We need to talk about psychosis. Psychosis is a completely normal glitch nearly everyone experiences from time to time. It’s not as terrifying as you think, but it is critical to understanding suicide. Psychosis is simply defined as a loss of contact with reality. It doesn’t have to be a complete dissociation; a person just needs to have difficulty in some way distinguishing between what is real or not. Usually this is defined by if they see or hear things that other people do not or if they are experiencing outlandish beliefs or paranoia (delusions). A few years ago, during an especially severe manic episode, a psychiatrist asked me, “Have you been having any hallucinations?” My response was sincere: “How would I know?” She acted like no one had ever asked that before. Yesterday I wrote about rumination , which is only one of the many ways your brain thinks in stupid, non-efficient ways. With rumination, you can convince yourself your hallucinations or delusions...
Suicide is not incomprehensible, inevitable, or evil. I have struggled with severe mental illness and suicidal ideation for decades. I, and most people in my situation, have been groping blindly though the darkness in shame and fear. Not any more. It's time we look directly into the void, together.