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Comment by MarkPNeyer | Hacker News Reader

i was hospitalized 3 times in a two month period in late 2012/ early 2013. a lot of people wanted me to go on social security, to give up as an adult. a few people still believed in me, so i kept going. i managed to get a job at google. i was heavily medicated and in intensive therapy for the first half of 2012

a lot of this was caused by smoking weed all the time. i stopped smoking and i've largely gotten better. i'm still taking regular medication and in therapy. daily exercise, a healthy diet, regular sleep and solid habits have helped a lot, too.

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I had a roommate in college who had latent schizophrenia that was triggered by cannabis. His mental illness seemed to drive him to smoke more, which only aggravated the symptoms and led to a pretty bad cycle. At one point, before his parents talked him into having himself committed, he was hitting the schizophrenia checklist to a tee--He believed he was Christ reincarnated, his girlfriend was the Virgin Mary, his coworkers were all FBI agents, and the radio was sending him messages through the songs they played. After he got out of the hospital he smoked weed again and completely relapsed. It took him two more trips to the psych ward before he figured it out and quit smoking.

He got high enough to realize that all humans are capable of being like Christ- This is in fact what Christ preached.

You don't have to smoke weed to realize this, you only need to get off the computer (which is in fact a mind control/social control device, like any other form of entertainment) and exercise. Both methods will "get you high" and give you the proper perspective.

Unfortunately, it seems like the abrupt realization of his spiritual power combined with the anxiety and paranoia associated with pot made him jump to some rash conclusions.

He was not the reincarnation of Christ- he realized his spiritual power, something that society has made taboo to believe in, yet is latent and quite obvious in all of us once realized.

His coworkers weren't FBI agents- they were, however, "agents" in that they were programmed through entertainment and other forms of social control to explicitly deny something that is obviously quite true: Humans are creatures with psychic/spiritual power, like all other pack animals in nature. This is the foundation for all emotional bonds, politics, and social influence.

It's completely understandable how someone who realizes they have "magic powers" would react with confusion and paranoia to those around them who have been trained to deny such a thing can exist. Spiritual power is very real.

If only it were that enlightening, but no. This wasn't some kind of trascendental breakthrough, this was the kind of psychosis that causes some people to harm themselves, or go on a rampage, and then people ask "Why didn't they get treatment for their mental illness? What is wrong with society?" He was lucky to have a supportive family and access to mental health care, many people in similar scenarios don't end up with a happy ending.

It could be perhaps a failure of society (mostly media and institution) for assuming what he was experiencing was "psychosis." Most religion could be considered psychotic or schizophrenic, yet it serves a very necessary purpose. I feel that much of what modern society considers 'mental illness' is actually a natural part of human development which religion developed around.

> Most religion could be considered psychotic or schizophrenic, yet it serves a very necessary purpose.

Most religion could be explained through a combination of fundamental attribution error, tribalism, and in the cases of prophets, temporal lobe epilepsy of the Geschwind Syndrome variety. It's more realistic to say that religion is a grouping of myths, customs, and superstitions that are approved as 'the correct ones' by the state or governing authority. Or as the old saying goes, "The only difference between a religion and a cult is real estate."

>[The computer] is in fact a mind control/social control device, like any other form of entertainment

I am curious, does this apply to all Turing-complete systems, or only Von Neumann architectures? Am I safe if I run my programs on Rule 110? If so, can I run Rule 110 on an ordinary desktop computer or does that let the mind control in? I only have so much graph paper.

My main question is: why is there an insanity checklist?

In the same way that many people experience a "white light" during near-death experiences, why do so many people:

-think they're jesus

-think aliens communicate through radio stations

-think everyone around them are "agents"

It's a very SPECIFIC checklist. To me at this point, this is the most interesting part of this phenomenon.

They are easy rationalizations or conclusions to jump to when they begin to experience spiritual phenomenon for the first time. Unfortunately, this also makes it very easy to assassinate their character from a social/political standpoint.

It's not an insanity checklist. It's a list of symptoms to determine if a person is experiencing psychotic episodes and needs medication, supervision or therapy in order to not present a danger to her/himself or others. The list is necessary because these symptoms can only partially be determined through physical measurements (MRI, to a certain degree). There are similar checklists for all psychological conditions, such as anxiety, depression or related disorders such as OCD, addiction, sociopathy etc.

Different cultures will have slightly different questions for these checklists. They are not universal, but there are some underlying themes. Where I'm from, for instance (Norway), the "Jesus", "aliens" or "agents" questions aren't there. However, there are similar questions about believing you're an important histogical figure, seeing ghosts or believing that others can control your thoughts.

Psychosis is a universal human phenomenon, but its specific manifistation is to some degree culturally dependent.

Just as a side note, I object to the use of the word "insane" to describe people with psychiatric conditions. It creates an unnatural "us vs. them" divide. Many seemingly normal people have some degree of symptoms of mental illness while functioning well in society. It only becomes a problem if one is unable to function somehow, or becomes a danger to oneself or others.

Marijuana is very hard on schizophrenics. I'm glad that you no longer consume it!

I've heard of schizophrenics being able to smoke low doses of it without it making their schizophrenia worst, but to me it seem like the upside of consuming pot isn't worth dealing with increased bouts of schizophrenia.

Good effort on handling this in a healthy way! Glad you're doing fine.

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