“We are lost people in a big, bad world.” This is the sentence that touched me very much while I was reading the book titled “The Diabolic Labyrinth“, the memoir written by Canadian author Cameron Carr. I think Cameron was very courageous, humble, and smart to talk about his walk with a mental illness called Schizophrenia. Indeed, the book, just subtitled “My Walk with Schizophrenia,” is the solitary and desperate journey into a still unknown mental illness. But what is Schizophrenia?
The answer to the question is just contained in the book, which also represents the personal battle of the author against a disease that affected him when he was still a boy. During his storytelling, Cameron is alone amid other people, alone with his parents, alone with his brother. Sometimes, several chapters of the book look like a poignant monologue explaining the symptoms of this mental disorder.
Well, according to the experience lived by Cameron, Schizophrenia has only genetic causes that affect a particular brain area. This fault also causes patients to hear strange voices, whispers that take them away from reality; it is as if they were always distracted by other things. One day, Cameron heard the voice of Jesus Christ, another day the voice of the devil. When these voices occurred, he began to behave very strangely until to be left alone by his relatives, friends, and employers. Gradually, as the narration goes on, the vortex of solitude and desperation becomes higher and higher. At the end, after being hospitalized, the author is in front of the psychiatrist who issues the shocking diagnosis,” You have schizophrenia and must take medicines forever!” As of this stage of the memoir, the journey of young Cameron will be a constant escaping from hospitals and a steady wandering from one town to another to find relief and peace.
Cameron was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the early 1980s, when medicines and treatments were not like the ones used today, but rougher and with more side effects. In the book, the author talks about how many times he tried to get rid of his medicines and how many times he found himself struggling with symptoms that came back after interrupting the therapies. During those times, he ended up in the streets, with a scruffy look and a dirty beard, just like a beggar who pleads to get a bit of food and a few pennies.
Yes, he really went through a diabolical labyrinth that made him feel like a strange person condemned to remain alone and sick forever. But gradually, as the book proceeds with the tale, Carmeron Carr’s life becomes filled with hope, joy, and purpose, until to live a normal life. Today, the author is doing well; he has a good job and is happily married. I believe the book is an excellent tool to help other people with mental illness to live a sane and normal, good life.
The Diabolic Labyrinth, a title that could suggest a horror book, is, instead, a heartfelt work about hope and healing. This is also an encouraging message to better understand mental disorders. Indeed, people with mental illnesses are only normal persons with a special brain. Remember: “There aren’t ill people, but only people incapable of embracing diversity.”
