PERCEPTUAL

MINDS

THESIS PROJECT DOCUMENTATION BOOKLET

KYRA PEREIRA
KYRA PEREIRA

Final Thesis Project 2017

(Undergraduate Professional Programme)

Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Bangalore - 560064 Karnataka
THESIS PROJECT 2019

PROJECT TITLE
Perceptual Minds

STUDENT: KYRA PEREIRA

PROJECT: Medians of the Mind

SPONSOR: Self initiated

PROGRAM: Undergraduate Professional Programme

AWARD: Information Arts and Information Design Practice

GUIDES: Allan Parker, Meena Vari, Sai Krishna Malpuru

 Acknowledgment

This project would not have been possible without the constant support by my project guides who
were always there to help whenever required. I would especially like to thank Allan Parker for giving
me the confidence to make this film, by guiding me in the right direction, providing me with the
right inspiration and giving me a lot of valuable feedback about my work, that helped me put my
ideas into place.

I would like to thank the doctors at NIMHANS, namely Dr. Muralidharan and Dr. Priti, for taking
out time from their busy schedules to answer questions for us and help mould our projects into some-
thing more relevant. Thank you to Dr. June D’souza for reviewing the content of my script and
giving me the means to approaching this delicate topic in the right light.

I would like to thank Arjun Gonsalves for helping me with the studio sound recording as well as Avi-
rath Gowda, Mili Bajaj, and Adithya Reddy for providing their voices to use in my film. Thank you
to all the actors, namely Dhee Majumder, Kanoj Raj, Anuradha Abraham, Adithya Reddy, Urvi
Jacob, Rajiv Kuruvilla, Vaishnavi Balusu, and Dushyant Dhiren, for being so patient with me during
the entire process of this. Lastly, I would like to thank Sudhanshu Dabral, Dushyant Dhiren, and
Vikram Pradhan for assisting me with my shoots whenever I needed a second hand.
 INTRODUCTION

Mental health to this day is still a topic that isn’t talked about enough, as there are certain stigmas that
revolve around it due to a lack of information about the various different mental disorders and how they
manifest in a person, affecting even their daily reality. This is especially true in the case of psychotic
disorders which inaccurately portrayed in the media and feeds all the prior beliefs we already hold about
this topic. When a person is mentally ill, he or she is often looked at as an outcast from the rest. However
when people around react in a way that isn’t coming from a place of understanding and non-judgement,
that are clouded with pre-conceived notions, it can make it all the more alienating for the person
experiencing the disorder, and to hence overcome it by reaching out for help.

Why do we really think of “them” as so different from us? Is there a norm that they do not follow? Why is
it often thought that they are disconnected from “reality”? Is there an ultimate reality? Or is each one of
us living our own versions of reality? These are questions I pondered over which lead me researching
about psychosis, and psychotic episodes, and how something as disabling as that can really affect a
person’s most mundane day to day activities by completely distorting their reality, which makes it all the
more harder for them to deal with all of this, by looking at them like they aren’t human, just like us,
feeling the same emotions that we do.
 Psychosis and Psychotic
episodes
The term psychosis is derived from the Greek word meaning
abnormal condition of the mind. Psychosis is a symptom of
a underlying disorder, and not a disorder in itself. “psychotic
symptom” can denote the manifestation of cognitive or per-
ceptual dysfunction, mainly delusions or hallucinations, where-
as “psychotic disorder” refers to a condition in which psychotic
symptoms meet specific diagnostic criteria for a disease. The
most common understanding of a psychotic disorder is one
where a person loses touch with reality. Is there really an abso-
lute reality? I will touch upon this topic again a little later.
Hallucinations (false perceptions) Delusions (false beliefs)

Delusions are a key manifestation of psychosis,

Hallucinations can affect all five of the senses.
but can take place due to a number of different
People may hallucinate for various different rea-
reasons like brain injury, intoxication, and somat-
son including Alzheimers and forms of demen-
ic illness.Delusional thinking too can be variable
tia, brain tumors, migraines, *Charle’s Bonnet
in content, however follow similar general char-
Syndrome, Bipolar disorder and epilepsy. These
acteristics such as:
hallucinations may sometimes be commanding in
Delusion of persecution
nature, although are unique to each individual.
Delusion of infidelity
Visual hallucinations
Delusion of love
Auditory hallucinations
Grandiose delusion
Olfactory hallucinations
Religious delusion
Gustatory hallucinations
Delusion of guilt and unworthiness
*This syndrome is one that causes visually impaired people, who
have significantly lost their sight to experience hallucinations Nihilistic delusion
that range from geometric shapes, to eleborate patterns and
images (especially of figures and faces)
 What causes psychosis in a person?
A person who experiences a combination of these two
symptoms, delusions as well as hallucinations, is said to be
having a psychotic episode and is commonly experiences
in a person suffering from schizophrenia, and in the worst
cases of bipolar disorder. There are a variety of things that
may trigger psychosis in a person, some of them being due
to trauma, drug induced, or even passed on genetically. It is
important to be able to determine the underlying cause in
order to treat the problem effectively.
Psychotic disorder:
Schizophrenia
What is Schizophrenia?

