What It Feels Like to Have Schizophrenia
An insider’s perspective on experiencing and treating psychosis
In 2001 May-May Meijer was working as a member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs at the Dutch Labour Party when she was invited to an event attended by the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. She recalls one of her colleagues mentioned that the Dutch Secret Service would check everyone who was present at the ceremony.
This was the first in a series of events that triggered May-May to start believing the Secret Service was following her.
It was later — on a trip to Cuba — that things stepped up a notch. May-May recalls her husband mentioning that because it was a communist country, the Secret Service was probably on the streets watching and listening to people.
While on a walking tour, May-May’s husband said they should be careful asking questions about Cuban living standards because the tour guides had probably been told by the government to quell such questions.
Being a member of the Dutch Labour Party and an assistant professor at the Center for Philanthropic Studies at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, May-May couldn’t help herself. She ignored her husband’s advice and asked the tour guide some hard questions about Cuban wages and quality of life.
