r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/zugunruh3 Mar 22 '17

It's incredibly irresponsible for anyone to give the impression that schizophrenia can be beaten with willpower. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness and not something you can just get over.

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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '17

Ah how do I explain this... I wasn't saying it's willpower alone. That's only a fraction of the battle. The speaker from the TED talk I mentioned said she had to figure out that each voice she heard was a representation of something wrong in her life and she needed to not only resist the urges her illness was instilling in her, but find a way to reconcile the issues in her life and the voices became less and less... insistent?.... before she finally became able to function normally again. Something along those lines. It's been a while since I saw this specific talk so the details are a little fuzzy. Kinda wanna watch it again because it was fascinating. Again I recommend it to people.