Click here to see a one minute clip of Oprah interviewing Jani Schofield, the child diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Jani's story became controversial, when Jani's father, Michael Schofield admitted to abusing Jani and his wife on his blog. The father continues to write his blog.
Further reading from the blog world about Jani and the discussion of whether or not abuse can be a cause for Schizophrenia followed, as Jani was also witness to her father hitting her mother, as the father's blog discusses in his archived May 2, 2009 post.
From Michael Schofield's May 2, 2009 blog post about his rages and violent anger:
"I have had to recall a memory of once trying to throw Susan out of our moving car because I was so angry."
"Jani saw some of my violent rages. She has seen me hit her mother and her mother hit me back."
--
The blogosphere questions abuse being a reason for the SZ diagnosis:
July 2009
This blog author, Stan, discovered the father's blog where the father had this on his about page:
"We tried everything. Positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement. Hitting her back (I won't tell you how many people told us that all she needed was a good beating). We took all her toys away. We gave her toys away. We tried starving her. We did EVERYTHING we could to try and break her. Nothing worked."- Michael Schofield
That article then ended up linked to the Furious Seasons mental health blog, authored by an investigative journalist, here in an article titled Father Of Girl With Schizophrenia Admits Hitting, Starving Girl.
Once that hit the blogosphere, Michael Schofield removed parts of his "about page" that I reprinted above from the original about page on his blog.
This quote is still on Michael Schofield's blog:
"The violence became so bad that at times Susan and I both lost it and hit Jani as hard as we could. We hit in impotent rage." -Michael, father of 7 year old Jani. (*as of the afternoon of my posting this quote, the father has changed his 'about page'. Though the words he originally wrote are reprinted/saved as a result on many blogs)
The LA Times wrote articles about Jani, and Stan the author of the blog Something not quite right emailed the reporter and had this email exchange, which became controversial in itself.
LA Times reporter defends child abuse in email exchange:
"Dear Shari Roan:
This story has caught the attention of many advocating for children. I came upon the parents of "Jani" web site and found some concerning "if not shocking" admissions by the father.
Now I have to wonder if this is in fact a child schizophrenic, or very smart child reacting to abuse before any diagnosis was made?"-blog author, Stan
Part of the reporter's response:
"....this is not the case of a normal child who has been abused. This child has a horrible mental illness that has destroyed her and her parents."-Shari Roan, LA Times
Which leads one to believe she gave the parents an excuse for physically abusing their child, before she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. There are many discussion around the Internet about this topic, because of trauma being reason for many psychiatric diagnosis.
Different Thoughts blog had also written about Jani in July 2009.
Click here to see the Oprah website, promoting the Jani show that airs on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. Oprah interviews Jani and the parents.
I will be curious if the TV show airs a one-sided pro-medication based treatment for SZ, or if they will have any alternative treatment discussions, and if the show takes on how controversial of a diagnosis childhood schizophrenia is, for adults too for that matter. There is much to think about.
Click here for a comment thread on the Oprah website.
and
Click here for a forum discussion on the Oprah website, lots of opinions there.
and
Investigative reporter, Philip Dawdy live blogs the Oprah TV program here at his mental health news blog, Furious Seasons.
Further reading
Addendum 10-18-09
Open Letter to Oprah via, Paul Baker, Intervoice coordinator Different Thoughts blog
Posts
15 comments:
I watched Oprah at 9am. The show aired a lot of video footage of Jani talking to her 'hallucinations' and had a lot of video footage of the parents explaining what the last few years has been like. They said that Jani was on Clozaril and that it only basically took the edge off the hallucinations, made them and made Jani, less violent. They said she had been hospitalized 3 times this year, for a total of 184 days. Stop by my site for my review of the show. It was neither pro medication or anti-medication. It just stated the medication Jani took and that was it.
Had a quick look at the vids and one of, obviously, several articles on Jani and the show. It doesn't look like the show will be any other than totally one-sided. Sickening. Too much at stake for Oprah. Challenging the mainstream might cost her viewers=influence/power and cash .- BTW: did you notice the Pfizer-ad on top of this page? - If at all she bothers to investigate "childhood schizophrenia" beyond what the mainstream has to say about it.
I haven't seen the show, and probably won't, based on where I live. Keep in mind that Oprah also features Eckhardt Tolle, so I do expect that one day the show will present a different perspective on schizophrenia. Oprah recognizes when something controversial or popular will attract viewers.
watching it now. it's really upsetting though i cannot understand why......
the father just rubs me the wrong way.
