Dancing with Strangeness

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By April 17, 2015 No Comments

Authors: Good Weekend Journalist: Janet Hawley

Year: 2004

Event: 2004 TheMHS Awards

Subject:

Type of resource: TheMHS Awards

Award state: NSW

Award level: Winner

Award category: Print

Abstract: In this profile of the amazing Dr Fred Frese, Janet tries to explain the fascinating and frightening world of schizophrenia, what it feels like from the inside and outside. The article provides a touching portrayal of Dr Fred Frese and his wife Penny Frese and how Dr Frese, went from being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and remanded into the indefinite care of the state in the 1960s to becoming an international respected doctor who lectures on schizophrenia. The article explores not only Dr Frese’s illness and diagnosis, and how his own children have been diagnosed with mental illness, but it paints a vivid image of how the thought processes of people with schizophrenia differ from ‘normals’. The article also discusses the link between the creative mind and madness as typified in Nobel prize-winning maths genius John Nash portrayed in the film “A Brilliant Mind”.

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