I came across an interesting essay on Asperger's syndrome. It investigated how the new disease category was established and the effects the diagnosis had on the self-understanding of the people diagnosed. On the broader spectrum, it touched on how categorization works to define who we…

Last week I finished a novel that left me in sadness and has lingered ever since. It was Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf's The Emperor of Portugallia. The author herself referred to it as a Swedish King Lear, another tragedy about insanity. I'm unable to…

On a whim, I lowered my dose of olanzapine from 10 to 5mg a couple of weeks back. Like so many schizophrenics, I can't shake the idea that in a perfect universe, I'm medication-free. We'll see how this one pans out. I'm starting to see…

It's that special time of the year again. I'm sure this Christmas is difficult for many people with inflation and rising food prices. At least pork and potatoes are still cheap. My friend is having an especially tough time. He's addicted to benzodiazepines and alcohol.

A few years back, my ex-flatmate committed suicide. She was the first friend I made in Prague and a remarkable person. We used to go to play pool and get drunk on Jagermeister. Late at night, she'd come into my room, and we'd stand in…

When I experienced my first psychosis, I behaved awkwardly. It made people around me feel very uncomfortable. No one knew how to address the issue, but there was always an elephant in the room. I often felt like people didn't like me. Like they waited…

It's been five years since I started taking Olanzapine. I've been lucky because the doctors found a drug that worked for me straight away. Many people with schizophrenia go through a plethora of antipsychotics until they find one that's right for them. If they ever…

A while back, I watched Jordan Peterson's psychology lectures series, which touched on many interesting topics. Peterson is someone who's clearly spent his life gazing into the darkness of mankind. He frequently quotes Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche and takes an interest in events like the Holodomor…

Harvard social scientist Ellen Langer conducted a series of experiments into the idea that if you're trying to persuade someone to do something, it's best to provide a reason. She approached a group of people waiting in line to use a photocopying machine in the…

During a lunch break in 1950, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, famous for creating our first nuclear reactor, asked a casual question. Where is everybody? He referred to the aliens who, given that the earth is part of a young planetary system compared with the rest…