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes schizo-

phrenia as a chronic and severe mental disorder affecting more
than 21 million people worldwide, which is about 1% if the
population globally. It is mainly characterised by delusions, hal-
lucinations, or disorganised speech, and can also show symp-
toms of disorganised behaviour and negative symptoms such
as lack of emotion and apathy. Hence for a person suffering
from this disorder, in can be rather difficult to complete regular
daily activities, and must receive treatment at the earliest.
 PRIMARY RESEARCH
Conversations with people who have had first-hand experience with people
suffering from the disorder as well as visits to NIMHANS.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
Psychiatrists

Dr Muralidharan, a psychiatrist at NIMHANS spoke about the severity of such psychotic disorders,
like schizophrenia. During his diagnosis process, he stressed on how important it is to inform the patient
as well as the family to be aware of the fact that it is a medical illness that has nothing to be ashamed
about and does his best to try and combat the negative stigmas in order to be able to accept the disor-
der. He also explains that it is important to reassure the patient that this condition isn’t unique to them,
and it is possible to go back to living a healthy and normal life with the right kind of help and interven-
tion. Getting back to “normal” seemed to be one of the biggest concerns with the parents and patients
regarding them getting back to work or their education, or even getting married and having a family of
their own, and how this would then affect their offspring genetically.

Dr. Priti while showing us around the hospital, explained the processes of synaptic pruning that take
place, which leads to such a condition, as well as the probabilities of the patients getting better then if
receiving diagnosis in time. She explained how due to a decline in performance either at work or aca-
demically, early detection is mostly seen amongst the educated classes of people for this reason. “In the
case of schizophrenia, the thoughts are disrupted first, and hence actions after”, she says.
After a session of answering questions with Dr.
Muralidharan and Dr. Priti, we were taken
to the closed ward of the hospital where they
keep their patients suffering psychotic episodes,
i.e. bipolar and schizophrenia. We weren’t al-
lowed to go inside the ward but I was shocked
to observe what I did from the outside itself,
and it broke my heart to imagine what the
environment of the inside must be like. I was
aware on some level that these wards were kept
shut, but what I was not expecting to see was
a large metal gate that was locked and under
constant supervision by a guard who stood
there blocking the entrance. Dr. Priti explained
how these patients could be potentially danger-
ous to themselves and to others around them,
which is why they must remain in lockup. The
patients do not usually stay here longer than
30 days as it requires permission by court to
warrant this. However, some of the older pa-
tients here do not have any family to look after
them and have found a family inside the con-
fines of such a space.
It truly is heartbreaking to hear such things
and to have seen the condition of some of the
patients, who also happen to all be dressed in a
blue uniform with a band around their hand,
and constantly being supervised by someone.
Institutionalizing a patient as I would imagine,
could serve to take a toll on a person’s psyche.
 FAMILY MEMBERS OF PERSON SUFFERING

Schizophrenia can affect the entire family of the person who is suffering. It can be very emotionally, finan-
cially, as well as physically draining too. While talking to two people who have had personal experiences
with a close family member suffering from schizophrenia, it allowed me to gain a better understanding of
how people cope with such an illness.

The first person I spoke to was my aunt, and since I already knew her, she was more open to sharing more
intimate details with me. She spoke to me, detailing all the events that have happened in her brother’s life,
but however, asked that I remain confidential about it. Hence, the names have been changed to do so. I
have framed our conversation into a set of questions that I had asked her during our talk, and have tried
Q. At what age did you start to notice a change in your brother’s behavior?
David* was always a very intelligent, bright and happy go lucky child. However at the age of 16, he started to decline academically and failed in one
subject in the 10th grade which may have triggered the start of his symptoms.

Q. Did he ever experience insomnia?

Yes, he experienced major insomnia that would worsen his symptoms.

Q. What were the initial symptoms like and how did you see this progress?
Shortly after a decline in his academics, he started to experience depression, withdrawal and insomnia. He would shut himself in his room and not get
out. The symptoms lasted years and the sleep irregularities got worse, which lead to him being irritable and having angry outbursts. He would often
have disjointed speech that would make no sense and exhibit some kind of violent behavior toward the family when they would try to intervene or
help. This scared me to see this angry look in his eye.
“What do you do for me?” he would often ask my father. “I want to chop you into pieces and put you in your coffin”, was one more thing he would say
to my father. Along with these violent outbursts, his personal hygiene started to deteriorate too. He stopped participating in daily activities and would
do nothing. He was also experiencing feelings of apathy like nothing was good enough. He would often talk to himself, laugh to himself, and have
suicidal thoughts. He could not take in too much information, and would get confused with too much noise and chaos.

Q. What kind of delusions and hallucinations did he experience?

He started to experience paranoid delusion of people following him, and started to behave as if he was living in a world of his dreams. He would often
hear voices talking to him and was suffering from chronic paranoid schizophrenia. There were delusions of grandiosity, as well as delusions of love and
thinking a girl likes him. At one point, he believed he needed to emigrate from the country as if he did not do so, he would get a heart attack or the
house would cave in and he would be in grave danger. He would also often wake up my mother and tell her things like “I am receiving magnetic waves
from the rooms.” He also experienced thought broadcasting.

Q.How long did it take before he was diagnosed?

His condition went undiagnosed for 10 years, and received a misdiagnosis for depression which is what got him to reaching the condition he’s at right
now and had he received a diagnosis earlier, he had a better chance of recovering. However, there was one instance where a nurse told my mother that
my brother may have schizophrenia and should get him checked, but my mother fought with this lady instead and was offended by what she had to
say.

