Andrew did improve remarkably,
after we got his medications straightened out. That took about a year. During
that time when he was first home, I was helping him get his room organized; we
had gone to the store to get a few things and he wanted a new mirror. He said
he did not like the one he had. He picked out one that was about three feet by
four feet. It had an iron frame that had been treated to show some rust. When
we got back to the house, we took it up to his room. I thought he would put it
over his dresser but he wanted to put it at the head of his bead, almost like a
headboard. I questioned its usefulness in that position and he said, “No that
is where I want it”.
Looking back, I wonder if he needed to see his reflection
over the bed for some type of reality check. One of the doctors who
took care of Andrew over the course of his illness told us that schizophrenics
have very week ego structure and are at risk for being bombarded with
stimulation that most of us would be able to filter out; schizophrenics have a
limited ability to distinguish between actual and delusional. This affects
their judgment and executive function.
We put the mirror over the bed where it
stayed for the next several years.
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