Personal Viewpoint

a dialogue between myself and my hallucinations. The publication of this book brought me letters from people who wanted to know how a nurse could work efficiently while being a schizophrenic. Getting the schizophrenic a job and helping him to keep it are very important tasks for psychiatrists and social workers. The way has been paved by the setting up of workshops within hospitals, so that patients can begin to test their capacities while being paid. Hostels for newlydischarged patients are also important, although the idea didn't appeal to me personally. I went against everyone's advice and soon after leaving hospital?where I had been after a suicidal attempt?I applied for, and obtained, a nursing post in a psychiatric hospital. This is the work I want to do, and I think I have some inside knowledge which can make me an asset rather than a liability to my employer. I am now quite happy in my work, and in my free time I write articles and books. I don't think I am being too presumptuous, for although being a schizophrenic does not endow one with a special insight into every other schizophrenic, I do believe that the basic symptomatology and feelings are the same for all such patients. I have received treatment in psychiatric hospitals twelve times since my first breakdown in 1955 when I was twenty* two, so I know something of the patient's problems, as well as those of the staff. * would not say that my case is typical, because I feel that I have not deteriorated to the extent that many schizophrenics would have done after so many acute episodes. I have been helped by receiving constant out-patient treatment, which consisted of E.C.T. and tranquillising drugs (for which I have a high tolerance)My history is such that obtaining a nursing post was not at all easy. But I have had too much experience of unemployment to want to return to this state. I would stay in bed for about 22