Her drawings offer intriguing insight to what individuals with schizophrenia experience.
When Kate was 17-years-old, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. All of a sudden, the strange sensations she’d feel, sobering noises she’d hear, and fear-inducing visions she’d witness made sense.
Unfortunately, people are rarely receptive to Kate when they learn about the condition she suffers from. This is because Hollywood has perpetuated a negative stigma about “mental illnesses” (a term Kate despises). As a result, few understand what it’s really like to be affected by schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, or other psychological disorders if they haven’t personally experienced them.
To combat stereotypes about what it’s like to live with schizophrenia, Kate began to draw the hallucinations she’d experience. Not only has it helped people understand what it’s like to walk in her shoes, it offers the artist an outlet when combatting the strange and somewhat terrifying visions.
She wrote on Bored Panda:
“What I live with isn’t easy and it can be debilitating, but I’m not living out on the streets screaming about alien abductions. That’s not to say there aren’t people out there who are that severe – there are. However, there are also people like me who just stay at home most of the time cooped up in their room. It is a spectrum of symptoms with varying severity levels. Each person’s experience is unique.”
Meet Kate, an 18-year-old artist with schizophrenia.
She draws a lot of her hallucinations to cope with the “mental illness,” a term she despises.
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“In my hallucinations I hear voices, sound effects, random noises, and I often see bugs, faces and disembodied eyes”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“I hallucinate bugs quite often, and my depression makes me feel worthless like a fly. These bug illustrations represent my illness”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“This one crawls out of the vent in my ceiling and makes clicking noises, or I’ll see it crawl out from underneath things”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“This is a self-portrait. I looked in the mirror and my eyes did this thing. I painted it”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“I have a lot of intense emotions, and hear voices telling me to light things on fire”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
Following is a depiction of the disembodied eyes Kate regularly sees. “They surface in mounds or masses on my walls or floors. They warp and move.”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“This is Birdie, she sings to me.”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“My self-esteem is at its lowest, and I feel insignificant. I always wish I could shapeshift into a “prettier” person”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“What eyes sometimes look like, with more of those odd colors and circles”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
“Organization, communication, paranoia, depression, anxiety, and managing my emotions are the biggest struggles for me”
Credit: @awkwardapostrophe
Learn more by visiting her Instagram.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
Hi Kate how are you? I feel your pain,.. after reading what goes on, on a daily basis with you is crazy. I’m 49 and suffering from, as you say they call schizophrenia. Paranoia, depression, anxiety, and managing my emotions are the biggest struggles for me too. I am currently disabled and can’t work this disease has taken everything I love pretty much away from me. But as your story gave me hope, that I’m not the only person in the world that is going through this. And when you said you stay home and your room is your comfort zone and you never want to leave it. Yes me too It depresses me to no end just the thought some days that I need to leave my room brings much anxiety. Anyways I would love to here from you as their are other questions I need to ask you? Send me an e-mail looking forward to chatting with you. God bless
Kate….I think your art is incredible! Sometimes the greatest gifts come in the strangest packages. There is a woman who has schizophrenia who is now a psychologist…I dont remember her name but she gave a TED speech. Perhaps you could find her. I think you would appreciate her views on the subject and perhaps you two could do great things. Good luck to you!
Kate,
You need exorcist, go seek help from your best Local Exorcist …
I bet you will feel much better..
I Wish all of you who suffer from such syndromes to turn into Almighty GOD, and I GUARANTEE YOU HEALTHY LIFE.
Best regards