differently.

The former straight-A student, known for his creative and artistic talents, began to fly into rages for no reason, destroy things he made at work, then forget the entire episodes.

As time passed, his behaviour became more erratic.

"He would take mirrors off the wall at home, destroy pictures of himself, throw away clothes and shoes, give money away and was unkempt,'' Miss Davis, spokesperson for Bermuda Schizophrenia Society recalled. "He became morbid.'' Miss Davis, who at the time was pursuing a special education degree, suspected her brother was schizophrenic.

But she said because he did not display such behaviour when her mother was at home, her mother began to think she provoked it.

However, by November, 1987, both women realised that he needed professional help when he flew into a rage and Police were called to restrain him.

Miss Davis' brother and co-founder of Bermuda Schizophrenia Society Mrs.

Nathalie Davis' son was admitted to St. Brendan's Hospital for a condition suffered by at least one out of every 100 people in Bermuda -- schizophrenia.

The name (schizo, meaning "split'' and phreno "of the mind''), coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, is given to a group of mental disorders which cause dramatic disturbances in the way a person's mind functions.

It can hit a person as young as 17 and continues into the mid-30s for men and 10 years beyond for women.

It can arrive suddenly, without warning, or it can creep in slowly, starting with erratic behaviour and dropping grades.

"You could be fine one day and the next day start hearing voices. Or it can come on insidiously,'' said Dr. Robert Kerwin of The Institute of Psychiatry in London who visited Bermuda at the invitation of St. Brendan's in 1989.

Most scientists now believe the problem can be found in the neuro-transmitter dopamine, a substance which carries messages in the form of electric impulses from the lower part of the brain into the limbic area, believed to control the emotion and thought processes.

It is thought a chemical imbalance in schizophrenic's dopamine, leading to overactivity of the substance, is responsible for the disease.

But the cause of schizophrenia is still unknown and so far there is no cure.

There is, however, medication, to treat schizophrenics.

Mrs. Davis recalled how her son returned to his normal self when under medication.

"It became like a series of different events,'' his sister said. "He'd get treated. He'd take his medication. His friends would tell him there's nothing wrong with him. Then he would stop taking it and get sick.'' Both Gina and her mother admitted that having a schizophrenic in the family was stressful.

But Mrs. Davis, who founded the Bermuda Schizophrenia Society last April with the help of Canadian president of the World Schizophrenia Fellowship, Ms Geraldine Marshall, said when she first realised her son's problem she immediately searched for as much literature as possible on the mental illness.

"I started to read so my knowledge would be helpful to him,'' said the single mother. "I want him to accept his illness and try to do something with his life which I know he can't do without help.'' Miss Davis, who no longer lives with her brother, said: "Schizophrenia makes you hate what a person does. I don't hate him. I hate the fact that he does not or refuses to help himself. I want him to be able help himself, take his medication and to understand that he is sick. And I can't understand why he won't or why he doesn't. I like being around him when he is well.

"It's very frightening to watch him go through those changes.'' But Miss Davis wants to dispel myths about schizophrenia, including that it is: caused by someone studying to hard; caused as a result of being drugged; caused by a "broken heart''; a split personality; mental retardation; a state of mind that a person can control through willpower alone; and a rare disease.

Schizophrenia is characterised by delusions, auditory hallucinations such as hearing non-existant, third-party conversations about the sufferer, passivity, and loss of memory.

Secondary symptoms include feelings of persecution, auditory hallucinations where the voices are talking directly to the sufferer, and trouble following a conversation or line of thought.

Miss Davis estimated that about 75 percent of Bermuda's homeless suffer from schizophrenia.

"What happens with some of the homeless people is you get people like my mother, my brother's primary caretaker. If she dies who's going to take care of the bills. He automatically becomes homeless. He does not have a job paying him enough money. And nobody is going to hire him to pay him enough money to survive and be self sufficient because he is sick.'' Mrs. Davis said her son, who has taken his medication on a consistent basis since last October, can only get odd jobs.

"What we need are understanding employers who are willing to take the risk and say let me pay this person what he is worth and accept the fact that there might be times when he may have to be admitted to hospital,'' Miss Davis said.

Head of Psychology at St. Brendan's, Mr. Jeremy Lodge yesterday said he would like to see facilities outside of hospitals set up for schizophrenics and a drop-in centre that would allow them to socialise on a daily basis.

Both Mrs. Davis and her daughter stressed that the Society would like to see schizophrenics, with the help of medication and support, leading normal, independent lives.

The Society, which meets at St. Brendan's monthly, aims to raise public awareness about schizophrenia.

TWO OF A KIND -- Mrs. Nathalie Davis (right) and her daughter Gina want to increase the public's awareness and knowledge about the mental disorder, schizophrenia.