Societal Misconceptions about Schizophrenia

The author threads this theme throughout the collection to demonstrate the difficulty that people afflicted with the schizophrenias face because of judgmental attitudes about this mental health condition in society. People with schizophrenia are often viewed as utterly insane, and often dangerous, and these generalizations have caused the author in particular to feel insecure and to stress her high-functioning characteristics in response (her ivy league education, her career successes, her relationships and her ability to dress well).

Wang feels that the media is partially responsible for these misconceptions, in part for reporting on (and speculating about) the mental health conditions of mass shooters and other reprehensible criminals. She references a 2015 op-ed in the magazine Newsweek titled “Charleston Massacre: Mental Illness Common Thread in Mass Shootings” that declares that shooters like Jared Loughner, Jiverly Wong, and James Holmes were all suffering from psychosis. “Schizophrenics are seen...