According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) "Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others."

It's one of those feared illnesses that's very poorly understood.

Here are 11 people who suffer from schizophrenia (or close friends and relatives of sufferers) on what their worst hallucinations are like.

1. Constant Assault
Redditor desireex3 explains,

Brother is schizophrenic and had insane hallucinations for about a year before I could get him help. He constantly believed people were assaulting him, trying to rape him and trying to kill him.

On one occasion he ran so long to get away from them he was admitted into the hospital for heat exhaustion. He didn’t understand why we wouldn’t help him and would lash out at us. He’s now severely medicated and no where near the person he once was.

2. The KKK, witches, and a puppy
This is one of the scarier, more confounding hallucinations we’ve heard of. Redditor poodlepuzzles, who actually suffers from schizophrenia himself explains:

I have psychosis and it usually is worst when I’m alone or at night. Doubly so if I’m alone at night. When I was housetraining my puppy I had him outside at 3am, and I saw what looked like the KKK and some witches having a seance. I then heard whispers mentioning killing and saw the group start walking up the street towards my house.
Thankfully, that’s the worst it’s ever been. I do still have minor fleeting hallucinations when I’m stressed, but it’s more like seeing a shadow out of the corner of my eye and is much easier to ignore.


3. Chewing Sounds
Somebody I knew back in high school had schizophrenia, but was taking medication for it. She accidentally skipped a dose once and she came to school hysterical that she didn’t want to go back home because she heard someone chewing human meat under her bed. Human meat. How does one even know what that sounds like?

4. People with no faces
User idk_just_bored explains,

I was in school, like, 10th grade, and I’d heard voices for a bit now, to the point that I was almost getting used to the fact that I hear things others don’t. I remember getting up from my desk to use the toilet, and when I got out of the room, I see this man with no face, just standing there facing me.
At first I just thought my eyes were messing with me, so I blink a couple times, shake my head a little bit, and look back. And he’s gone. No way he could have moved in those empty, silent hallways without me hearing it, but he’s gone. So I just go to the bathroom, thinking it’s kinda weird, but not thinking too much about it. I even joked with myself that “now I’m seeing things too haha”. But when I got to the bathroom, he’s there again, standing in the doorway.
I stop and just kind of stare for a second, more curious than anything, then I think: “well maybe he’s just wearing a mask or something”, and I ask if he can move over and let me in the bathroom, but then this other kid comes out and asks who I’m talking to, right as he walks through the faceless guy. I just stand there, speechless, cause what do you say in that situation? The kid looks at me like I’m weird, but then just walks away. The dude with no face moves over to let me by, and I give him as wide a berth as I can while I go in, never taking my eyes off him.

He followed me into the bathroom, and a few seconds later this girl walks in, and I begin telling her that she’s in the wrong bathroom (I’m a guy fwi), when I notice that she doesn’t have a face either. They both begin walking towards me, and at that point I’m pretty damn scared, so I go and hide in one of the stalls and bawl my eyes out, cause at this point I realize that I’m pretty much just crazy. I didn’t come out until the staff came and talked me into it.

The two of them (the guy and the girl) show up every now and again (note, I’ve since graduated and moved away from there, but they still show up wherever I am), but they never do anything, so I don’t know what to make of it, but that first time scared the living crap out of me.

5. Demons in her shoes
Redditor Steamstroller says:

My mom worked at a placement home for high-functioning mentally ill people. Occasionally, they would go off their meds and start the cycle down into their illness again. One woman called screaming because there were demons in her shoes. If she put her shoes on, they would crawl into her feet by going under her toenails and then invade her body from the legs up.
Redditor Stinkybritches has an explanation for this phenomenon and a story to go along with it:

Schizophrenics will sometimes apply delusional thinking to somatic experiences they are having. Somebody else mentioned athlete’s foot, and I think that is highly likely. I once treated a schizophrenic with athlete’s foot who was convinced invisible nurses were sneaking into his room and sticking him with needles between his toes to drive him crazy.

6. Vein worms
In one of the more disturbing descriptions we’ve read, Redditor thegirlfromthestars says:

One of the veins in my eye was actually a worm that was eating my brain and that's why i had headaches. Also: random sharp pains and itches are bugs crawling all over my skin, trapped in my shoes, etc. I double check my shoes every time i put them on with a flashlight but still have to take them off occasionally to check.