Q. How did the family react when they found out he did have schizophrenia and how did they deal with this?
The family was not very accepting about it, and never spoke to the extended family about these issues. They kept David in hiding by telling people he
wasn’t well.

Q. What kind of side effects did you notice with the medications? Did they make his symptoms better?
The medication made him like a zombie and were acting like sedatives. Although it reduced his violent outbursts, he still suffered from insomnia, and
a lack of emotions as if he had no recognition.

Q.How does dealing with a disorder like schizophrenia affect the whole family?
A disorder like this can be physically as well as mentally exhausting. My mother reached a point where she could not look after him anymore due to
her deteriorating health, and had to be put in an institute since he needed constant looking after, which can be very financially draining.

*name changed to keep confidentiality

The second person I spoke to was someone who was an acquaintance, and hence, even the conversation
was a little less informal. When having put out a post on social media regarding first hand experiences with
schizophrenia, I was able to talk to a boy who’s mother is now recovering.

Me: Hello thank you for willing to share with me your experience. Do you think this affected your life in any way growing up?

Aakash* : Yes I did, but I am mentally stronger, so I kept doing my thing. But yes, it was chaotic.

Me: I’m glad to know you were strong in the process, but does that make you think your mother isn’t?

Aakash: She got carried away. When you are anxious and depressed, you get lazier. And this kept happening. This affected my elder brother. She fell
deep into it because of the situation. Dad worked hard while my brother headed to Mumbai and since I was a kid and was growing up, I found it
easy for me to ignore the problems, but now that I have matured, I think I have become more responsible and realized I haven’t contributed enough
towards their happiness. When you’re schizophrenic, you tend to get angry, overthink and feel lonely. It was tough, but I have grown up now. And I’m
sure she will get better.

Me: I’m sorry to hear all this, but I am also happy to hear you were able to deal with it all.. Was she ever on medication during this period?

Aakash: She hated the medication since that made her dull. So she skipped having her tablets. We all got carried away too.. When a family member
has schizophrenia, the family should get more connected and battle it all together as a team. Some of the best ways to deal with it is to make the pa-
tient more outgoing, by socializing, getting to know different cultures. And most importantly staying healthy. If your food intake is good and healthy,
you feel great. And nature is the best healer. Most us us fall into depression when we let go of good habits and are clueless about life, which later turns
into loneliness and becoming an introvert.

Me: Thank you so much for sharing all this with me. It has really helped me gain a new perspective to think about this topic. I do hope your mother
get’s better and gains full recovery soon.

Aakash: Thank you. She’s doing great as of now.

*name changed to keep confidentiality

SECONDARY RESEARCH
 Causes of schizophrenia

The exact causes of schizophrenia are still unknown These stresses can include prenatal exposure to viral
till date, however it is thought of to be an interaction infection, low oxygen levels during birth, exposure to
between genetic as well as environmental factors. a virus during infancy, early parental loss or separa-
While genetics can play a role in the inheritance of tion, and physical or sexual abuse in childhood.
this disorder, around 60% of people with the disorder
do not have anyone in their family who are suffering
According to a hypothesis, schizophrenia is likely
from it. However, certain environmental factors such
caused due to an excess of synaptic pruning in the
as trauma, stress or loss can trigger a person who is
brain, which is an activity that takes place in the
already vulnerable to the disorder genetically.
brain and is meant to stop during adolescence. This
is due to the significant changes in brain volume that
Stress factors that arise during pregnancy or at a later
are seen in a person with schizophrenia, as well as
stage of development may be a likely cause of the
seen in structural neuro-imagery.
disorder too.
 Rate of loss of Grey Matter

What is grey matter?

The darker tissue of the brain and spinal cord consisting mainly of
nerve cell bodies and branching dendrites.
 Gender and schizophrenia

The peak onset for men with schizophrenia is 21-25 years and
women is 25-30 years and it is also said that men experience
more negative symptoms such as apathy, lack of emotion, poor
social functioning, and poor speech, as well as more severe
clinical features such as social withdrawal and substance abuse.
Since schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder, the symptoms that
manifest are unique to the individual in terms specificexpe-
riences, however there are some common symptoms that are
often seen in a person suffering from schizophrenia.
According to a study done on detecting schizophrenia before
symptoms arise by Tim Newman, in participants who had psy-
chotic episodes, the superior temporal gyrus (primary auditory
cortex important for processing sounds) had more intimate
relationships with the limbic regions (important for emotional
processing).
 Symptoms of
schizophrenia
While it is important to note that the while the situations are
variable, some of the root symptoms remain the same. However,
each person who is suffering experiences very different manifes-
tations of the disorder, which completely distorts their reality.
The earlier we can detect the signs of schizophrenia, the better
the chances of being successfully treated.
Some of the earliest warning signs of a person suffering from
schizophrenia can be seen as:
1. Depression, social withdrawal
2. Hostility or suspiciousness, extreme reaction to criticism
3. Deterioration of personal hygiene
4. Flat, expressionless gaze
5. Inability to cry /express joy or inappropriate laughing /cry-
ing
6. Oversleeping or insomnia
7. Odd or irrational statements
Images: Freepik.com
The DSM-5 states that “the diagnostic criteria for
schizophrenia includes the persistence of two or more
of the following active-phase symptoms, each lasting
for a significant portion of at least a one-month pe-
riod: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech,
grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, and nega-
tive symptoms.”

