Nathaniel Ayers And The Soloist: Schizophrenia

917 Words4 Pages
Schizophrenia is a serious and disabling mental disorder which is usually associated with a decline in social and occupational functioning. “The disease affects approximately 1% of the world’s population or around 1-12 adults in every 1,000; mostly in the 15-35 year old groups.” (Emsley, 2013) Schizophrenia is defined as a severe disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, hallucinations, and inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.” (Ciccarelli & White, 2012) It was renamed by Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist. Schizophrenia is broken down “as (schiz-) within the brain, (phren-) among thoughts, feelings, and behavior that seems to take place in people with this disorder” (Ciccarelli & White,…show more content…
It starred Jamie Foxx, playing Nathaniel Ayers, whom was a homeless, Julliard-trained musician that became mentally ill with schizophrenia. Nathaniel Ayers was born in Ohio, Cleveland on January 21, 1952. He attended Cleveland Music School, and played double bass. Mr. Harry Barnoff, a teacher at the school, said he had exceptional talent. He was quoted saying that, “Nathaniel had a lot of innate talent. Many students of mine ended up becoming lawyers and doctors, but he loved music with a passion.” (Patricia, 2009) Although Mr. Ayers was offered a scholarship to attend music school at Ohio University and Ohio State, he aspired to attend Julliard School of Music in New York City. He was accepted to the school on a full scholarship as a double bassist. Unfortunately, during his third year at Julliard’s, he suffered a mental breakdown and had to be institutionalized. There was some speculation that Mr. Ayers felt extreme pressure to prove himself as one of the few African American students in the highly competitive school. “When he left Julliard and returned to Cleveland he went to live with his mother, who later died in 2000.” (Patricia 2009) His mother consented to allow him to undergo shock therapy. Jennifer Ayers, Nathaniel’s sister said, “mother felt like this was gonna be it. I remember when he came out; he had this look on his face, like a zombie. She expected him to come out as a different person, and it didn’t…show more content…
No. Can it be treated? Yes. There was a study to investigate whether treatment with Clozapine, a sedative drug, used to treat schizophrenia; and other atypical antipsychotics were associated with the reduction in psychotic and depressive symptoms and improvement in chronic schizophrenia patients’ awareness of their illness. “Patients treated with other atypical antipsychotics reported a greater reduction in depression than patients treated with clozapine.”(Emsley, 2013) Therefore, atypical antipsychotic may be effective in reducing psychotic and depressive symptoms, with possible improvements in patients with chronic
Open Document