sCHIZoPHReNIa diARiES
TRUE STORIES BY REAL SCHIZOPHRENICS
Psychologist Overcomes Paranoid Schizophrenia
DR. FRED FRESE'S STORY
The following is a story published about Dr. Fred Frese, an amazing individual who also happens to suffer from schizophrenia. Dr. Frese is a member of the Board of Directors of the Treatment Advocacy Center.
Frederick Frese's astonishing story is simply this: Thirty years ago, he was locked up in an Ohio mental hospital, dazed and delusional, with paranoid schizophrenia. Twelve years later, he had become [a] chief psychologist for the very mental hospital system that had confined him.
Along the way, despite 10 other hospitalizations, he married, had four children and earned a master's degree and doctorate.
He's smart, impassioned and dedicated.
And now, after more than 300 public appearances in the last few years and a major role in a national campaign to end discrimination against the mentally ill, Frese is gaining prominence as a person who lives successfully with schizophrenia and who can share the lessons he and his family have learned from it.
Frese's accomplishments are remarkable by anyone's standards, given the often devastating nature of the disorder, which affects 2.5 million Americans. A fact sheet on schizophrenia from the National Institute of Mental Health calls it the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses.
Afraid, withdrawn and tortured by inner thoughts and voices, people with schizophrenia, particularly those who refuse to take medication, are more prone to suicide or estrangement from society. Once locked inside mental hospitals, as Frese was, they now make up a significant portion of the homeless population; many others are in jail.
But Frese, 55, of Hudson, Ohio, between Cleveland and Akron, contends he's not all that unusual -- many others with schizophrenia lead fulfilling lives.
It's a message that encourages people who hear him. In May, he received a standing ovation from 600 Detroit residents who heard his speech to Kadima, a group that offers innovative programs to mentally ill people and their families.
Frese shows that "schizophrenia need not be the end of life,'' says Dr. Husseini Manji, director of schizophrenia and mood disorders at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Receiving Hospital. He spoke with Frese at the Detroit event.
Laurie Flynn, executive director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, a Washington, D.C.-area support and advocacy group, says, "Fred embodies the hope we all have for ... the recovery of our family members.'' Frese serves on the group's board of directors.
"His talent, intellect, complete openness and humor have made it possible for a lot of people to believe it's possible to follow in his footsteps,'' Flynn says.
When Frese had his first breakdown, he was 25, a college graduate and a Marine Corps captain guarding atomic weapons in Jacksonville, Fla.
He developed an all-consuming paranoia that enemy nations, in a plot to take over the U.S. atomic weapons supply, had hypnotized American leaders.
The base's psychiatrist had Frese taken to a Bethesda, Md., naval hospital. He was discharged five months later, not knowing what he really had or whether he should take any medicine.
