Virtual Mental Illness: Opening Law Enforcement Eyes to Schizophrenia

The Wall Street Journal reported this week on a trend that I find very encouraging.  Police officers all over the country are being given a glimpse into a schizophrenic’s world via a device called a “virtual hallucination machine,” created by a pharmaceutical company, in an effort to give them an understanding of what someone with untreated schizophrenia is experiencing.

Most, if not all, police officers encounter at least one mentally ill person on their beat. When someone with a disorder like schizophrenia goes off their medication and is difficult to handle or is potentially dangerous, the family member, friend or neighbor involved often call the police. This means that the police officers are involved in the situation even before social workers or medical personnel.

However, the traditional police training hasn’t necessarily equipped them to deal with the mentally ill – in fact it’s often just the opposite. Police officers are often trained to take charge of a situation using intimidating postures and loud voices. While this approach is arguably effective in standard confrontations, it is often a disaster with the mentally ill, especially schizophrenics.

In the virtual reality simulation, participants slip on the headset and goggles and are virtually led through their choice of an everyday activity – a trip to the pharmacy or doctor’s office, or a bus ride. But these everyday activities become a terrifying fun-house trip when they are bombarded by visual and aural hallucinations.  The prescription bottle that the pharmacist is handing them is suddenly labeled “Poison.” Voices whisper, sometimes in a chorus,” You’ll never escape,” or “They want to poison you,” and people who are speaking normally appear to be yelling at the participant.

While police officers may know what the textbook description of schizophrenia is, seeing and hearing first-hand the types of hallucinations they experience puts a completely different face on it, and gives them the perspective that helps them keep encounters with the mentally ill from escalating into violence.

Officers who have been trained in dealing with the mentally ill know to speak more softly to a schizophrenic, not to physically crowd them if possible, and to talk about things that help to ground them, like their medication or seeing their case manager.

While this training won’t change how officers respond in life-threatening situations, walking in the shoes of someone with schizophrenia, even for a few minutes, is a valuable experience that aids both them and those people with mental illness on their beat.

The Sights and Sounds of Schizophrenia: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/aug/schizophrenia/

A Lever to Move the Mind: http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/2004/09/in_the_minds_ey.html

Virtual Reality Machines Give Police Hallucinations: http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060322/NEWS01/603220343/1002

Simulating Psychosis II: Virtual Unreality: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/10/27/144618/60