Imaginary Things: (Inside the Mind of a Schizophrenic) From Darkness...To Lunacy...To Light

by Michael Nicholas

Schizophrenia: A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. -Oxford Dictionary. I'd like to say I just have a big imagination, but at the age of 23 I was diagnosed with this illness. I live in a nice neighborhood in Mahwah, NJ. My father is an optometrist, and my mother a successful dog breeder. I am the oldest of three children, having a younger brother and sister. I had a good and relatively normal childhood. I graduated from Full Sail University in Florida with a degree in recording arts, as I have a passion for music. The events I'm going to describe took place when I came back home from school. You might say things got out of hand and I took on a world of my own. In this account, you will travel with me as I navigate and grow through my struggle. I want you to take a journey through the eyes and mind of a schizophrenic. On the outside, it probably looked so simple: He was depressed, angry at life, frustrated, and had a breakdown. He just lost it. Going through a tough break up, barely making it through college, and now back home struggling to find a job. He couldn't deal with it. The pressure was too high, and life was too heavy. Shattering a mirror in the bathroom with a baseball bat, and then a cop car's window later on. Driving all over town like a maniac and not pulling over for the police. You might say "eluding the police," which is what the charges stated. Being held at gunpoint in front of his family home, while waving the bat at police. Ending it all by spending the night in the Bergen County Jail. It was quite a day to say the least, and a lot led up to it. However, it was the beginning of a new life and the birth of a new creature. It wasn't like I just snapped, which is what some might think. It was a gradual build up of insanity from feeling a lack of meaning and purpose in my life, which ultimately resulted in triggering all the symptoms of schizophrenia. From this point on I want to take you into the mind of the schizophrenic. As you travel with me into that day and the days that followed, keep in mind that there were many days before this that I was suffering from the illness. I chose to start from this day because it changed everything.

36 pages, Paperback

Published July 16, 2016

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book sets out to assist the reader to see through the eyes and mind of a person with the mental health condition schizophrenia. It does that very well as the writer has understood his condition and addressed his need for medical intervention.
That journey is fascinating as is the looks, glances and remarks he gets along the way. Nut job perhaps resonating most with me. I feel it should warn us about passing judgement and making throw away comments to mask our fear and like of understanding. “nutter, away with the fairies, mad.”
While he was receiving treatment he was able to discern and accept genuineness in others that helped him listen and engage.
His liberation was two-fold in that he found help quickly and found the correct medication. The first drug prescribed to him over took his personality and left him tired and lethargic. I was struck by how he can to seek his GP out and get his ‘script changed.
The book is wonderful to explain the unreality of thinking that consumes the mind of a schizophrenic the mirror crisis reminded me of a recent episode on Eastenders.
I would urge anyone with a desire to learn more about mental illness and seek to talk with friends with mental health issues to read this short personal account. Let the person speak for themselves and be ready to listen.
Towards the end the piece takes on a personal testimony about how he author found God in a similar different journey. Again made possible by the loyalty of others and the integrity of someone not claiming to have all the answers.
While this will not be the path everyone takes it is encouraging to see Christianity having such a positive difference in someone’s wellbeing. That the writer could be apart from God, feeling he was made imperfect, flawed by a God who seemed distant and uncaring. Then feeling humble before his creator and seeking to help others praise his name is a powerful testimony of God’s work.
This book will therefore appeal to all Christians and faith groups to challenged their walk and place in the world.

[Dawn Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulously written book on mental illness and how our preconceived ideas make incorrect judgments as well as demean. The author is so open and personal that you desire to change and to truly understand. Nicely done.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book intrigued me as my mother was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. I could relate to the authors account of his experiences with his mental illness. It was basically a first person account of how he came to be diagnosed and his path to mental awareness and the Lord. There were a few places where it was written in the third person in between first person writing which made it confusing to follow.

[LouAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Mr. Nicholas for having the courage and conviction to write this novella. For anyone dealing with mental illness or who has a loved one dealing with mental illness, this is a MUST read. Mr. Nicolas' describes his painful journey in the mind of mental illness and how he is able to come to grips with it.

[Mishelly loves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t t Usually read non-fiction or such serious topics, but I was compelled to read this because one of my uncles suffers from schizophrenia. This was such a wonderful book and gave me more insight to his disease than I have ever had. I enjoyed the writing style and how much this book makes the reader think. This book creates awareness and compassion.

[Diane Nicholsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just read Imaginary Things byMichael Nicholas. It is about a young man who has developed Schizophrenia in his 20s. It desrcribes how his mind plays tricks on him and why he acts out of control. It is a very short book and I would like to see some information on his early years,his family, his Schoo life etc.

It was enlightening that he found religion helped him and he became stable with support but it was all over far too quickly.