However, according to the DSM-5, for a person to be

diagnosed, he or she must also have a decreased level
of functioning regarding work, interpersonal rela-
tionships, and self care. There must also be signs of
schizophrenia for at least 6 months, including two or
more active phase symptoms that last for most of the
month, one of them being either delusions, hallucina-
tions, or disorganised speech
Kurt Schneider’s First Rank Symptoms
Kurt Schneider, a German psychiatrist born in 1887,
pointed out that certain symptoms were characteristic
of schizophrenia, and therefore exhibited a “first rank”
status in the list of diagnostic symptoms.
These symptoms were
Auditory hallucinations
Thought withdrawal, insertion or interruption
Thought broadcasting
Somatic hallucinations
Feelings or actions experienced as made or influenced
by external agents.
According to the DSM-III-IV, which are the earli-
er versions of the diagnostic manual stated that the
presence of one or more of Schneider’s First Rank
symptoms was enough to diagnose a patient with
schizophrenia. However, it has been found that these
symptoms may arise in a person that does not suffer
from this disorder too, and hence cannot be used as
the only mean to determine whether or not a patient
has schizophrenia.
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010653.pub2/full
Myths associated with schizophrenia

There are a number of

myths that lead to certain
stigmas being associated
with the disorder, which
arise due to a lack of
proper understanding,
awareness, and also false
representation in the
media that lead to mis-
informed opinions and
judgements. These are the
four most common myths
about Schizophrenia.
Stages of schizophrenia
Each of the stages are meant to be reflected by anatomical and
functional changes that occur in the brain. This clinical staging
model of schizophrenia is meant to:
Describe development of illness over time
Help select adequate treatment relevant to particular stage
Show relation between known biological markers and psycholog-
ical risk factors
STAGE 1: Prodrome
STAGE 2: First Episode (psychosis)
STAGE 3: Chronic phase
STAGE 1: - Aim is to prevent full blown psychosis
- Inhibit apoptosis* process and the damage associated with oxidative stress
- Family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and neuroprotective agents (like omega-3)
is recommended

STAGE 2: - Aim is to reduce acute symptoms of illness

- Inhibit cognitive deficits; return to family and professional life
- Monitoring cognitive functions along with neuroleptic (antipsychotic) treatment post
pschotic depression
- Goal of therapy is to achieve complete remission of symptoms and prevent relapse of
psychosis

STAGE 3: - Aim is to prevent worsening of symptoms by use of long lasting and antipsychotic drugs,
as well as psychoeducation and social therapy, to maintain functioning in family and
professional life.

*the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of organisms growth or
development.
 Treatments for schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is not a curable disorder, but can be
treated with the a combination of the right medica-
tion, therapy, and supportive services, if diagnosed
during the early stages, which is the most effective
approach. The longer the diagnosis takes, the more
irreversible damage is being done to the brain.
Medication is a lifelong process, that can reduce and
help you manage symptoms, however this does not
mean that symptoms will always completely go away.
The medication has antipsychotic properties is meant
to be taken regularly and on time in order to combat
the symptoms.
It may be hard to accept the diagnosis at first, wheth-
er for you or your family, which is why it is important
to find the right kind of support and a positive out-
look, to help you change your approach to dealing
with the disorder, instead of you or your care-giver
living in a state of denial.
According to a doctor in the National Institute of
Mental Health and Sciences (NIMHANS), around
30% of all cases are complex ones, 30% still persist
with residual symptoms, and 40% receive proper
diagnosis for the disorder and go back to living their
normal lives.
Schizophrenia and
dreams
According to Dr. Muralidharan, a person who has
schizophrenia experiences more REM (rapid eye move-
ment) sleep, which is when most dreaming happens, and
so they have very vivid dreams. Neuroscientists have
found that the neuronal pathways that are activated
during a psychotic episode are the same as that during of
the dream state. According to Ivan Tyrrell, the function
of the dream state if to generate such hallucinatory reali-
ties, and while we all believe in the reality of our dreams,
a person with schizophrenia believes in their own reality.
Case study on Kurt Snyder’s experience
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, VOL32
Side-effects of
Antipsychotics
Antipsychotic, as with any other medication (as men-
tioned by Dr. Muralidharan), does come with it’s own
side effects. However, like the symptoms, the side ef-
fects of each medication can manifest in different ways,
sometimes in the form of weight gain, increased blood
pressure, and most often by supressing their emotion to
feeling things. So while the psychotic symptoms are being
managed, it can dull down your senses in an attempt at
doing this. While talking to my aunt about this, who’s
brother (my uncle) suffers from schizophrenia, she said
that the medication made him ‘look like a zombie’.
JOURNAL ENTRIES OF PATIENTS SOURCED FROM REDDIT
EXPERIENCES OF PSYCHOTIC EPISODES FROM REDDIT USERS
What is the true nature
of reality?
“When we agree about our hallucinations, we call that reality.” - ANIL SETH, Neuroscientist

When the different senses of our bodies are enabling us to percieve things, they
are not percieving them directly, but rather passing on impulses to the brain that
tell us what we are seeing, hearing, feeling, etc. An interested Ted Talk I watched
by a neuroscientist named Anil Seth, spoke about this phenomenon in better
helping us understand psychotic episodes. Our brain is making it’s best guess
really at what is out there, as the brain itself isn’t percieving these things directly.
And so everyday, our concious experiences of the world and us within it, are
these sort of controlled hallucinations that happening with, through, and be-
cause of our living bodies. As a collective, since our brains are all wired more
of less the same, we tend to percieve the world around in more or less the same
manner, depending on each of our prior experiences that help shape this real-
ity. We call our own versions of the world reality. But each one of us percieves
the world very differently, depending on our indivual life experiences. So what
happens when the brain percieves differently in the case of psychosis or schizo-
phrenia? Is this other persons reality, not reality, just because it isn’t our reality?
So what really is the true nature of reality?
 Stigma and schizophrenia

