Book Review: "Nightmare: A Schizophrenia Native"
Jessica Chaffin
Issue date: 11/8/01 Section: The Scene
Wendell Justin Williamson shot and killed two people and injured 13 others. Williamson suffers from a brain disorder called schizophrenia—often called multiple personality disorder—and he tells his true story in "Nightmare: A Schizophrenia Native."
Wendell Williamson's gruesome and shocking autobiographical tale begins with Williamson's graduation from Chapel Hill with an honorary degree in English. Williamson continues by depicting himself as a typical young adult, with friends and activities such as going to bars and joining a band.
Williamson's nightmare begins at a fraternity party where his band is performing. As Williamson strains to reach the high notes of each song he begins to feel a great physical pressure in the right side of his brain and diaphragm. "My head was spinning and my ears were ringing. It was hard to think," Williamson said after finishing the concert. Later that evening Williamson begins to hear the thoughts of others. These delusions progressively worsen over the next few years, finally leading Williamson to believe with absolute certainty that he is telepathic.
The intense account leads into Williamson's thoughts and later actions during his three years enrolled in Chapel Hill's law school. He heard voices from a variety of people including President Clinton, various war generals, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon. Williamson's experience of hearing voices coupled with his paranoid delusion that the people around him were denying he was a telepath eventually led to his attempt at mass murder.
Initially placed in North Carolina's Maximum-Security Penitentiary until he was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, Williamson is now a patient at Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh.
Williamson's disease has symptoms of hallucinations, difficulty with speech and delusions. The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health states that almost 3 percent of the adult population suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The Treatment Advocacy Center claims that 1.4 million Americans are not receiving adequate treatment for their mental illnesses. Williamson went without treatment due to the supposed negligence of his therapist at Chapel Hill, who believed that his illness was due to brain damage resulting from drug use.
Williamson wrote "Nightmare: A Schizophrenia Native" in hopes of correcting the unfair image that he gained as a result of the media.
"Nightmare" grips the reader from the beginning. On one page the reader is led to believe that Wendell is a normal college student, someone that might be fun to hang out with on weekends. Then, on the next page, there is a completely different person who is thinking about committing suicide because of the voices in his head.
"Nightmare" is emotionally stressing, but the realities in Williamson's book can be a great asset in preventing further tragic events.
Wendell Williamson's gruesome and shocking autobiographical tale begins with Williamson's graduation from Chapel Hill with an honorary degree in English. Williamson continues by depicting himself as a typical young adult, with friends and activities such as going to bars and joining a band.
Williamson's nightmare begins at a fraternity party where his band is performing. As Williamson strains to reach the high notes of each song he begins to feel a great physical pressure in the right side of his brain and diaphragm. "My head was spinning and my ears were ringing. It was hard to think," Williamson said after finishing the concert. Later that evening Williamson begins to hear the thoughts of others. These delusions progressively worsen over the next few years, finally leading Williamson to believe with absolute certainty that he is telepathic.
The intense account leads into Williamson's thoughts and later actions during his three years enrolled in Chapel Hill's law school. He heard voices from a variety of people including President Clinton, various war generals, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon. Williamson's experience of hearing voices coupled with his paranoid delusion that the people around him were denying he was a telepath eventually led to his attempt at mass murder.
Initially placed in North Carolina's Maximum-Security Penitentiary until he was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, Williamson is now a patient at Dorothea Dix hospital in Raleigh.
Williamson's disease has symptoms of hallucinations, difficulty with speech and delusions. The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health states that almost 3 percent of the adult population suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The Treatment Advocacy Center claims that 1.4 million Americans are not receiving adequate treatment for their mental illnesses. Williamson went without treatment due to the supposed negligence of his therapist at Chapel Hill, who believed that his illness was due to brain damage resulting from drug use.
Williamson wrote "Nightmare: A Schizophrenia Native" in hopes of correcting the unfair image that he gained as a result of the media.
"Nightmare" grips the reader from the beginning. On one page the reader is led to believe that Wendell is a normal college student, someone that might be fun to hang out with on weekends. Then, on the next page, there is a completely different person who is thinking about committing suicide because of the voices in his head.
"Nightmare" is emotionally stressing, but the realities in Williamson's book can be a great asset in preventing further tragic events.