7. Snipers
Redditor brazieroflive had this horrifying hallucination:

[…] One Friday evening I was watching TV, and happened to be playing with a flashlight that I’d left on the coffee table. Boom, next thing you know I’m in a full blown hallucination. I heard a special forces team out the window, as they were sneaking out of my back yard. I flashed the light around the room, and they got quiet, and they misunderstood my intent; they thought the light was mounted on a rifle.
Next thing you know they’re calling me outside as part of a SWAT response, and I’m on my hands and knees on my porch in the dead of knight, asking them to please not shoot me. I must have stayed out there about two hours, with my hands locked behind my head, as the snipers got more and more nervous about what I might do.

Eventually they decided that there was no way to defuse the situation, and they shot me. I spent about five minutes laying dead on my front porch, then crawled inside my house to die. I phoned my mom to let her know that I’d been shot and that special forces had killed me. Needless to say she wasn’t buying it, and talked me down to earth a little bit, but that wasn’t the end of it.
She had me go to the ER, and stayed with me on the phone until I got there. I’m still in full blown hallucination mode, so while I’m waiting in the ER I hear the leader of the special forces unit chatting with the front desk nurse. He knows that I’m there, and is coming to get me. Luckily the doctor found me first, and didn’t really know what to do with me, so he gave me 2 milligrams of Ativan and discharged me.

So I drive home, still hallucinating and now somewhat high from the Ativan, and I see all types of crazy stuff on the way home. Once I get home the Ativan mellows the hallucinations into something enjoyable, and I spend the rest of the weekend with playful hallucinations.

I can’t really describe the fear of having special forces snipers aiming at you for two hours straight

8. Calling Me
Redditor Dieselite says:

Fortunately the scariest I’ve ever had is just people calling my name from another room when I know I’m the only person in the house. My audible hallucinations don’t have a great vocabulary, and most of the time just sound like someone doing jazz scat, which is kind of annoying and makes it hard to sleep. Visually I’ll sometimes see people standing in windows who aren’t there on a second glance, or small shadows darting around like mice. I’m extremely fortunate that my symptoms are relatively mild.

9. Aliens
Redditor Kineke says,

[…]Worst of all would have to have been the time I was convinced I was being abducted by aliens.

I was in bed and staring at the ceiling when a bright light appeared like a circle above me. And I felt like I was being raised up into the air from a center point in my chest. I could see shadowy figures gathered all around the bed looking at me being lifted and they were all whispering, but the whispers gradually grew louder until it was like the sound of wind. But I somehow snapped back into reality, very frightened but obviously unscathed. That had to have been the most intense hallucination I’ve had in my life[…]

10. Mobs and Alien Heads
Blueblue43 says,

Number one scariest was the first time. I was in the bathroom and suddenly I hear what sounded like a mob of people shouting and threatening they were coming to kill me and burn me alive.

I had never experienced this before and it sounded just like real people were outside my house. I almost had a heart-attack. I went to the window and saw everything was quiet. I waited, because I thought maybe they are far away. I waited and waited and then I went out looking for them. After a while I realized that I was probably going crazy.
The second scariest was when the aliens were coming and they would cut my head off. They would keep it alive using alien technology and after raping it and humiliating it, they would lock it in a dark basement with nothing around. So I was just going to be a body-less head mounted on a wall in a dark basement until the end of time.

11. Necromancers
Redditor OsamaBinBrahim recounts,

I have voices that tell me they’re necromancers trying to steal my soul and take over my body. They try to convince me theyre real people all day every day. The scariest time was when my heart was beating incredibly fast and they told me that they had control of my heart and were going to speed it up until they killed me. At one point I totally believed they were real, but I dont anymore. I proved them to be just voices with logic, thanks to some help from the internet.

http://twentytwowords.com/people-with-schizophrenia-reveal-their-scariest-hallucinations/

Sai Baba

Mental illness is one of those taboo topics that I find very fascinating.

Out of all the mental illnesses that I've read about, schizophrenia is by far the scariest of them all. I've even watched a few videos of schizophrenics online (that & raging bipolar patients), out of curiosity & wow. Creepy stuff. One lady said she was seeing hairy spiders the size of a car! I found it interesting & I wished I could see something like that too. Still not an illness I'd wanna suffer from though. My heart goes out to anyone with serious mental illness, especially the kind that makes you hear or see things that are not there. It must be a living hell

LivingFree:

Why the tears?

Mental illness like schitzo, Ahlzimhers, Huntington's, etc are white people's disease. We ain't got the brains for that kinda thing.

