Mad Alice or Mad hatter?

Volume 13 Issues 2 February, 2023

It was right there; this was the rabbit hole I slid down. I promise you I met the hatter for real; I can describe him, his hat, his charm, his words and his calm. I do not see things; I do not hear voices. I met him.

He was so lovely and funny. His jokes were so funny; I’ll tell you one of his jokes, once a chicken….

Alice…. ALICE listen, you were lying here when we found you; we were scared to see you like this; maybe you passed out due to heat and imagined things.

No one believes me when I talk; they don’t trust me; hatter trust me.

He was so happy to see me; he used to listen to each word I said; he was real. I’ve seen everything with my own eyes. I heard him speak with my ears; I know he exists; he is the funniest person I know; I’ll tell

you one of his jokes, once a chicken…..Alice…. Alice cut it out.

No one believed her as Alice sat there talking about the hatter and his jokes. They called her stupid, but was she foolish, or was she pretending to be dumb to gain everyone’s attention? She was a fine girl until yesterday; she was all jolly and normal. What happened so suddenly that she turned into

this?

I’m telling you, she’s doing all that on purpose just like her aunt, who used to talk just like this and mumbled nonstop about some random person. Maybe we should call her mom to drive some sense into

her…..

Not long back, this was the situation; people weren’t ready to accept that hearing voices could be a thing; they used to think that as being possessed, some curse or plain drama.

But after 100 years, even now, in many areas, people aren’t ready to believe that a disease like this exists; they’ll try and use all sorts of things like an exorcism, purging and all before seeing a doctor, the need for a prompt checkup is crucial as the earlier the disease is presented, the better we can counter it, even today “schizophrenia” presents as a challenge as we haven’t found any cure, but we surely have drugs to keep it in check, not everyone affected will present the same, not everyone will have the same symptoms, and some​ have a mild case of schizophrenia which can be very well controlled by drugs and lead a perfectly normal life or

some may have a serious case of schiz​ophrenia requiring the usage of ECT.

Not all those who have been affected by schizophrenia need to be kept in a mental asylum, but every one of them deserves at least a health checkup. Even though I don’t know whether all the things Alice said were real or if she was making up stuff, I surely do know her story took me to a wonderland………….