Thursday, December 3, 2009

Mindstorm and Schizophrenia


The following link is to a page by Janssen.com, a pharmaceutical subsidiary, describing the virtual reality tour to illustrate using all the senses how life might feel to one who is schizophrenic. The video has several disclaimers and warnings as well as a first-person video account of a day in the life of one person. I used it recently in class to highlight what it might be like for one who suffers from multiple symptoms. My students had a variety of reactions from "weird" to "that's scary" and "that's intense." Along with much contextualizing that I did, the students got a sense of mostly auditory hallucinations.

http://www.janssen.com/janssen/news_mindstorm.html

The site describes it this way:
A Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM is an invaluable teaching aid for medical students, physicians, the healthcare community, and law enforcement personnel. The simulation has the potential to create empathy for a frightening condition that most people can barely imagine.

It is worth a preview for a possible inclusion for your unit on disorders

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