‘Schizophrenia simulator’ shows reality of condition as people living with it explain symptoms

Schizophrenics have weighed on the terrifying symptoms they experience after a simulator on TikTok illustrated the realities of the mental health condition.

Schizophrenia, a long-term mental health condition, often results in 'a mix of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior', the Mayo Clinic explains.

Hallucinations involve seeing things or hearing voices that aren't observed by others, while delusions involve firm beliefs about things that are not true.

People with schizophrenia can seem to lose touch with reality, which can make 'daily living very hard'.

Posted by user @xoradmagical, an 87-second TikTok video mashes together random scenes through the eyes of somebody with schizophrenia, including one at the beach and another bird-watching in a forest.

Superimposed over the footage are swirly transparent clusters distorting the full perspective. Ghostly faces fade in and out of focus, too, adding to the disquieting hallucinatory effect.

Voices reminiscent of the Toy Story grabber machine aliens mumble and whisper in the background. Have a look here:

When the simulator was reshared over on Reddit, this allowed fellow sufferers to comment on its authenticity.

"My sister is a paranoid schizophrenic. She hears people shouting at her, calling her awful names," one person wrote. "Last week, she told me dad stopped by her bedroom doorway and stared at her with an angry look on his face before heading off down the stairs. He had died a month earlier. Awful, awful illness."

A second Reddit browser claimed that the 'auditory hallucinations' in particular were what they related to.

"The dialogue I experienced was closer to full conversations taking place between different hallucinations; they all had their own personality and heavily drew from realism instead of what's heard here," they recalled.

"The hallucinations referred to me in third person and scripted narratives about my life which weren't real. I began believing we were in an afterlife and my hallucinations became the voices of people surrounding me. Doctors, nurses, patients, family and others."

"This simulation is close to my experience, close enough that I'd believe them if they said this was their experience with schizophrenia," was one note of agreement.

Meanwhile, somebody else went on to mention 'fuzzy colors' and darting shadows haunting their vision during a prior schizophrenic phase.

"Had to sleep with a towel over my mirror cause I couldn't stop looking to see if I still see stuff, thinking it's some other dimensional creatures poking through my mirror," they shared. "The worst is hearing my name or a scream when I'm going to sleep. Still see the heat wave of things that are never there, but only when I focus.

"In the corner of my eyes it's like everyone next to me are staring daggers into my soul with distorted faces. Visuals with schizophrenia is truly terrifying."

And another Reddit user namechecked their 'schizoaffective disorder', which conjures similar voices to the video in their head.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.