More Research

Well, my research kicked into a different gear last week. I started attending a local schizophrenia support group. At first, the woman at the agency was a little dubious, concerned about whether my hoped-for novel would perpetuate stereotypes about mental illness. The person with schizophrenia is my protagonist. He is a Mormon missionary. When he starts his mission, his schizophrenia begins manifesting itself. He hears voices and sees things – both of which he takes as “revelations” from God. The novel tells the story of how he and the local church deal with his revelations and how he ends up getting treatment/meds and learning to live with schizophrenia. I’m not writing this book to “advocate” for schizophrenia – like some sort of “AfterSchool Special” -- but I want it to be highly accurate. I told her, yes, I know how people have many misunderstandings about mental illness. (Twenty years ago, when I had started taking my meds for OCD, I had to get over that stigma just to be willing to take psychotropic drugs. “Only crazy people take medicines for their bran,” I told myself. As an aside, when I first started taking the meds, clomipromene, it wasn’t legal in the US, so I had to drive to White Rock, B.C., every so often and then smuggle the meds back over the border.) Anyway, she asked to meet me first, which I did. Then she let me sit in on a support group meeting. It was amazing. It gave me insights that reading books never could. The people there talked about the “voices” they hear and their struggles to maintain sane-ness. I plan on going each week. Stay tuned for more updates.