In addition to the symptoms that a person has to face due to schizophrenia, the person
must also have to go through the stigma. Discrimination against these patients can be
perceived when they try to make or maintain friendships, look for a job, or maintain in-
timate or sexual relations. Moreover, discrimination often comes from members of their
own family. One would imagine that stigma would be more prevalent around the lower
classes, as this could be because of a certain lack of education relating to such a top-
ic. However, to know that stigma is still so prevalent even in the upper classes is rather
disheartening to see. In my own family itself, I have observed how no one has ever really
talked about my uncle having schizophrenia, as he was always someone who was just
“ill”. Even with such a close relation in the family who’s suffering, the family members
are often unaware, and not able to accept their fate.

The effects of stigma are still rarely addressed by families and health practitioners, how-
ever, they have been observed in a number of studies. Recently, it had been demonstrat-
ed that stress instigated by stigma may be related to the transition to schizophrenia in
young people at risk of psychosis.
 Relevant project related to this topic

A project I came across which was a simulation in Augmented Reality, was an attempt at reducing the stigma
around psychotic episodes. They did this by creating a simulation of an episode in AR, and projecting shadows
and voices. The voices and figures were generated from a narrative of three patients who were suffering from
schizophrenia and the data was based off of their verbal descriptions of their psychotic experiences, focusing on
sensory perception alteration. They modeled and animated a human shaped figured that would fade in and out
according to the programs design. The voices that were heard in the simulation were prepared by a psychiatrist
who piloted the interview with the patient, playing generic content that is usually heard during auditory hallu-
cinations: whispers, threatening and commanding speech, laughter, and offending content phrases. The voices
of two characters was used to replicate the phenomena of two voices of different characters that often converse
with each other. Some of the phrases recorded were “you aren’t worth a thing”, “he will kill you”, and “get out
of here”.

When subjected people to experiencing this simulation, they experienced certain symptoms that were prevalent
in a person suffering from schizophrenia, such as disorganized thoughts, and an inability to properly concentrate
and remain focused.
These were a list of questions that were asked to the participants post being
subjected to the AR simulation.
Case study on Aaron Reina’s experience
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, VOL 36

In this second case I found online, Aaron has outlined his

own personal experiences regarding how his symptoms
started to manifest, and what triggered it to get worse. After
reading his story, I realised significantly how a person’s
reaction to someone having this disorder can really trigger
things for the worse and make the symptoms worse. It can
be a very delicate topic to touch upon, telling a person what
they believe in is false, or even treating them like there’s
something wrong with them. By doing this, we are further
digging this hole that their own mind has created for them,
and burrying them deep inside it. He explains how his de-
lusions progressed, starting from something very small, to
what grew into a large false idea about the world he was liv-
ing in. This lead him to eventually hearing voices that would
tell him to kill himself.

Scanned with CamScanner

PRE-PRODUCTION
Hallucinations from stories and posts read for inspirtaion

Scanned with CamScanner

Developing story
What did I want to achieve with this story?
For the audience watching the film, what I wanted most of all was for them to able to empathise with the charac-
ter who is suffering from this disorder, in the same way I constantly did thoughout this project, right from hearing
these stories first hand, to reading about different experiences from people, in order to better understand why
they behave the way they do, and why we must not stigmatise them the way we do. The sad part is, that we we
do this on an alomost subconcious level, without even realising the repercussions and kind of damage our actions
may cause to a person’s psyche.

One thing I wanted to make apparent was the different ways in which we react to such people in these situations
if ever we came across a person who was suffering for whatever reason, and has ever acted out in front of us.
Instead of reaching out for help, we often laugh at these people. For a person who is already paranoid, and cloud-
ed by false beliefs about the world, one can only imagine how terrorising it must feel for them to watch us laugh
at them on top of all this. By normalizing talking about such a disorder, and making it apparent that it is brain
disorder which can be treated, it makes it easier for people who are suffering, or their loved ones to be open about
sharing their experience. I needed to hence craft a story that would showcase this in the simplest way under-
standable. Hence, I decided to use two characters for my story, who were both suffering from schizophrenia. The
difference being the way the parents react to them having the illness, which in one case leads to a diagnosis, and
in the other case, does not.
Further developing my story, I decided to make Character A, a boy who would play someone from a lower-mid-
dle class family, and Character B to be a boy from a upper-middle class family. My reason for doing so was to
emphasise on the fact that stigma and a lack of education is prevalent even in the upper-middle classes of our
society, as no one wants their child to be seen as a outcast. This can make it very hard for a child who is suffering
to be able to accept living with this disorder, let alone getting the correct treatment for it. In both the cases of the
characters, we see how the friends, family members, as well as people in the public react to someone having this
disorder.

