I’ve known Andy (not his real name) since we were at college together in the 1980s. In those days he was a drummer in his own Heavy Metal band, a bundle of untamed energy. His friends joked that he reminded them of Animal from the Muppets. Above all else he loved partying and being the centre of attention. But the sudden death of his father halfway through his course hit Andy hard. He started to spend more and more time alone in his room with his books, obsessively reading and thinking. Pastimes that had once given him pleasure no longer held any appeal.

The old, extroverted Andy never returned, and shortly after graduating – ejected from the relative calm, stability and familiarity of college life – he began to suspect he was the target of a conspiracy involving the government, the military and several people we knew. Fearing for his life, he lashed out at a stranger in a public park and wound up in a police cell. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a secure psychiatric hospital. Continue reading “Mindfulness shows promise in the treatment of schizophrenia” →