

Diary of a High Functioning Person with Schizophrenia - prat
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=diary-of-a-high-function

======
tokenadult
"Except for my first two years at Oxford, I have been spared the so-called
'negative symptoms': apathy, withdrawal, inability to work or make friends."

The article is a good illustration of an unappreciated fact about most complex
behavioral disorders: the disorders are so polygenic and multifactorial in
origin that two patients can have the same diagnosed disorder, based on the
most current diagnostic criteria, and still have very different courses of
disease progression. It appears some difference in Professor Saks's genes or
childhood environment (or, most likely, both) spared her from some of the most
debilitating effects of schizophrenia and gave her the opportunity to practice
introspection on a mental disorder rarely looked at from the inside.

"COOK: Have you ever been treated against your will, and, if so, can you
explain the circumstances and the effect this had on you?

"SAKS: I have been subjected to the use of force on numerous occasions. In the
first instance, I was hospitalized against my will. I was said to be dangerous
to myself and dangerous to others. I was also said to be 'gravely disabled,'
and the reason given was I couldn’t do my Yale Law School homework!"

I'd like to know more details about who petitioned for her involuntary
treatment in that instance, and the legal procedures followed then. It seems
like a big leap to go from "the patient can't do law school homework" (many
high-functioning normal people can't do Yale Law School homework successfully)
to "the patient is a danger to self or to others," the legal standard for
involuntary treatment in most states. A lot of persons with mental illness are
chronically unemployed or underemployed but their relatives cannot
successfully get them treated.

