Schizophrenia in Young Adulthood: Overcoming Obstacles and Finding Strength

The average age of onset for schizophrenia is in early adulthood, late teens to early 30s.

This is an intense stage of life for anyone — graduating high school, first time living on your own, entering the workforce, attending college, and figuring out what you want to do with your life and who you want to be.

Now add experiencing psychosis for the first time, hallucinations, delusions and losing touch with reality.

In this episode of Inside Schizophrenia, hosts Rachel Star Withers and Gabe Howard explore the challenges of managing early adulthood with a schizophrenia diagnosis.

Why does schizophrenia emerge so often in this time frame, what experiences contribute to schizophrenia symptoms, and what are the challenges for young adults with schizophrenia?

Joining us later in the episode is Jules, a 22-year-old artist and college student studying marine biology at Columbia University who lives with schizophrenia.

To learn more -- or read the transcript -- please visit the official episode page.

Our guest, 22-year-old Jules, is an accomplished artist and Columbia University freshman who began her studies this fall in both art and marine biology.

Jules’ love for art began when she was just 5 years old. She has continued to nurture this deep passion throughout her life, honing her craft at The New School, and was commissioned by Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC to paint a feature mural. 

But when Jules was in her early teens, she first started experiencing hallucinations. She was afraid to tell anyone what she was experiencing and would try to physically fight her hallucinations. She eventually was admitted to a treatment facility for care and received a schizophrenia diagnosis. Today, Jules is doing well, although she continues to experience symptoms.  

Throughout her journey with schizophrenia, Jules has found her art to be a powerful tool to express how her condition impacts her. She incorporates depictions of the eels and lemons she sees in her hallucinations into her work as a way of illustrating her experience with schizophrenia. Art has become Jules’ coping mechanism, and she credits her creativity partly to her condition.  

Jules is hoping to host an art show next year to showcase her latest projects, in addition to the Mount Sinai mural she’ll be busy working on! 

In partnership with the Live Your PosSCZible campaign (an awareness program by Bristol Myers Squibb), Jules is sharing her story to inspire others who might be living with schizophrenia.

Our host, Rachel Star Withers, creates videos documenting her schizophrenia, ways to manage and let others like her know they are not alone and can still live an amazing life. She has written Lil Broken Star: Understanding Schizophrenia for Kids and a tool for schizophrenics, To See in the Dark: Hallucination and Delusion Journal. Fun Fact: She has wrestled alligators.

To learn more about Rachel, please visit her website, RachelStarLive.comm.

Our co-host, Gabe Howard, is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author.

Gabe makes his home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He lives with his supportive wife, Kendall, and a Miniature Schnauzer dog that he never wanted, but now can’t imagine life without. To learn more about Gabe, please visit his website, gabehoward.com.

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