Rethinking Madness (Excerpts)
Preface: I had no other choice but to arrive at the conclusion that the condition we generally think of as psychosis is not the result of a diseased brain after all. Rather, it is probably much more accurate to see psychosis as a desperate survival strategy brought on intentionally by one’s very own being.
Page 4: I felt like I was jumping between universes, or, as somebody in the modern physics world would say, parallel worlds… . Well, it wasn’t always jumping from one to another. They could be multi-layered.
Pages 7-8: Sam also finds that he experiences a greatly enhanced sense of wellbeing in his life now as a direct result of having gone through his psychosis, something that is likely to come as a major surprise to many people:
I think that (these experiences) have given me probably an appreciation of where I am, so that I’m almost in a state of..uh..I don’t know, constant bliss? I don’t know how you’d describe it, but, you know, it’s very rare that things in the world bug me much (laughs). I think things do bug me. I don’t like people getting beat up, and I hate injustice, but at least for my own personal wellbeing and how I am, I have a pretty good attitude about things in the world, and how I’m able to make sure that I’m doing all right.
Sam feels strongly that his experiences played an important role in his development of self acceptance and a fruitful sense of meaning and purpose in his life: “I’m glad I’m who I am, glad I went through the experiences I went through. They helped build the character of who I am now. I have a meaning and a purpose in my life, and I wouldn’t trade it with anybody.” Closely related to this renewed sense of meaning is a greatly expanded sense of possibility: “There are infinite possibilities and I am eager to learn all I can about all possibilities.”
Dr. Paris Williams, Rethinking Madness: Toward a Paradigm Shift in Our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis, 2012
See also: Warning Signs of Psychosis, Hearing Voices Movement, Coping with Voices