Schizophrenia Symptoms

Considering that a lot of the characters in Aberrant Selected are schizophrenic I should probably tell you the symptoms of such and explain them a bit more, with reference to myself and to the characters in the collection. Simply put the symptoms, in adults, are: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised thinking (speech), extremely disorganised or abnormal motor behaviour, negative symptoms, and blunted affect. I will spend the next several weeks in concentrating on each symptom, so today we'll start with delusions.

     Delusions are false beliefs that are not based in Reality. These beliefs can be anything, from believing that a person or persons is persecuting one, to believing that a person or persons is madly in love with one. There is a story in Aberrant Selected, entitled 'Throwing Poses' where the main character walks into what he believes is a photo shoot set up especially for him and begins throwing poses. This photo shoot is indeed real and the main character's throwing poses is welcome. However, this story is based on real events that happened to me in Newtown, a bohemian inner city suburb of Sydney, and the photo shoot wasn't set up exclusively for me. I was walking down the main street, King Street, one night and noticing a bright light to my right entered the source of the illumination, a brightly lit cafe. I had walked into the middle of a photo shoot and spoiled it, as I could tell by the photographer's facial reaction to my entrance. Why the photographer didn't temporarily close the premises remains unknown to me for I ashamedly left the premises.

     Another delusion which I experienced I put to good use in creating a story about it, 'Charles and Eve'. In this story Charles, a schizophrenic, becomes convinced that he has become entitled to Eve's missing rib, simply to eat, never mind that it was Adam who had a rib removed by God to create Eve. In real life, I was once again walking near King Street, Newtown, one night, absolutely convinced that I would find Eve's missing, giant, rib, that in fact I was entitled to it. I simultaneously knew that it was Adam who is missing a rib but this salient fact I completely ignored. And funnily enough, only two or three days after this delusion began, I did indeed find a massive rib, actually similar to a t-bone, with all of the meat still on it and the size of an average car tyre. I ate it all, quickly, and ravenously.

     To sum up, all of the delusions experienced by the characters in Aberrant Selected are based on real life delusions that I had. They provided endless entertainment for me at the time and still provide entertainment to me in my being able to fictionalise them. I hope they amuse, or enlighten, you too.