Schizophrenia: The Illness and Treatment OptionsLeann was a beautiful 17 year old girl with a big future ahead of her. She starred in television commercials and sang in the high school choir. She was the envy of all the schoolgirls and the favorite of the teachers. She lived in Crawford, Colorado and helped her family on the farm. She had high hopes of becoming a beautician and hairdresser and pursuing university or technical studies to develop her talent. Today, at 45, she lives in an apartment at an assisted living center in Grand Junction, where she has lived for 23 years. years of his life. She endures the multitude of medications. She sits in her room, writes songs and sends them to famous country singers, like Toby Keith, in the hopes of one day hearing her song on the radio. She walks downtown to the pool and goes swimming occasionally on hot summer days. She tries to live as normally as possible. Almost every night we get a call at our house around 6pm every night. On good evenings, she talks about her day and asks us how we are and what we are going to do the next day. She talks about how she sent her song to a singer and sent something else to the White House. She told me I should go to Mesa State College and study to be a hairdresser. Bad nights, however, are a whole different story. During one of her bad nightly conversations, she talks about crazy things that no one in my family can understand. She talks about how she thinks my sister can “call events” (predict the future) and how someone told her it was true. We try to tell her that my sister can't predict the future, but she doesn't believe us. She talks about how people come into her apartment and harass her. She thinks everything she sees is connected to some grand plan or conspiracy against her. Often, she'll talk about one thing, then laugh and move on to something completely different. All the random topic changes and crazy ideas are typical of those who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, a disorder that affects more than 2 million Americans (Mayo Clinic, 1998). Often Leann hears voices and sees people that don't exist and that's how she gets all her ideas about her or others who read minds and predict the future..