I am watching this show now...It's disturbing to see a child, essentially from birth, has had schizophrenia. I am a follower of the Son of God, Jesus Christ and all I can say is that there IS a cure for schizophrenia. His name is Jesus. I'm praying this precious little girl gets delivered and healed from this demonic attack. And I also pray the parents and baby boy are given the wisdom, peace, patience and compassion to keep on with Jani and to never give up on her. I pray they receive real spiritual counsel as well (in Jesus' name). Thanks for posting this.
Lola: Taken the current state of affairs into account, just rattling off what drugs Jani is on combined with the message that "schizophrenia" is "a chronic disabling brain disorder" (cf. link in my first comment here) equals to being pro-drugs, i.e. biased, i.e. one-sided.
I would like to suggest Theophostic prayer for Jani. You can visit www.theophostic.com. We have been using it for our prison ministry and we are amazed at the results. Just to give you an idea the recitivism rate is less than 10%.
wow. i am in shock. i came on your page by accident actually. i was googling only to find out when oprah came on in my town. i usually don't even watch-- obviously.
anyhow-- reading this post is just insane in itself. i didn't see the show-- again.. needless to say. i wish i would have.
is this father in jail? if not--why not?? he has admitted publicly that he has severely and inhumanely abused this child.
has she been removed from the home?
geesh.
i hope so.
i am just speechless.
i hope someone intervenes and helps that girl.
have a nice day :))
I know what these parents go through, but on a much smaller scale. They are doing the best they can. However, the father admited on Oprah he tried to kill himself which itself is a sign of mental illness. So, right off the bat, something about the genetic link should have been mentioned. Both parents are on pharmaceuts for depression. This little girl didn't have a chance straight out of the womb. My concern is WHY they felt the need to bring a baby boy into a family with a strong history of mental illness? Doesn't anyone think anymore before they procreate? Trust me, Jesus isnt going to cure anything. This little girl hallucenates about cats and rats and they medicate her enough to drop a horse, but people say they talk to jesus and see a crying virgin Mary on a hill, and they build churches in their honor. What's the difference?
^^Well, I agree with one thing from the above poster, TheBoy Sagan. The parents are doing the best they can with the (limited) resources available. What I gathered from the show airing was that these parents are at their wit's end trying (sometimes desperately) to 'deal' with an illness that needs both patience and persistence. Their being overwhelmed sort of makes the illness even more overwhelming than it needs to be, in my opinion, Jani's behavior is probably due to both being a young child as well as a child having a serious illness, it's hard to say where the two separate from each other. Sometimes they discipline her for being schizophrenic, sometimes for being a normal 7-year-old. Only time will tell how bad the illness and behavior gets. I think it's sad that the father has admitted to letting his emotions take control of his actions, Jani certainly needs all the calm and rationality from her parents if she's dealing with a mental illness. My heart goes out to the family.
I had schizophrenia too 16 years ago when I was in California, and I was confined in Las Encinas Hospital, CA. I posted a message to Oprah @
http://www.oprah.com/community/blogs/rstmichael
Schizophrenia is curable, and my website http://illuminated.tripod.com
gives more information about it.
Rodney St. Michael
I have yet to see a schizophrenic who conveys a consistent story that follows its own logic. This is not how schizophrenics communicate. The mother is obviously hiding something. The dad says weird things. They named the child January? If so, this explains why she chooses the names she does for her friends. The fact that she did not sleep as an infant is the avenue to investigate for doctors. My assessment is something went awry in infancy causing her sleep disturbance (vaccine, abuse, etc.) This in addition to the traumas the father has admitted to and god knows what else he hasn't admitted to combined to push her into her own "world" as she describes. Then along come the doctors who have no clue what is going n and the nearest thing they can find in the DSM is childhood schizophrenia. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say he abused her while she was pregnant with the girl which started the whole thing physiologically and psychologically.
Please, get a Bible and read Luke 4:31-41, Mark 1:21-28, Mark 5:1-13, and the one that reminds me of Jani, Mark 14-29. I would contact a true disciple of God to anoint and pray over her. I would contact Pastor Doug Batchelor, Sacramento, CA, or Pastor John Carter, Arcadia, CA. I will be fasting and praying for Jani.
I am tired of religious people thinking you can just pray away mental illness. You can't!!!!!! Instead of telling yourselves this is the answer get educated about mental illness, here's a hint you won't find it in the Bible.
To all of you uneducated and ignorant people trying to pray away mental illness. IT CANT BE DONE!! It's bad enough that these people endure the stigma that they do everyday on top of the dibilitating affects of their disease. Too bad you can't pray away IGNORANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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