Schizophreni Schizophrenia And Rehabilitation Programs

Schizophrenia January (Jani) Schofield was only three years old when her world took an unexpected turn for the worse. January has childhood-onset schizophrenia. Approximately 1% of the world s population is schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a severely disabling mental disorder that, with proper diagnosis, can be treated using medications, therapies and rehabilitation programs, but there is no cure. The once normal child began withdrawing from interactions with other children, became very short tempered and spent more time with her fictional friends, or â€Å"voices† than she did with real people. By the age of five, Jani had only gotten worse. She started experiencing aggressive hallucinations of animals and numbers which tried to communicate violent messages to her. â€Å"One minute she would be really sweet and loving and all of a sudden she’d just turn. Literally it was like The Exorcist†¦Her eyes would change, her demeanor changed, her voice flattened out. Her imaginary frien ds are not imaginary at all but command hallucinations. They tell her to hurt herself or someone else,† Michael Schofield, her father told ABC in 2009. Resources to help January, and cases similar to hers, are very limited due to the fact that childhood-onset schizophrenia is extremely rare. January’s parents struggled with their insurance company to find treatment for their daughter’s condition and a hospital to help her throughout her episodes. In order to help January and to protect their younger son, the