Uglymugg:
Mental illness like schitzo, Ahlzimhers, Huntington's, etc are white people's disease. We ain't got the brains for that kinda thing.

All those madmen and mad women roaaming along the streets and at marketplaces. What do you think is wrong with them?

Prognose:


All those madmen and mad women roaaming along the streets and at marketplaces. What do you think is wrong with them?

madness

Uglymugg:
madness

No. Its snakebite.

Cc lalasticlala
Rocktation

Uglymugg:
Mental illness like schitzo, Ahlzimhers, Huntington's, etc are white people's disease. We ain't got the brains for that kinda thing.

who told you so

jessca048:
who told you so

You've met a dude who had Alzheimer's?

Prognose:


Why the tears?

It's a sad state of affairs for some people... it breaks my heart. Imagine seeing and believing that a swat team have their guns pointed at you, and having your hands behind your head while on your knees, for 2 whole hours!

Uglymugg:

You've met a dude who had Alzheimer's?

not really, but there is a guy I know that has a mental issue that almost resembles Alzheimer.

Uglymugg:

You've met a dude who had Alzheimer's?

For one that is "Old people's disease". It's only natural for the brain capacity to decline as a person gets older. They become forgetful in varying degrees due to the onset of Alzheimer's, dementia etc. It's the natural order of things- the older you get, the less functional you become. However, you can never win in the black society because people don't bother to educate themselves. If someone is still active for their age, they're accused of witchcraft or my favourite, " They borrowed their strength/ legs from their victims"
Same when someone is suffering from obvious mental illness, witchcraft is once again blamed. People forget that we're humans & that certain factors affect us to the point of "malfunctioning". As long as you have a brain inside of your skull, there's a possibility that it might lose its signal so to speak, at any time.

XhosaNostra:


For one that is "Old people's disease". It's only natural for the brain capacity to decline as a person gets older. They become forgetful in varying degrees due to the onset of Alzheimer's, dementia etc. It's the natural order of things- the older you get, the less functional you become. However, you can never win in the black society because people don't bother to educate themselves. If someone is still active for their age, they're accused of witchcraft or my favourite, " They borrowed their strength/ legs from their victims"
Same when someone is suffering from obvious mental illness, witchcraft is once again blamed. People forget that we're humans & that certain factors affect us to the point of "malfunctioning". As long as you have a brain inside of your skull, there's a possibility that it might lose its signal so to speak, at any time.

I don't know why I found this comment funny
Then I got to the last line and it became scary

XhosaNostra:
Mental illness is one of those taboo topics that I find very fascinating.

Out of all the mental illnesses that I've read about, schizophrenia is by far the scariest of them all. I've even watched a few videos of schizophrenics online (that & raging bipolar patients), out of curiosity & wow. Creepy stuff. One lady said she was seeing hairy spiders the size of a car! I found it interesting & I wished I could see something like that too. Still not an illness I'd wanna suffer from though. My heart goes out to anyone with serious mental illness, especially the kind that makes you hear or see things that are not there. It must be a living hell

As in. The hearing voices part is hard. One time like that I was just hearing voices non-stop for hours. I was trapped in my mind, luckily I didn't lose my sanity as happened attimes but it was like hell. Plus the lithium injection I was given made my jaw stiff and shake. It was crazy.

UyiIredia:


As in. The hearing voices part is hard. One time like that I was just hearing voices non-stop for hours. I was trapped in my mind, luckily I didn't lose my sanity as happened attimes but it was like hell. Plus the lithium injection I was given made my jaw stiff and shake. It was crazy.

OMG, I'm so sorry. IDK what to say. Never actually spoke to someone who's experienced a real episode. I hope you're doing much better now or that it was a once off psychosis because it does sound very, very scary.

XhosaNostra:


OMG, I'm so sorry. IDK what to say. Never actually spoke to someone who's experienced a real episode. I hope you're doing much better now or that it was a once off psychosis because it does sound very, very scary.

Yes, I am doing much better. For almost 2 years now I have had no relapse. But it wasn't once-off, it happened other times and I'm at risk at anytime, sometimes when I'm under stress. Thanks.

UyiIredia:


Yes, I am doing much better. For almost 2 years now I have had no relapse. But it wasn't once-off, it happened other times and I'm at risk at anytime, sometimes when I'm under stress. Thanks.

