During my years of training, I have met a few self-defense practitioners who, like me, have been living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. (For anyone who doesn't know, schizophrenia is a mental illness that involves visual/auditory hallucinations and paranoid thoughts or feelings.) It can be a real challenge to live with the illness, but martial arts (and really any form of intense, physical activity) can be a real help. Some scientists argue that this is because when endorphins are released by the brain during or following an intense bout of exercise, it increases the euphoric feeling in the body and can also lay down new neural pathways in order to help heal the brain from the neurochemical imbalance that is said to cause schizophrenia in the first place.
But I think the fact that martial arts also makes you combat-ready can be a contributing factor as well. When you've fought for your personal safety against multiple attackers, you start to realize that hallucinatory voices are not all that scary. Hallucinations can never fight or attack you the way a real flesh-and-blood person can. And if you can defeat a big, scary bad guy, you can surely defeat a couple of voices.
Just food for thought. Peace.
But I think the fact that martial arts also makes you combat-ready can be a contributing factor as well. When you've fought for your personal safety against multiple attackers, you start to realize that hallucinatory voices are not all that scary. Hallucinations can never fight or attack you the way a real flesh-and-blood person can. And if you can defeat a big, scary bad guy, you can surely defeat a couple of voices.
Just food for thought. Peace.