I decided to use all of my research to create a culmination of the experiences I had read, to form two narrative
that would run parallel to one another. In this sense, the data would be based off of real life situations instead of
fictional ones, changing a few details here and there for the sake of remaining confidential. I turned all my re-
search into a poem that I wrote that describes what it feels like from the point of view of the person who is suffer-
ing.
 SCRIPT FOR STORY

In a place of comfort it all began

Inside my head I Tried telling Suraj what happened that night
These thoughts ran He’s my best friend you see
Every now and then coming to my mind And just like every other thing we make a joke
As I try to dismiss them about
Reassuring myself I’m fine. He laughed it off trying to reassure me
“There’s nothing there to worry about,
But sometimes these thoughts kept me up at Nothing to hear or see”
night How do you reason with someone
A sudden sound When
A shadow in the dim of light. We’re all just living our own versions of reality
Suddenly
From the corner of my eye something moves
around The thoughts of them gradually grew in my mind
the sound of a whisper floating through the The voices and the whispers
breeze Often contradicting each other
I squeezed my eyes shut trying so hard to sleep Started to make appearances in my living reality
The next few days They were sending me signs
Not wanting to get up Guiding me at times
But wishing I could just be. But it’s the times They constantly watched over
me
The next few days seemed endless as could be Observing my every action,
It had now been day 3 Watching my every move,
Of this miserable feeling inside of me. Sometimes even through the TV!
Soon these voices grew so loud
They drowned my thoughts
They made me uncomfortable in a crowd.
I tried a way to make it all stop
The drugs, the alcohol,
….I wished I could be a regular kid and do it all..
There had to be a way to make it all stop!
However the voices only grew louder
The lonelier I got
They stood and watched as I tried to sleep
Watching the moon light up the sky
As I slowly tried shutting my eyes
Suddenly a whisper that grew louder
From the corner of my eye something moves
around again
But who were they and why were they following
me?
I can’t see to get them out of my head!
The medication drowned the voices out
Slowly fading away,
But with that the other issues arose
It took a while before I landed on the right dose.
Now that I accept that I needed help
And continue to till this day
It paved a road towards my recovery.
Accepting myself for who I am
Was the hardest part
Shutting it all out had me torn apart
Between the experience of two different realities
But I will always be more than my illness
For I’m human just like you
So while I don’t judge you for being you
Please don’t be quick to judge me too.
 VISUAL REFERENCES
CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS

Screenshots from the short film Hallucinations, by Anna Akana.

Screenshot from the short film Drink, by Papercrane Productions Screenshot from the short film Bipolar, by Redux productions
 VISUAL REFERENCES
LIGHTING AND MOOD

Screenshot from the film Intruders, by Adam Schindler. Screenshot from the film Empty (an eating disorder), by
Tom Smith

Screenshots from the film Her, directed by Spike Jonze.

 VISUAL REFERENCES
CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS

Screenshot from the short film Fear, byKat Napiorkowska

Screenshots from the film Shadow People, directed by Matthew Arnold

TONE COLOUR AND MOOD
USING OWN PHOTOGRAPHS
STORYBOARD
 LOCATIONS FOR SHOOT

Character A’s house

This was shot in my own house in Yelahanka New town, in Self Financed Society (SFS), as
the houses over here would provide a contrasting look to an apartment, since this character is
also from the lower middle class, I have tried to keep the house as simple as possible.

Character B’s house

I have shot these scenes in a friends apartment in Purvankara Venezia, in Yelahanka New
Town. Since the apartment has a slightly more modern feel, it was appropriate for the shoot.
All the scenes including the bedroom, bathroom, and living room scene have been shot in
this house.

College
I shot the scenes for Character B in college during college timings, and right after college
would get over, so that I was able to film a lot of people in the background too, and have my
actor react with them. Since the college examinations were going on, I was able to shoot the
classroom scene without having to arrange other actors in the scene, besides the father in the
end.

Park
There are a number of parks around Self Financed Society and thought it would be an ideal
location to shoot a scene with Character A talking to his friend here. I shot this scene early in
the evening to make best use of natural lighting.
Marketplace and Road
The scenes in the market were shot in New Town market which is a rather crowded market
in Yelahanka, and was easy to get people’s attention over here, just by walking with the cam-
era in my hand. People would stop to look at either my character, or into my camera when I
was shooting my first-person shots, which made it convenient for me to shoot this scene as I
would have expected.

Construction site
There are a number of construction sites around Yelahanka and so I chose one that was the
most convenient for me to shoot at, and that had to best lighting to achieve the mood, with
least use of artificial light.

Train tracks
The train tracks in Doddaballapur were easily accessible in terms of us reaching there, and
being able to climb onto the tracks to shoot. The trains to my surprise too were quite fre-
quent, having seen around three trains pass by in the 20-25 minutes of us being there. This
allowed me to take different shots from different angles.

Doctors clinic
I turned my friends study room into a doctors clinic by putting a standing light, along with
some posters about schizophrenia around the room. There are a couple of posters I made for
the shoot.
 HALLUCINATIONS
I decided to show only two sensory aspects of the hallucinations in terms of auditory and visual halluci-
nations, as these are the most prevalent in a person with psychosis. According to all the cases that I went
through, the auditory hallucinations may or may not be acoompanied by visual hallucinations, so either
way, this can be an extremely terrifying experience.

In my film, I wanted to use a combinations of both Vfx as well as on screen techniques to depict differ-
ent visual hallucinations. For the hallucinations inside the bedroom while the character is asleep, I made
someone walk around the room and moved the camera in the opposite direction of them walking, till I was
satisfied with the visual of someone in the corner of the camera screen.

