Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Schizophrenic description #7

Susan's description of an everyday object: "earth shine touch touch hold mold cold I'm turning letting holding shining mining"

Now guess what everyday object she described.



[Susan, a schizophrenic
patient, wearing a black
t-shirt.]





Please read the Introduction (to the schizophrenic descriptions) and its comments section first.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about a Christmas pudding bowl? Do you put coins into that?

Canopenner said...

This time Im trying

Remote control

?

Enemy of the Republic said...

Ice?

Anonymous said...

a metal detector? The kind you bring to the beach.

Anonymous said...

The sun

Amy said...

i don't know what you call them... a snowglobe? waterglobe? - one of those trinkets people bring back from vacations or either have out at holidays - with something frozen, still... animated only by whatever glitter has been left to shake about inside... and swirl until settled again.

sheesh. i don't know what she's holding.

Anonymous said...

I was thinking ice as well. I'll guess again.

Allan said...

a jar of lettuce

Anonymous said...

A pendant? Some item of jewellery?

Anonymous said...

a paper weight -- of glass or stone maybe?

I just posted about snow globes :)

flic said...

The guesses that have come close thus far are:

ice, the sun, and a glass paperweight (depending on the shape of it)

Yes, these three guesses are so close... yet so very far away. But put them together in a strange and coordinated way and you may get closer to what the object was that Susan described.

Canopenner said...

a magnifying glass?

Anonymous said...

Kitchen Faucet!!

flic said...

Lightbulb and crystal globe are two close ones!

I'll say that the globe is the right shape.

Anonymous said...

Snowball or a christmas tree decoration?

flic said...

e- No, it's not a snowball or any kind of christmas decoration.

murray said...

I had never heard of hebephrenia before you started posting these things. Are hebephrenic schitzophrenics able to live any sort of normal lives? Were the people you worked with inpatients? Institutionalised?

murray said...

I'm thinking of a door knob.

Anonymous said...

A goldfish bowl? Brass buttons?

Anonymous said...

apple or orange?

Crescentsi said...

diamond

Crescentsi said...

Hi I'm not sure I like the phrase "schizophrenic description" - surely perpetuating a "them and us" situation.

However, I suppose it has an educational value.

Simon/C

flic said...

grumblemurray- Hey Murray! I'll say here what I said in the comments section of the Introduction:

"...Keep in mind that the hebephrenic schizophrenic lives almost entirely in a fantasy world of his/her own. They take figures of speech literally. The words in their sentences are connected more by sound rather than sense. The hebephrenic schizophrenic has not only withdrawn from reality but has almost subsituted a synthetic reality for it. But don't forget, in the language of the hebephrenic schizophrenic there are always subtle and almost unseen connections to what we all generally call reality."

And I'll also add that the hebephrenic schizophrenic's cheif symptoms are silliness, dissociation of emotion from actions, and peculiar delusions and hallucinations. In addition, he or she makes apparently meaningless grimaces and gestures. If not treated, the intellect appears to deteriorate rapidly and permanently, although this may be the effect of an inability to communicate.

And indeed, the patients you see here in the Schizophrenic Description Series are currently involved in long-term inpatient care.

flic said...

grumblemurray and /t.- No, the everyday object is not a door knob. The object, though, is much smaller than a door knob.

And yes, in a real sense, it (the description) is quite a poem. But the everyday object Susan is describing isn't a poem per say. Although the object in question has two of the same letters that the word "poem" has. You'll have to guess what two letters.

flic said...

e and good for me- It's not a goldfish bowl, brass buttons, an apple, or an orange. The object Susan described is closer in size to the brass buttons than to the other objects you've mentioned.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm ... is it Telly Savalas's head?

Just kidding. I already saw that it was a door knob. ;)

flic said...

dan- Hello there, Dan. I hope it doesn't seem like I said that the everyday object in question was a door knob? Because it's not a door knob.

And it's not Telly Savalas's head, either. Although that's a good guess. :)

So the guessing is still open!

flic said...

cresent- Hello Simon. A diamond is a very good guess! But no, it's not a diamond.

And don't forget: in the world of linguistics (and our world is a world of linguistics!) there is a "them and us" or "me and you" situation in absolutely every form of communication.

In fact, some people would even say that even if you were talking to yourself, you'd essentailly be contructing an ego/alter-ego, or conscious/sub-conscious, situation.

Now, if the Description Series was instead a series of descriptions by prominent scientists, would you "not like" the idea of "perpetuating a 'them and us' situation"?

If they are scientists and we are not, why would you want to escape that reality? To make the scientists feel better? To make yourself feel better? Would you really want all of us in the world to pretend that we were all scientists, or not scientists, or whatever?

But realistically speaking, there is no need to patronize schizophrenics. There is actually a silent movement these days of schizophrenics and patients suffering a myriad of other mental illnesses who are proud of their mental state and are not afraid of the old-fashioned stereotypes that others might attribute to them.

These "mental misfits" don't even try to hide their illness, they in fact actively and openly wear it on their sleeve.

As I've said elsewhere before: "You better brace yourself, because schizophrenia is an unwitting way of life for a large portion of the population in the world ... There are mild forms of schizophrenia, to the more severe forms. But don't be frightened. You'll have to get used to them. You may even be walking amongst some of them in the corridors at your workplace."

P.S. I don't mean "you" personally in any of this comment, Simon. I actually want to thank you for bringing up the semantic matter, and giving me the chance to briefly address it. Thanks.

murray said...

Neither of these are really everyday objects for most people, but nevertheless I'll try them:

a ball bearing (a small steel sphere);

a pearl.

Enemy of the Republic said...

a yellow dandelion?

flic said...

grumblemurray, enemy of the republic and cherie!- Not a ball bearing (a small steel sphere), or pearl, yellow dandelion, pearl ear rings, cuff links, or a tie pin.

But I would say that a ball bearing (a small steel sphere) is in the same family as this everyday object that Susan described.

Also, be sure to see the clues I left in the "flic said...(11:48 AM)" comment somewhere above.

Anonymous said...

how about a bowling ball?

Has that been guessed yet?

murray said...

Again, not exactly an everyday object, but is it a marble?

Anonymous said...

a marble

Anonymous said...

But for the 'ice' association, I would say 'marbles'

flic said...

canopenner- No, a bowling ball hasn't been guessed yet. And it's not a bowling ball.

flic said...

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Actually, we have a three-way-tie!


"mumblemurray", "good for me", and "e" got the answer.

The answer is: a marble.

Congratulations to all three winners!

Anonymous said...

That's so interesting that we all got it at the same time. I think your clues and hints were very helpful this go round, flic.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...A Tumbled Semi Precious Stone or River Stone!!!

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