milopants's Journal

Homeless and Schizophrenic Mood

Sunday, July 13, 2008

My step brother in law recommended a non fiction account of a man with schizophenia and his downward spiral to homelessness and eventually death. The book was written by the man's son who, after the death of his father, wanted to understand his disease better and what his dad went through. The man was a college professor (of what, I forgot) who didn't display syptoms of schizophrenia until his 30's. Slowly his professional writing turned more and more conspiracy theory and he was sure things had been implanted in his brain for tracking purposes, much like the guy in A Beautiful Mind. Eventually he lost his job, couldn't get other jobs, alienated his family and ended up homeless. I thought it was a good read and I could feel the struggle of the son/author between trying to help his father and still maintain his own life. Eventually he had to cut ties.

I was in an antique store a couple weeks ago and Judd went one way, I went the other. I was suddenly alone in a little room with a guy who looked homeless. He said hi, I said hi and he struck up a conversation. I said I was waiting for the Underground Tour to start. He warned me that they take people on that tour and gas them once they are underground. I try to appear grateful for the info. From there he starts warning me about spirits, girls who have died in Spokane due to spirits, his encounter with spirits, seeing teradactyls, and then it got even weirder and he told me that he's seen spirits pull the spirits of girls from their private parts sucking the life out of them. At this point I got a little worried and politely ended the conversation and found Judd.

After reading that book I kind of wanted to talk to this man who was obviously schizo. Like the man in the book, he was pretty much harmless (even if a little creepy), was steadfast in what he believed to be true and wanted to be a good citizen by warning me. It's tough to know what to do. You want to treat those people normally and with dignity, but there is a line that they cross where you have to remove yourself from the situation.

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Comments

What's the name of the book? It is hard to know how to react to a person like that, isn't it? I try to be kind to people, but some are just plain scary.

COgirl
Sounds like the homeless guy leads an interesting life. Daily life with spirits and pterodactyls sounds pretty cool.

I can't read book like that. They get too depressing for me.

GoldfishCM
I also can't handle reading stuff like that. I must say, MP, you are very kind. I likely wouldn't have lasted that long in that conversation. He did sound very interesting though.

debbiedebbie
Your words ring true, M. It is tough to know what to do. Yes, as caring persons, we do want to treat others normally and with dignity and respect. But at times, especially with persons that are mentally impaired, we do have to be a little cautious.

I am reminded of a time not too long ago at my church. I was at a service and I had seen a middle aged man that had been coming for some time. It was obvious that he was mentally impaired...a little "slow" as some would call it. Anyway, this was during my time that I was trying to get out of my "shyness". So I decided to take the initiative and go up and say "hi" and introduce myself. I did and he really appreciated that. So after that he would always come up and talk to me whenever he would see me at church. He would become overly friendly, almost to the point of making me uncomfortable. A woman did come up to me later on and share with me to be careful of him. He is known to ask women for rides to church (he can't drive) and then while in the car he will make strong sexual advances towards them.

So, I guess we do have to draw the line somewhere. Yes, it is sad, we want to have compassion for others and treat them as normal....but we have to be careful. It is a tough line...one that is difficult to decipher.

flowerchild65
COGirl, the book is The Outsider: A Journey into My Father's Struggle with Madness by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer.

GF: As much as I like dinosaurs, I guess I can't spell pterodactyls.

milopants
That man in the shop would have eventually given me the same idea to end the conversation at some point as well. It's a shame what a disease like that can do to you. It was good of you to listen for the first half, but absolutely time to cut it short when it got bizarre

jitterygirl