'I FEEL I AM TRAPPED INSIDE MY HEAD, BANGING AGAINST ITS WALLS, TRYING DESPERATELY TO ESCAPE'
The following first-person account of the ordeal of schizophrenia was written by a woman who recently completed college despite repeated hospitalizations. Her identity is withheld to protect her privacy. CAN I ever forget that I am schizophrenic? I am isolated and I am alone. I am never real. I play-act my life, touching and feeling only shadows. My heart and soul are touched, but the feelings remain locked away, festering inside me because they cannot find expression. Can I ever forget that I am schizophrenic? Will I ever learn to live, to love unselfishly, to appropriate the beauties ...