The other hallucinations of shadows behind sthe shower curtain and window, I did the same by making
someone walk past and blocking out the light hence. The other visual hallucination was of Character B
seeing his father in the classroom which I used the father itself for to shoot this.

The auditory hallucinations however were different for the two different characters.

Character B
Character A

Scanned with CamScanner

PRODUCTION
 Camera movements and angles
I have paid close attention to the camera movements in my film, in order to keep the flow of film as
seamless as I could in most places, besides the obvious shifts in location. The movements in the shots
itself have been made to make your eye focus on certain elements in the frame, as well bring us closer
to the character, or distance us from them, depending on the kind of movement being made with the
camera. In the last scene of the movie for example, I have intentionally zoomed out of the character to
create a distance between him and the viewer, that he too mist be feeling in his life, at that very moment.

In terms of stabilizing my footage, I was using a camera that had an in built 3-axis gimbal, hence I was
able to take the shots while following the character’s movements in certain spaces, or track shots of the
characters running. In some places, I have intentionally moved the camera in a way that mimics the feel-
ing of being a little disoriented, that would go with the mood of the story. I used quite a few shots where
the camera would follow the character to kind of build on the feeling of them being followed.

I have also tried to experiment with the camera angles by rotating the camera in certain ways to create a
feeling of things slowly changing perspective in some sense.
Lighting and moods

In terms of the mood I was trying to set for the

film, since I imagined a slightly dark under-
tone for the film, I have shot around 60% of the
movie during the night. I have tried to achieve
certain moods with the lighting, by sometimes
only using silhouettes of the characters that are
lit by highlights from ambient lights around
them to create a particular kind of look and
feel. I have tried to use natural lighting as much
as possible, except in a couple of night scenes
where I had to use dim lights that I bounced off
of a sunboard sheet as I did not have any diffus-
ers for the light.
 Characters and building on storyline

The protagonists of my film, as well the other characters in my film were chosen with the intention of a certain per-
sonality that I had formed for the characters, that would best suit them. Hence, while directing the actors, they were
easily able to get into character to play their roles, while being able to change some things along the way, to make
things seem more natural in the film.

What I was trying to achieve with character A is a person who has been suffering for a little longer than the other
character, and so the voices do not phase him as much as they do with character B in the start, although he still often
looks around to try and find the source of these voices and was seeing things from the start of the film. Character
A is supposed to be suffering from a symptom of schizophrenia called ‘flat-effect’, which basically means that these
people tend to maintain this same monotonous look and tone in any situation, whether it being extremely scary, or
sad. This character was also seemingly very easily distracted, but because we can hear what he is hearing too in some
instances, we know why. His mother however is a single mother who is trying her best to understand what is going
through his mind, and eventually gets him to a doctor.

However, Character B was a slightly harder role to achieve as his character was someone who had paranoid schizo-
phrenia and was hence very anxious. He too is hearing voices talk to him, however, these voices are very derogatory
and commanding. They instigate him into acting out in violent ways and being suicidal. Schizophrenia automatically
increases the risk of suicide in a person, and what we see happening here, is exactly that. But instead of his family
reaching out for help, we see a mother who is trying to make an attempt at doing this, besides being busy with work,
and a father who is rather disappointed with the child’s behavior and behaves in ways that only make the symptoms
get worse, when he starts to hallucinate and see his father following him towards the end.
Posters made for Doctor’s clinic
POST - PRODUCTION
Vfx and transitions

I have worked on the Vfx of my film on

Adobe Premier Pro itself, by using key frame
animation and masks to animate different
swipe transitions, as well as for the halluci-
nations. I used a mask over the father;s fig-
ure in the classroom, to make it look like a
blacked out figure and still have the shadow
of the figure. I have tried not to overpower
the film with the abberations and glitches
and have only used them in certain places
for example in some instances when it swt-
icthes to a first person view of Character A.

For one scene where I wanted to replicate

the feeling of things moving too fast and
seeming chaotic, I have used a long expo-
sure effects on the video, by applying echoes
to the moving elements on Adobe After
 Sound Design

Layering the sounds into my timeline was rather time consuming, as I had not recorded
ambient sounds for each scene. Since there wasn’t much internal dialogue in the film,
I had to mainly focus on recording the voices that I had mentioned in my pre-produc-
tion stage. The voices of Character A were done by one male and one female, and of
CHaracter B, by a male voice. I later changed the pitch of the voices to what sounded
more apporopriate with the mood of the film, as well as added some delay and echo, to
make it sound more like the voices are internalised, and create some depth in the voices
using Adobe Audition.

The music in my film was carefully chosen to accompany the mood of the situation that
was prevalent in that moment of the film. In certain parts, because the music changes
it’s tone, we know that there is something not exactly right and we are almost expecting
something, however, we do know know what. I did this to build on the mood of anxiety,
where we do not know what to expect. Since I enjoy making music myself, I was able to
choose the songs that would accompnay my film myself.
STILLS FROM FILM
Shot by shot breakdown
PROJECT PROPOSAL
 REFLECTIVE STATEMENT

This prjoect has been an abosulte journey for me, especially when it came to putting myself in a person’s shoe who is
suffering from the disorder. I had to really get myself to feel whatever it is that a person feels at such times, in order to
translate this experiences into visual exoeriences for the screen. At times, this made me really anxious, especially while
shooting certain scenes in the night, as this helped me better reacreate these feelings. There were also times where I
would think I was hearing/seeing things, due to the noises of my film continuously playing in my mind, like a repepti-
tive tape recorded. This only made me empathise more with all the experiences I had collected over the course of
these four months. Having someone in my own family, my uncle, suffering from schizophrenia, helped me understand
the dynamics of this entire situation when it comes to acceptance and talking about the disorder, seeing as how people
in my own family did not know how the symptoms of such a disorder fully manifest in a person and how this could
lead to certain kinds of behavior.

