The following is an excerpt from Fallen, Standing: My Life as a Schizophrenist by Reshma Valliappan. This was first excerpted on Scroll.

I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when I was 22. I could hardly pronounce the darn word. I had no clue what it meant but I know that people were chasing me. There were these bad guys, a whole bunch of them, bad vampires who were trying to kill me. They would follow me everywhere I went. They would stand outside my house. They would prey on me in college. I could see them even with my eyes closed. I could feel their presence right outside my window.

Read the full article where it was originally published in the Scroll.