toria

Have you ever read a book that has hit you so hard, you want to throw it down and scream "FUCKING RIGHTS! YES YES YES!!!"?

I'm re-reading Huxley's Doors of Perception over the break from school. Every time I read it, I'll pick up on another nuance, or phrase I might not have given enough thought to the first time around.

I used to suffer from panic attacks. That experience, while physically hellish during the throws of an attack, was one of the most important things I have gone through. I realized the futility of language, as I couldn't properly describe what I was experiencing... and "panic" was definately not the right word. "A sense of unreality" is supposedly a common "symptom" of having a panic attack. The fact that the mind can randomly shift into "another reality" should not just be used as an explanatory symptom in diagnosis...
Sorry.

The long and the short of it, my point in writing this in my journal is that I know some of you have experienced different forms of mental illness, or have known someone who has. "Doors of Perception" provided me with a feeling of greater understanding, paired with a widened curiosity about the medicalization of "madness"... give it a read!