Really enjoyed reading this interview. I have schizoaffective disorder and I take solace from reading that Esme, like me, found hospitalisation with psychosis to be a terrible experience. I too am unsure what the alternative options could be, except to say that I have been sure to agree with my (supportive and loving) family that hospitalisation in the future would be the absolutely last resort for me. Insightful and encouraging interview, thanks!
thank you for sharing this interview! there are so many things in here that i didn't know and are very meaningful!
some portions that leapt out to me as important:
"Why is psychosis harder for society to understand and accept than anxiety or depression? What do we get wrong about it?
Psychosis is difficult to understand because the person who is suffering from the psychosis does seem to be in a different world. They often don’t seem like themselves in a way that is different from a person who is suffering from depression or anxiety. Whereas depression and anxiety often seem like something that is laid on top of the original person, psychosis is often spoken of and thought of as something that transforms the person entirely so that they're not themselves. There's so much that we get wrong about psychosis, including the fact that the person suffering from psychosis is still themselves. I am still myself, even if I believe that my husband is trying to poison my tea and that there are spiders in my brain. I am still myself when I'm hospitalized because of psychosis. I’m lucky enough that I'm able to communicate my experience, but many people are not, and I find that the more difficult it is to communicate one's experience, the less human that person can often seem to others."
and
"I once asked the actor Andrew Garfield what he does with the characters that he plays once he's finished with them—whether they go away or disappear, or what in general happens to them—and he replied that he doesn't see the character as something that he takes on. Instead, the characters that he plays are parts of himself that he brings out as different people, and I think that that’s a marvelous analogy to living with something like the schizophrenias. It‘s a part of myself that comes out in a different manner than how I normally behave and think and act, but it is still a part of me."
and
"Our lives have boundaries, and those boundaries are our limitations. They make our lives what they are."
Love seeing two people that I admire, Allison and Esme, come together for this interview. 🫶 I find the baseball analogy very powerful.
I’m obsessed with it! Thank you for reading!!
Really enjoyed reading this interview. I have schizoaffective disorder and I take solace from reading that Esme, like me, found hospitalisation with psychosis to be a terrible experience. I too am unsure what the alternative options could be, except to say that I have been sure to agree with my (supportive and loving) family that hospitalisation in the future would be the absolutely last resort for me. Insightful and encouraging interview, thanks!
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your perspective! We definitely need more options than we currently have for chronic mental illness.
dear allison and esme,
thank you for sharing this interview! there are so many things in here that i didn't know and are very meaningful!
some portions that leapt out to me as important:
"Why is psychosis harder for society to understand and accept than anxiety or depression? What do we get wrong about it?
Psychosis is difficult to understand because the person who is suffering from the psychosis does seem to be in a different world. They often don’t seem like themselves in a way that is different from a person who is suffering from depression or anxiety. Whereas depression and anxiety often seem like something that is laid on top of the original person, psychosis is often spoken of and thought of as something that transforms the person entirely so that they're not themselves. There's so much that we get wrong about psychosis, including the fact that the person suffering from psychosis is still themselves. I am still myself, even if I believe that my husband is trying to poison my tea and that there are spiders in my brain. I am still myself when I'm hospitalized because of psychosis. I’m lucky enough that I'm able to communicate my experience, but many people are not, and I find that the more difficult it is to communicate one's experience, the less human that person can often seem to others."
and
"I once asked the actor Andrew Garfield what he does with the characters that he plays once he's finished with them—whether they go away or disappear, or what in general happens to them—and he replied that he doesn't see the character as something that he takes on. Instead, the characters that he plays are parts of himself that he brings out as different people, and I think that that’s a marvelous analogy to living with something like the schizophrenias. It‘s a part of myself that comes out in a different manner than how I normally behave and think and act, but it is still a part of me."
and
"Our lives have boundaries, and those boundaries are our limitations. They make our lives what they are."
thank you for sharing all of this!
love
myq