Watch the following TED TALK below titled "I Am Not A Monster: Schizophrenia."
The speaker is a young woman named Cecilia McGough, a student at Penn State University. This talk was given in March 2018 and I find it to be incredibly powerful. I hope that it makes you reflect on the devastating toll that schizophrenia has on the people who are afflicted with it. According to the World Health Organization (last updated Feb. 2017), over 21 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia (although Cecilia states that there are 54 million people worldwide). It is a severe mental disorder in which these individuals experience distortions in their thinking, emotions, language capabilities, perceptions, as well as their sense of self.
- Please be aware that Cecilia is going to talk about some of her hallucinations (minutes 2:42 - 4:12), which may be disturbing to some of you. Please feel free to skip forward in the video if it is too uncomfortable for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbagFzcyNiM
After watching the talk, please answer the following questions:
a) Before watching this film, what was your understanding of schizophrenia?
b) In February 2014, what happened to Cecilia?
c) How did her mother respond to Cecilia's diagnosis of schizophrenia? What do you think of her mother's response?
d) What were THREE pieces of information and/or reflections that you learned and/or took away from her talk?
e) Lastly, how did/does your high school and/or college address mental health issues such as schizophrenia? What do you think that we should be doing better in our communities and/or in our society as a whole to address issues regarding schizophrenia, particularly on our high school and college campuses?
FYI - She continues to speak out about mental health issues. Here is a short 1-minute clip from Cecilia McGough approximately 2 years ago talking about reducing stigma.
Reducing Stigma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlqctbOSN_Y