Schizophrenia Video Reaction The two videos I watched consisted of trying to help one understand the debilitating illness of schizophrenia. In part one of the two videos, it follows the life of a schizophrenic homeless man who goes by the name of Lone Star Swan. Lone Star Swan lives on the streets San Francisco and is followed by flocks of pigeons he calls: “reincarnated wizards”. He explains in the video of the threatening voices in his head that torment him on a daily basis. The narrator of the video goes on to explain that Lone Star Swan wasn’t always living on the streets. In fact, Lone Star Swan’s actual name is John Ratliff and he was a former colleague and best friend of the narrator of the video. John Ratliff was known as a talented and creative person who worked at a news station and directed …show more content…
He had a family and helped raise four children with his wife prior to his illness. In an interview with his wife, she explained that John was a great father to their children. His caring nature came to a crashing halt when John started to have psychotic episodes which threatened his family. Ultimately, his illness became too much to bare, and his family had to leave him behind. John Ratliff’s children are interviewed and they seem very emotional about the situation of their father’s illness. Some still hold anger for their father but ultimately miss him and wish they had a relationship with him. In part two of the video, research methods are discussed on the reasons why a person would develop schizophrenia. Part two also point out how performing everyday tasks can be extremely difficult to a schizophrenic. For example, if a schizophrenic is walking down the street, it is difficult to distinguish if the threatening whispers he/she hears is the voices in their head or a