Unreliable Narration: Understanding Schizophrenia Firsthand Through Art

Sara Humphries
Mentor: Prof. Corrie Parks, Visual Arts

This creative research seeks to connect society with personal accounts of schizoaffective disorder. The disorder is largely characterized by its negative symptoms—a profound and continuous deterioration of self and sanity. The personal accounts of those afflicted are usually disregarded because of this, leaving our awareness of the disorder to come primarily from the friends, family, and doctors surrounding the schizophrenic. And yet, it is a disorder which continuously fascinates to a great degree. Subsequently, schizophrenia research becomes an echo chamber which excludes those with actual firsthand experience of the disorder. As someone recently diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, this artist has attempted to illustrate the internal mystery of schizophrenia through her own experiences. These pieces, which were painted in varying stages of psychotic episodes, serve as perceptual depictions of a myriad of symptoms such as dissociation, paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. So far, these paintings have been used to incite discussions between the afflicted and those surrounding them. Works such as “This is Your Brain on Depersonalization” and “Psychosis” help convey the internal struggle as seen by the schizophrenic—a self-portrait of the less visible manifestations—which we can then use to replace this fear of the unknown with understanding of the disorder.