Summary

In the first essay, “Diagnosis” (3), Wang explains that 1.1% of American adults are afflicted with schizophrenia, 0.3% are afflicted with schizoaffective disorder, and 3.9% with schizotypal personality disorder. Wang herself suffers from schizoaffective disorder, and it took eight years after her first experience with hallucinations before she received a proper diagnosis. She shares an email she wrote to her psychiatrist detailing her symptoms just before this diagnosis in 2013, along with her psychiatrist's response. She goes on to provide the precise definitions of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder outlined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), which includes a symptoms list featuring delusions, hallucinations, and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. She points out that the DSM-5 is written by fallible human beings, and that these symptoms and diagnostics are human constructs. She recalls working at a Stanford University mental health laboratory after...