, and some of them are far stranger than you'd
(02:34):
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 yourevery move.
These voices can be friendly, confusing, or downright
malicious. Some people see figures in the
(02:55):
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 ithurts, the belief remains
(03:16):
unshakable. And now on to the negative
symptoms. These are what schizophrenia
takes away. Emotion, motivation,
personality. Someone once 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.
(03:38):
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 follow a
simple conversation, but every sentence slips through your mind
(04:00):
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 withno meaning at all.
It's not stupidity, it's a brainat war with itself.
And now the disturbing and bizarre manifestations.
(04:23):
Then there are the symptoms thatare 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
(04:45):
insertion into the person experiencing it.
It feels horrifyingly real. You can't see it on the 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
(05:06):
understanding of schizophrenia, let's get into some stories of
people who live with this illness schizophrenics have.
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.
(05:28):
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 theymisunderstood my intent.
They thought the light was mounted on a rifle.
Next thing you know, they're calling me outside as part of a
SWOT response and I'm on my hands and knees on my porch in
(05:50):
the dead of night asking them toplease not shoot me.
I must have stayed out there fortwo 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 defuse the situation and they shot me.
I spent about 5 minutes laying down on my front porch, then
(06:10):
crawled inside my house to die. I phoned my mom to let her know
that I've been shot and that special forces have 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 ERI hear the
(06:31):
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
2 milligrams of AT Vien and discharged me.
So I drive home still hallucinating and now somewhat
high from the AT Vien. All I can see are types of crazy
(06:52):
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 fearof having Special Forces snipers
aiming at you for two hours straight.
What's terrifying here isn't just the hallucination, it's the
(07:13):
moment of realization. That split second one 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.
(07:34):
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'd
apparently was not given the appropriate care and ended up
living on her own. She locked herself in her house.
(07:54):
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 it down 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.
(08:17):
To me that is the most terrifying way to die.
So convinced that people are coming to kill you that you
starved yourself to death while pickling yourself to death.
My cousin who is my age also hasit.
She frequently believes that sheis more than human and has to go
back to the hospital frequently from psychotic episodes.
From what I glean, she hears spirits and occasionally sees
(08:39):
them. She also has so many S word
attempts it 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 S word 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.
(09:02):
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 thingsand 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.
(09:23):
Hearing whispers is OK. 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 and need mushrooms and plain wotg psychedelics knowing
full well that this demon is in my possible genetics.
So I guess the scariest hallucinations is the invisible
(09:47):
impending doom. Medicated paranoid schizophrenic
care. Out of all the various recurring
excruciating delusions of pain, death, and extreme paranoia, few
have come to scare me as much asthis one.
Buckle up folks, I'm awoken. The night sky illuminated by a
Half Moon outside my window. Possibly a reflection.
(10:09):
A face looks back at me, bearded, helmeted.
Looks kind of like those biker zombies from 7 Days to Die.
To give a 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 inside my bedroom.
Not three solid turns from my face laughing.
(10:31):
I scream silently, too afraid tomake a sound, 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
(10:55):
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 deeperand deeper into my eyes, further
shredding and searing my soul with it's pure hatred.
(11:19):
I closed my eyes for the first time in ages, and when I opened
them, it was gone. Looking around, my alarm clock
displayed 3 O 4:00 AM, 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 another2 days and even then I'd almost
(11:41):
collapse from exhaustion. That's the end of that memory.
As painful as it is to relive itis 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.
(12:02):
This was one of my first hallucinations that pushed me
get help. Even after years of therapy and
medication, I still occasionallyfeel the pressure and anxiety
associated with the event, whichnever happened.
Trust me when I say I've 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 into the next story, there's something you
(12:25):
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.
(12:47):
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
(13:07):
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 set up, the lie, the
(13:29):
trap. To someone in the middle of
schizophrenia or psychosis, there is no doubt.
And that's what makes schizophrenia so terrifying and
so easy to misunderstand. On to the next story.
A demon appeared on a door on mybalcony and said you can't help
me, no one can help me. When I went inside and moved up
(13:51):
the wall into the ceiling and said that I was coming back in 2
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 6 months.At some point during the night,
(14:13):
the cops tased me about 10 milesfrom 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'sbackyard trying to bash my head
through their sliding glass door.
Apparently the owner of the house tried to shoot me with a
(14:33):
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. 2
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
(14:57):
whole and I was told to continuesmashing the window with my
head. The window broke and I fell into
the bottom pane which cut me in half.
I immediately was transported into a room that was unbearably
hot. Each breath I took was a gasp
and I couldn't get 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.
(15:19):
Every time I got close enough totouch 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 nevergetting out.
Eventually I got close enough and when my fingers touched the
(15:40):
glass I was transported to another place.
