When you're a schizophrenic out of medication, simply being dropped at the door of a grocery store and told to make your way to the pharmacy to get more could cause you so much stress that you might end up suffering a psychotic episode.
It can be difficult for people who experience stress each day and manage it as part of their routine to comprehend how different life is for someone with a mental illness.
Eleven Frankfort police officers experienced about eight minutes of what it's like to hear voices and see things Thursday through a virtual reality experience that was part of a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program sponsored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).
Officers put on headgear containing a screen and earphones that helped re-create what it feels like for a person experiencing active symptoms of psychosis.
The virtual reality training was only one part of the 40-hour training officers received this week that wraps up with a graduation ceremony today at City Hall.
For more on this story, see the latest State Journal.
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