10 Ways American Horror Story Cult Explores Mental Illness In America Through Ally

While a murderous cult is definitely at work terrorizing the neighborhood, Ally's initial encounters with clowns are questionable. Ally goes to the supermarket in the first episode and witnesses creepy clowns having some...ahem, fun time on melons, and a clown attacks her in her car.

If the clowns were really there wouldn’t they have been caught on camera? The police said surveillance footage only showed Ally frantically running through the store and out the door. Sounds like hallucinations. What mental disorder is associated with hallucinations? Schizophrenia. Individuals suffering from schizophrenia have an altered sense of reality. Ally displays some positive symptoms of schizophrenia, which include hallucinations, delusions, and abnormal ways of thinking.

Not to say that Ally is schizophrenic of course, but she experiences hallucinations. This aspect of Ally brings attention to schizophrenia and the discrimination many with the disorder face in the United States. A 2008 survey by the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) noted that individuals living with schizophrenia have trouble getting proper care for physical concerns because physicians don't take them seriously. Also, 60% of the public believe violent behavior is a symptom of schizophrenia. In reality, most individuals want to be left alone and isolate themselves.

That’s serious. How would you feel if your doctor said you were just imagining your chest pain…and then a day later your relative calls an ambulance because you collapsed and fell unconscious?