There was a void where there stood a massive black dragon
with bright green eyes, the undersides of his wings with 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
(16:00):
my ear. The next thing I experience can
only be described like this. Imagine having 5000 copies of
yourself that are all having themost 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.
(16:21):
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
(16:42):
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're thinking before death, in
my case, going to hell, that is exactly what happens.
From the time I saw the demon towhen I woke up, only two days
went by, but I was in hell for six months.
(17:04):
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'd 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
(17:25):
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 OK and took
my hand and in a slouched crawl led me into the living room and
(17:45):
pointed 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 OK 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.
(18:06):
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 goingon and my brother tells her that
there are three people out frontwith big knives and they're
(18:28):
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 fly in his arms, tries to pull us
(18:50):
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 OK. I promise if I open the door and
you see those people, I will slam it shut and we'll run and
hide, OK? But if I open the door and we
don't see those people, you haveto stop crying and go back to
bed, OK? And a tearful nod.
(19:12):
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
(19:35):
the porch starts wagging his tail excited to have a late
night company. I turn to my brother and say see
if there were people out here don't you think chef 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.
(19:56):
So I unlock the screen door and let chef 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's 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
(20:18):
there and he again starts to cryand says but they're hiding
behind the tree. I didn't see them but now I do.
They're still there. Frustrated I said OK if they're
there what do they look like andhe 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
(20:39):
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 flop
happy 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 turn to lookout
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.
(21:02):
Chief gladly bounces back outside only to look around
confused like what am I supposedto get?
My brother says again in a whisper they saw us, they know.
Let's 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.
(21:23):
We've got school and work in themorning and here we are at 3:00
AM 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 reenter saying see no
(21:45):
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 weary
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
(22:06):
a whisper in my ear. Don't move.
They're standing in the doorway.They're going to kill us.
And I open 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 from the
diagnosis as a family affair. We all suffer through the
delusions and hallucinations, and if we're having a hard time
(22:28):
dealing with it, can we even begin to imagine what it must
feel like? To me and 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 fewstories show how truly
terrifying schizophrenia is. It's like living in a horror
(22:49):
movie and your brain is the enemy.
And now it's time to hear someone's first hand experience
with schizophrenia. Hey, how you doing?
Hey, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I experienced
schizophrenia. I have auditory hallucinations.
I don't. I don't see things, I just hear
them. I've had it for about 10 years.
(23:11):
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?
All right. And on to the first question,
(23:32):
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 it was at home at my
parents house in the living roomand the voices kind of just
turned on for people who were living with me or knew me, they
they could tell something was wrong for months but it wasn't
(23:55):
clear to me until the voices like just turned on.
And when and 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
(24:16):
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, 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 I was 21.
OK. Most people get or start showing
(24:38):
signs of schizophrenia when they're like 18 or late teens to
early 30s, right? Or if you know about that.
Yeah. OK.
Yep, it can be hereditary and mygreat grandmother had it.
It can stay dormant in you for awhile 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
(24:58):
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
(25:20):
schizophrenic or did you kind ofexpect it at that point?
I expected it at that point because I was in the clinic
first for like 6 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.
I don't know how you could be though.
(25:42):
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, it's, it's really weird because it's off putting and it
makes you anxious. It makes you nervous.
I mean, depending on what kind of auditory hallucination you're
having, like some people can hear noises, some people hear
(26:03):
random phrases. I hear voices that follow a
storyline and they have identity, so it's hard and they
play with the illusions and manipulation and lies.
And that kind of leads us to ournext question.
What's 1 delusion you've had that felt completely real at the
time? There was a time I was at my
(26:24):
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 they
want to me and my family. And I was outside in the front
and I saw a car come in. It was like a white Impala.
(26:44):
It came into 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 that for
some reason to leave and the caractually 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
(27:04):
paranoia as well? Because that seems like, you
know, 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 being
paranoid about certain things that like pertain with the
(27:26):
voices. How do you tell what's real from
what's not, especially during anepisode 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 playingwith me?
Or is it just, you know, your delusion and so you completely
believe it? Or do you kind of have a a
(27:46):
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'm giving
into complete delusion, but it was definitely scary.
And because of the fear, I was like, no, that's not real.
I can't believe it. I don't want it to be.
(28:06):
Real. Like what are the voices saying
to you? Or like threatening where they
come in to hurt you or somethinglike that?
Or something else entirely? Yeah, they were threatening to
come and get me. They threaten 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
(28:27):
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
(28:49):
someone's there to hurt them. Has that have you ever done that
or is it never gotten to that level?
Thanksgiving a couple years ago,the voices were threatening and
I got really, I guess, caught upin 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
(29:11):
handled it pretty good. That's great.
Everything was OK. Has medication helped you or has
it come with challenges? There's weight gain and
depression, sleepiness, drowsiness.
