Download Why is this a misconception?

Schizophrenia:
A Beautiful Fight
Julia Berkelhammer, Angel Cockerham, Michelle Kasprak,
Alyssa Tedder, and Taylor Warren
THE FIGHT:
Misconceptions and the Fine Line
between Entertainment and Reality
Misconception # 1
Schizophrenia is the Same as Dissociative
Identity Disorder
-- Quotations Book
The symptoms that get confused
Schizophrenia –
Hallucinations
 Can be auditory or visual.
 Visual hallucinations will
converse and interact with
the individual.
 Individual thinks
hallucination is a real person
and is aware of their
presence.
 No amnesia involved.
Dissociative Identity- Alter Ego
 completely different personality
(not person) with a name,
history, mannerisms.
 Inhabits the same body as the
true individual.
 The true individual is unaware
of the presence of other
personalities.
 True individual experiences
amnesia whenever the alter is
presence.
Why we know Tyler Durden is a
Hallucination
No
switch from true
identity to alter ego
involving amnesia.
The host is aware of
Tyler and interacts
with him
Tyler Durden does
not present himself in
the same body (movie)
Why the reader might be confused…
Quotes from the Narrator



“I know this because Tyler knows this.”
“Sometimes, Tyler speaks for me.”
"I had to know what Tyler was doing while I was asleep.
If I could wake up in a different place, at a different
time, could I wake up as a different person?“
"Oh, this is bullshit. This is a dream. Tyler is a
projection. He's a dissociative personality disorder. A
psychogenic fugue state. Tyler Durden is my
hallucination. 'Fuck that shit,' Tyler says. 'Maybe
you're my schizophrenic hallucination. 'I was here first.
'Yeah, yeah, yeah, well let's just see who's here last.'"
Palahniuk addresses both disorders as possibilities when the
narrator and Tyler argue about the realities of their situation.
Misconception # 2
Being Schizophrenic Means “Crazy”

Words with negative
connotations such as
"crazy," "insane," or
"deranged" are especially
misleading and have too
often been used to
describe people exhibiting
characteristic symptoms
of schizophrenia.
Why is this a misconception?


Because of the erratic behavior caused by
delusions and hallucinations, paranoid
schizophrenia is the most popular type of the
disorder portrayed in book and film.
The peculiar behavior displayed by paranoid
schizophrenics is fascinating to watch but could
easily mislead audiences into thinking these
individuals are crazy.
Who does it WRONG?



In both the novel and film of Fight Club, Palahniuk and
Fincher perpetuates this misconception.
While Palahniuk successfully puts us in the disorganized
mind of the tortured narrator, he not only suggests a
possibility of dissociative identity disorder, but also
greatly exaggerates and generalizes schizophrenic
symptoms and those of other psychological disorders.
Palahniuk goes overboard and turns the narrator from a
complex character to a laundry list of symptoms and
ailments--insomnia, narcolepsy, depression, and more.
Who does it RIGHT?



On the contrary, Howard’s A Beautiful Mind and
Sylvia Nasar's biography refute this
misconception
They tell the story of the brilliant John Nash, a
Nobel Prize winning mathematician and
economist.
The very fact that Nash is a genius, and for the
most part remains so later in life, shows that
Nash is never "crazy."
Misconception #3: Schizophrenia is
Associated with Violence

Schizophrenics do not have violent tendencies toward others

Fight Club as an extreme misrepresentation of violence in
schizophrenia




Examples from book
Examples from movie
Violence builds
Schizophrenics more violent than general population?

A Beautiful Mind provides an alternative view

John Nash is not violent toward others


Shows break from reality, not within reality



Ex: hallucinations when no one else present
Ex: Scene with infant son
A more accurate portrayal
Considering the purpose of Fight Club versus the
purpose of A Beautiful Mind
THE BEAUTY:
When the Form Becomes the Content
Chuck Palahniuk’s Method:
Stream of Consciousness Writing

Tough to distinguish between what is real and
unreal, as we see and hear things from inside the
schizophrenic narrator’s head

Switching of time and place

Jumping from one thought to another…a mind
full of chaos, lacks order
Conclusion
What brings all this together?
A Beautiful Fight

In terms of telling the true story of
schizophrenia, these stories have both successes
and shortfalls.
Shortfalls  reinforcement of misconceptions
 Successes  when the form becomes the content


Taken as a whole, it becomes clear that the
journey to find the true story of schizophrenia
is a long, yet promising battle—a beautiful fight.