I was actually thinking about the stress factor but I didn't mention it in fear of coming across like I'm minimizing your struggle.
I like that you're not ashamed of your issues though. That's honestly very commendable.
I'm also glad to hear you haven't had another episode in a long time. Keep doing what you're doing to stay healthy

I don't have a mental illness that requires medication But stress does take me to the brink of madness. To prevent that, I stay away from things that trigger negative emotional reactions eg. relationships My own issue is more emotional than mental though, but who knows what could happen if buttons are pushed too far? I don't wanna find out. When the kitchen gets too hot, I get the hell out because I sense there's a part of me that might just SNAP if I take on too much heat

XhosaNostra:


I was actually thinking about the stress factor but I didn't mention it in fear of coming across like I'm minimizing your struggle.
I like that you're not ashamed of your issues though. That's honestly very commendable.
I'm also glad to hear you haven't had another episode in a long time. Keep doing what you're doing to stay healthy

I don't have a mental illness that requires medication But stress does take me to the brink of madness. To prevent that, I stay away from things that trigger negative emotional reactions eg. relationships My own issue is more emotional than mental though, but who knows what could happen if buttons are pushed too far? I don't wanna find out. When the kitchen gets too hot, I get the hell out because I sense there's a part of me that might just SNAP if I take on too much heat

Thanks.

UyiIredia:


Yes, I am doing much better. For almost 2 years now I have had no relapse. But it wasn't once-off, it happened other times and I'm at risk at anytime, sometimes when I'm under stress. Thanks.

Hmm, nice.

UyiIredia:


Thanks.

You're welcome.

Can I ask one question? Don't answer if you feel uncomfortable with my question. How do you handle relationships? I ask because I find relationships to be one of those things that can trigger a mental or emotional meltdown. IDK how other people are able to keep up with the shenanigans, TBH.

XhosaNostra:


You're welcome.

Can I ask one question? Don't answer if you feel uncomfortable with my question. How do you handle relationships? I ask because I find relationships to be one of those things that can trigger a mental or emotional meltdown. IDK how other people are able to keep up with the shenanigans, TBH.

The thing is I have never been in a serious relationship. My relationship with women has been platonic. Just friendly, not romantic. Have I been hurt and rejected? Yes, but I don't allow it bother me. It has triggered stress for me especially since it hasn't been serious.

UyiIredia:


The thing is I have never been in a serious relationship. My relationship with women has been platonic. Just friendly, not romantic. Have I been hurt and rejected? Yes, but I don't allow it bother me. It has triggered stress for me especially since it hasn't been serious.

OK, I see. TBH, I think that's the best way- keeping it platonic. Because getting too close to people sucks. IDK if that's my own fears talking, but hey, if it keeps the blues at bay...

UyiIredia:


The thing is I have never been in a serious relationship. My relationship with women has been platonic. Just friendly, not romantic. Have I been hurt and rejected? Yes, but I don't allow it bother me. It has triggered stress for me especially since it hasn't been serious.

So you're saying you're a virgin?

Prognose:


So you're saying you're a virgin?

I didn't say that one o. Does sleeping with a girl mean the relationship is serious? Prostitutes, one-night flings, runs girls etc

UyiIredia:


I didn't say that one o. Does sleeping with a girl mean the relationship is serious? Prostitutes, one-night flings, runs girls etc

Oh I see.

The voices in your head. Aren't they just your thoughts? I hear voices in my head all the time but I know it's just me talking to myself.

Prognose:


Oh I see.

The voices in your head. Aren't they just your thoughts? I hear voices in my head all the time but I know it's just me talking to myself.

Yeah but hearing voices is different from me talking to myself. Talking to myself I can start and stop when I want but hearing voices you cannot control your thoughts, they continue when you don't want and they are louder in your head than normal almost like some is speaking inside your head.

UyiIredia:


Yeah but hearing voices is different from me talking to myself. Talking to myself I can start and stop when I want but hearing voices you cannot control your thoughts, they continue when you don't want and they are louder in your head than normal almost like some is speaking inside your head.

Is it true that the voices say mean things to the person? Eg. I heard that "they" play to your fears. Say things like "You're a loser" etc

In fact, many people say there're two sets of voices, the bìtchy ones & the funny ones that make people giggle for no reason

XhosaNostra:


Is it true that the voices say mean things to the person? Eg. I heard that "they" play to your fears. Say things like "You're a loser" etc

In fact, many people say there're two sets of voices, the bìtchy ones & the funny ones that make people giggle for no reason

I don't even want to think about it. Some things are better left ignored.

UyiIredia:


I don't even want to think about it. Some things are better left ignored.

I understand

Thanks for being open with the things you're comfortable discussing. It's been enlightening.