I don't really deal with so manyof the symptoms, but the
medication definitely helps. You can tell other people can
tell when I'm off of it. Does the medication completely
(29:32):
like drown out the voices or does it kind of like just damper
it? I don't really know how to
explain it. It doesn't affect the like the
volume of the voices. It doesn't stop them.
I know that some people it does stop the voices, but it it
doesn't even affect like the audio volume of them in my head.
(29:53):
I still hear them probably even the same amount.
It's it helps with like paranoia, stress and anxiety,
stuff like that. You just don't believe them.
So just like you just like they're just like, oh, the
that's the voice. And so it kind of separates you
from the voices, so to say. Yeah, interesting.
And how has schizophrenia affected your relationships with
friends, family or love relationships or anything like
(30:15):
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 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.
(30:38):
Typically friends that are like not as close or 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?
Well. That's the thing about them,
when you're, when I'm talking, Ican't really hear them or pay
attention. Like when I'm talking out loud.
(30:59):
Yeah. With people, that's like the
best time to get away from them because you're distracted.
I'm not paying attention. Yeah.
OK, that makes sense. How is living with schizophrenia
changed the way you see yourselfor the world around you?
Because of the nature of my voices that follow a storyline,
I morality and evil, good and evil and like faith and religion
(31:22):
all comes up and that 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. Than 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
(31:42):
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
(32:02):
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
(32:23):
talking to you, do you talk backor 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? I It's been a lot.
Like some of them aren't even around anymore, but they always
(32:45):
try to take an identity. I've had like movies, 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.
(33:06):
You can't really be ready for this.
So you just need to, you need tohave 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.
(33:27):
Thank you. Myths versus Reality
Schizophrenia is one of the mostmisunderstood mental disorders
in the world. And when something is
misunderstood, it becomes feared.
Feared things get twisted in thenews and movies, even an
everyday conversation. So in this section, we're going
to run through a few quick fire questions, rabid myths you've
(33:48):
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 one. People with schizophrenia are
dangerous and violent. No Studies show that people with
(34:11):
schizophrenia are far more likely to be victims of violence
than perpetrators. The vast majority are not
violent, especially when treated.
Question 2. Schizophrenia means you have
multiple personalities. No, that's dissociative identity
disorder, a completely separate condition.
Schizophrenia effects perceptionand thought, not personality
(34:32):
fragmentation. Question three.
Once you have schizophrenia, youcan'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 4. You can always tell if someone
has schizophrenia. No, they're high functioning
(34:52):
people with schizophrenia who mask symptoms or only struggle
during episodes. It's not always visible and not
always dramatic. Question 5.
All hallucinations are scary voices or visions.
No again, some are mundane, likehearing someone call your name.
Others might even seem comforting or confusing.
It's not always terrifying, but it's always disorienting.
(35:14):
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
(35:36):
the idea that mental illness equals danger.
But the truth is more complicated.
Yes, untreated psychosis can lead to confusion and
unpredictable havior and even risk.
But violence is not the norm. In fact, people with
schizophrenia are up to 14 timesmore likely to be victims of
violence and abuse than to commit it.
I believe in these myths. We isolate people who are
(35:57):
already struggling, and we make them afraid to speak up, to seek
help, or to be honest about whatthey'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
(36:18):
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
(36:39):
were poisoning him, and that he had to drink blood to survive.
In 1977 and 1978, he committed 6brutal 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,
(37:01):
misdiagnosed and forgotten, and what followed was one of the
most chilling killing sprees in American history.
Edward Einhorn The Invisible Prison Edward Einhorn never hurt
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.
(37:24):
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 Jenny Schofield Childhood Schizophrenia Jenny
was diagnosed at just six years old, one of the youngest public
(37:46):
cases of childhood onset schizophrenia.
She had violent hallucinations of animals attacking her.
She spoke to dozens of imaginarypeople.
Her parents documented her storyand their struggle to keep her
and themselves alive. Jenny's case wasn't criminal,
but it was disturbing in its ownway.
It showed how early, how deeply,and how destructively
(38:07):
schizophrenia can take root, andhow 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.
(38:28):
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, andignored.
Years later, she died by S word,her final escape from a world
that couldn't make sense anymore.
(38:49):
Now on to 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 alwaysin the way people expect, but in
a way that can still lead a full, meaningful life.
Antipsychotic medications are often the first line of defense.
They help reduce hallucinations,manage delusions, and bring
(39:11):
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
(39:32):
rehabilitation programs all playa 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 the
job, maintaining friendships, learning how to recognize early
warning signs and knowing how toask for help.
For some, the voices never fullygo away, but they learn to live
(39:53):
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% experience major improvements in 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, likeaccess to healthcare, family or
(40:14):
support 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
(40:37):
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 if you enjoyed this video, please like the video and
subscribe to the channel. And I'm sure you would enjoy
(40:57):
another video on the channel. So check it out.
And I appreciate you watching tothe 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.
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