Since I had only ever made one short film by myself before, this project proved to be a real test of my skills, as I
watched a lot of tutorials to gain a better understanding of how images flow more seamlessly in order to tell a story.
Since I did not have a crew working with me, this proved to be another challege that I worked around.

There were days where I just wanted to shut myself out from this project, which made me think about how a person
suffering from this disorder, cannot shut themselves out of their own living reality. This was a disheartening thought
that pushed me into to putting in my best effort into making this film, so that other people could feel half of what I was
feeling in that moment, and probably a tenth of what the person suffering would be feeling.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grush, R. “The emulation theory of representation: Motor control, imagery, and perception.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences.(2004) .
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15t2595z

Lieberman, Jeffrey. M.D., and B, Michael. M.D. “Psychotic disorders.” July 19, 2018. N Engl J Med 2018; 379:270-280
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1801490

Kiran C, Chaudhury S. “Understanding delusions.” Ind Psychiatry J 2009;18:3-18

Li, Rena., Ma, Xin., Wang, Gang., Yang, Jiang., Wang, Chuanyue. “Why sex differences in schizophrenia.” J Transl Neurosci (Beijing). 2016
Sep; 1(1): 37–42.

Smith, Melinda., Robinson, Lawrence., Segal, Jeanne. “Schizophrenia symptoms and coping tips.” Last updated: November 2018.

Paweł Wójciak, Agnieszka Remlinger-Molenda, Janusz Rybakow. “Stages of the clinical course of schizophrenia - staging concept.” Psychi-
atr. Pol. 2016; 50(4): 717–730. www.psychiatriapolska.pl

Nordgaard, Julie et al. “The diagnostic status of first-rank symptoms.” Schizophrenia bulletin vol. 34,1 (2007): 137-54. doi:10.1093/schbul/
sbm044

Radua, Joaquim et al. “What causes psychosis? An umbrella review of risk and protective factors.” World psychiatry : official journal of the
World Psychiatric Association (WPA) vol. 17,1 (2018): 49-66. doi:10.1002/wps.20490
Reina, Aaron. “The spectrum of sanity and insanity”. Schizophrenia Bulletin Vol. 36, 1 (2009).

Rüsch N., Heekeren K., Theodoridou A., et al. Stigma as a stressor and transition to schizophrenia after one year among young people at
risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia Research. 2015;166(1-3):43–48. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.05.027.

Soares‐Weiser  K, Maayan  N, Bergman  H, Davenport  C, Kirkham  AJ, Grabowski  S, Adams  CE. “First rank symptoms for schizophre-
nia.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD010653. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010653.pub2.

Snyder, Kurt. “Kurt Snyder’s personal experience with schizophrenia”. Schizophrenia Bulletin Vol. 32, Issue 2, 1 April 2006

TEDxTalks. Anil Seth. “Your brain hallucinates your everyday conscious reality”. https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_how_your_brain_
hallucinates_your_conscious_reality/footnotes?language=en

TEDxTalks. Oliver Sacks. “What hallucination reveals about our minds”. https://www.ted.com/talks/oliver_sacks_what_hallucination_re-
veals_about_our_minds?language=en

Tim Newman. “Detecting schizophrenia before symptoms arise.” Medical News Today. 9 November 2018

Thornicroft G., Brohan E., Rose D., Sartorius N., Leese M. “Global pattern of experienced and anticipated discrimination against people
with schizophrenia: a cross-sectional survey.” The Lancet. 2009;373(9661):408–415. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61817-6.

Tyrell, Ivan. “Schizophreniais waking reality processed through the dreaming brain.” Mindfield College, East Sussex. 22 Novermber 2007
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39227.616447.BE

WHO. Schizophrenia. World Health Organization; 2017. Mental health. http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/schizophrenia/

en/)

Music Credits:
“Shadowlands 3 - Machine” Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com) Picture Credits for posters: Freepik.com

“Shadowlands 4 - Breath” Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com)

“Unseen Horrors” Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com)
Copyrights 2018-2019

Student Document Publication

(for private circulation only)

All Rights Reserved

Final Thesis Project

(Undergraduate Professional Programme)
Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Bangalore - 560064 Karnataka

No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically,
including photocopying, scanning, photography and video
recording without written permission from the publishers
namely Siddharth Singh and Srishti Institute of Art, Design
and Technology, Bangalore.

Written, edited and designed by

Kyra Pereira
Printed at
Aruna Cadd, Bangalore
 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PLAGIARISM STATEMENT
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my own original work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style and presentation is
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Name:

Signature:
THESIS PROJECT 2019 Examiner 1 (name and signature):

PROJECT TITLE Examiner 2 (name and signature):

Perceptual Minds
Examiner 3 (name and signature):

Date:
STUDENT: KYRA PEREIRA

PROJECT: Medians of the Mind

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PROGRAM: Undergraduate Professional Programme

AWARD: Information Arts and Information Design Prac-

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