Today's Weird Mental Condition: Schizoaffective Disorder

A woman in her 20s gives The (London) Times a harrowing description of her life as a person with schizoaffective disorder, a condition that afflicts people with delusions (that's the schiziophrenic part) and symptoms like major depression or the sharp ups and downs of manic (bipolar) people. Here's a sampling of what she goes through: I once sewed nine buttons on to my sleeve because someone said “nine or so" in conversation. It seemed terribly important to do so. It is not uncommon for people with schizophrenia like me to make up new words. It distresses me that my thoughts are broadcast on the radio. My DNA contains the whole of the Milky Way. I am constantly being pursued by enemies and lovers. I have scissored a mark from my skin, knowing it to be a tracking device planted by the Government.

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