Article by Priyah Koren

A Story of Struggle in the Realm of Schizophrania

By Priyah Koren

Ephrat Heyman, Ari Zetler’s sister

It was an early March afternoon in Paris, 1980. A slow breeze carried Ari across the flea market as a chorus of heavy boots clunked upon the cobblestones. She strolled past slick furniture and ornate frames. Zetler gravitated towards the eccentric paintings that were sold in the market. She was particularly interested in one painting; slowly she started drifting into the fantasy of the beautiful item. She inhabited the picture, yet the calmness was only in her mind. Zetler began screaming and moving in bizarre ways. An ambulance was quickly called, and rushed Zetler to the immediate medical attention she needed.

Whispers crept and assumptions flew from people surrounding the scene. Nobody had a clue of what was going on with Zetler.

Reaching the hospital, she was strapped up

people will be diagnosed with schizophrenia this year around the world” (“Schizophrenia Symptoms”). People all over the world are affected by different conditions set aside form the norm. This act of isolation leads to stigmas being formed around certain taboo topics. Schizophrenia needs to be talked about openly, cases of schizophrenia should not be frowned upon in a society. Welcoming each person with the mental illness will enrich perspectives of others. Psychotic diseases like schizophrenia should gain more attention in our modern world, as this is an era of accepting the new.

Ari and Ephrat having fun together and still exhibiting the same behavior. It was as if she had no clue what was going on; she was lost in her imagination. After the doctors tested many experimental medications on her and conducted a series of dreadful operations over several months, they were inconclusive about the medications needed to cure her. Zetler was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia paranoia. Professionals could not and still couldn’t make clear views of many patient’s conditions.

Schizophrenia is a common disease: “Worldwide about 1 percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia [...] 3.2 million have the disorder. About 1.5 million

The Center Cannot Hold, a memoir by Elyn Saks explores her intriguing life experiences while coping with schizophrenia.

Moreover; both Saks and Zetler experienced challenges during their lifetime like: suffering from societal discrimination, coping with the symptoms of schizophrenia, and seeing the movement towards a better life for schizophrenics.

Pluralistic ignorance can be shown when people view schizophrenia; where a majority of a group privately reject a norm, but go along with it. Schizophrenia and other psychotic diseases are very commonly found, and to accept and hopefully make changes one must become aware of the norm. With stories such as Zetler’s and Saks, can bestow a new reign of acceptance for the mentally ill. Schizophrenia is a highly erratic disease and until it gets enough attention and stories told about it, the end to the prejudices will never come to an end.

A person’s childhood is the most vital time of their life, it’s the time where they re-

tain all of their senses and become in touch with the world. In other cases, it’s a time of exclusion and many times a dislocation from society. Trying to fit in is always a struggle, Zetler was subjected to those stereotypes.

Although on the outside she seemed fine at around 6 to 8 years old, she began to act differently than other kids. He mother as well as her sister Ephrat Heyman began noticing these changes. Heyman describes one instance: “every few steps my sister used to stop and to do some ritual movements, some strange movements something with her leg, something with her hand and it’s like [...] [...] and I asked her, ‘Stop doing it, why are doing it?’ and she said, ‘I can’t, I have to do it.’” The two young girls were shaped to think that certain things are not meant to be done in public, yet this was part of Zetler, she could not control it. Society should be

“A ritual movement because every ten steps she stopped and did it.

I remember it very well because people were looking and staring at us and I was ashamed and I didn’t know why she was doing it” (Heyman).

Dotan Koren, Liat Koren, Ari Zetler, and Elad Heyman

more accepting and diversified in that sense in which a young girl suffering from a mental illness can feel included and not be put down by stereotypes. As she grew up and lived her more “normal” life there was less and less imperfections with her behavior. She was always lonely because of her condition, “she could never hold onto a relationship cause you know, when you always go in and out of a mental hospital you can never really hold on to a relationship, that really broke her heart that she never had a companion for life” (Koren). On the other hand the people closest to her were also affected by her actions. Due to her illness and the diagnosis

“She said some really evil things, yet she could not control the words spewing from her mouth” (Heyman).

consequences. Doiguchi states that, “it may be difficult for someone to form a relationship with someone who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The patient might have a lot of jumbled thoughts and experience delusions from time to time or hallucinations so being able to form and keep relationships may be difficult.” So the relationship failure usually comes from the lack of expression from the patient as to how they are feeling.

Miscommunication is the most common result of having deliriousness and hallucinations. In general, both cases and many others like Zetler’s and Saks’s, schizophrenia was the end to their whole social life, these are some ways their family members experience that same prejudice behavior.

she was given, as a paranoid schizophrenic, she strongly believed that her relatives and medical experts were after her, however; they were the ones that were trying to cure her. In one instance in the mental hospital, Heyman came to visit her during a schizophrenic attack, but instead of acting positively and greeting her sister she started to go off on her.

A lifetime of social, and emotional experiences by individuals with schizophrenia have significant effects on their relatives which many times result in detrimental

Ephrat Heyman and her daughter reunited in America

Priyah Koren

is a high school Junior at Los Altos High School. She enjoys being a Freestyle Academy student. In her freetime she mostly likes to draw and take photographs, teach swim lessons, and to pick up new hobbies. She hopes to one day figure out her future goals for college, but for now she is a enjoying her time with friends and family.

This QR code leads to Priyah’s documentary website, where you can view more details about her project