And Then I Thought I Was a Fish
by Peter Welch · first published 2012
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Firsthand account of a multi-year psychotic break after LSD, funny, vivid, and one of the best descriptions of drug-induced psychosis; suits readers curious about mental illness or fans of the author's blog style.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION: Peter Hunt Welch is a 20-year-old single Caucasian male who was residing in Bar Harbor, Maine this summer. He is a University of Maine at Orono student with no prior psychiatric history, who was admitted to the Acadia Hospital on an involuntary basis due to an acute level of confusion and disorganization, both behaviorally and cognitively. He was evaluated at MDI and was transferred from that facility due to psychosis, impulse thoughts, delusions, and disorientation. He was felt to be a risk to himself and others due to his high level of disorganization and disorientat
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Another really good read covering what it's like going through psychosis is "And Then I Thought I Was A Fish" by Peter Welch, covering a three year long psychotic break he had after taking LSD. (He's the writer of http://www.stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks, a hilarious blogpost I saw linked on HN a few months…
on “What Developing Acute Schizophrenia Feels Like” ↗…that it shook my world view - in the sense that I went in with a scientific world view and came out with one. I do have a better empathetic appreciation for mental illness and psychosis though (read And Then I Thought I was a Fish if you want to scare yourself). A trip makes you realize how incredible differently someone else's mind can perceive the world. The challenging or scary part for me at least is when you rely on your…
on “Brain scans reveal how LSD affects consciousness” ↗Amped to see Still Drinking on HN again. If you enjoy devouring this guys writing, buy his book, “And Then I Thought I Was A Fish” (I think it’s the “novel” he references the game being based on?). I really really liked it. Link at the bottom of the original post. The other book is just a collection of blog posts. It’s /okay/.…
on “Coffee Is Hard” ↗This reminds me of a programmer and very talented blogger who wrote a book ("And Then I Thought I Was A Fish") about his experience of staying up for many days under the influence of LSD, and who is also committed to an institution as a result of his delusions. Very interesting and entertaining read. http://www.stilldrinking.org/the-episode-part-1
on “Getting too little sleep can have serious health consequences (2013)” ↗I really recommend the author's book "And then I thought I was a fish". Not only is it incredibly funny, in my opinion this is one of the best descriptions of a drug-induced psychosis out there. It is really pretty rare that someone can remember that much from such an episode…
on “Coffee Is Hard” ↗I just finished reading the author's book "And Then I Thought I Was a Fish"[0] where he uses footnotes quite liberally. I wish Amazon's ebook reader showed the footnotes in margin as his blog does. They weren't even shown on the same page. Instead you had to follow a hyperlink…
on “Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.” ↗It's the same plot to “And Then I Thought I Was A Fish”
on “Coffee Is Hard” ↗