8/21/2026 at 8:32:39 AM
Having dealt with a few people with schizophrenia, either diagnosed, or clearly exhibiting many of the symptoms and refusing to engage with medical professionals until I cut off relationships for my own safety. I think something really sad was happening here.In fact, in a bout of lucidness, he tried to take his own life because "Elijah had left him". That's horrid.
The people I have known have hurt themselves and took actions that were designed to hurt others - physically, emotionally, in one case financially - because they believed in a higher order. Sometimes, that higher order was, errr, me. [1]
If the story of saving his son's life is true, that's marvellous and mysterious and wonderful. But the surgery referred to at the start of the surgery sounds like it introduced an infection and/or change in brain function somehow, and he suffered with the consequences the rest of his life.
As an aside, it's weird how many stories of mental hallucinations are tied to the music of the Beatles. Perhaps its popularity, or because it was a step change in how music was written and produced, but I was watching something the other night that mentioned just how obsessed Manson was with the White album. Now this with Strawberry fields. Don't know what to make of it, just an odd data point.
[1] These people felt I was controlling their mind, I could read their mind, I was instructing them, and so on. I was just having a chat down the pub with them, nothing more (but then, if I were a mystic being trying to do my work through others I would say that, wouldn't I?). The common factor in all these men (and they were all men < 35 years old at the time), was heavy cannabis use, particularly in teen years. This is now well documented in literature as being linked to schizophrenia.
by PaulRobinson
8/21/2026 at 9:49:17 AM
The surgery was just the extraction of a wisdom tooth. If Philip K. Dick was brain damaged, it probably wasn't from that, but from the years of heavy drug use (he praised/romanticized LSD, but by most accounts he didn't take it more than a few times - meth was his drug).by vintermann
8/21/2026 at 10:15:09 AM
I have close family with schizoaffective disorder. It sucks.A big part of it, is seeing “connections,” in everything.
Every newspaper article, every radio ad, every person glancing your way, is a “message.” Sometimes, it’s good, but usually, it’s bad. They’re “plotting to kill me,” or “spying on me.”
People like that, are uniquely susceptible to suggestions from sycophantic LLMs, which can be disastrous.
I used up my quota of acid, before I was 18. It’s basically “temporary schizophrenia.”
by ChrisMarshallNY
8/21/2026 at 10:40:52 AM
> A big part of it, is seeing “connections,” in everything.I've lately been wondering if schizophrenia causes this connection-seeing, or if connections cause indicators of schizophrenia/psychosis.
I've lived in cities like New Orleans, where everything seems magically connected through something about the culture and relationship structure imho, which results in intense feelings of synchronicity. There seems to be a high proportion of schizophrenia and general mania in New Orleans.
And now LLMs (which are always making and reinforcing connections, right or wrong) lead me to wonder about this direction of causality once more...
by patcon
8/21/2026 at 1:29:30 PM
> I've lately been wondering if schizophrenia causes this connection-seeing, or if connections cause indicators of schizophrenia/psychosis.IANAD, but my reading of the literature is that the genes for schizophrenia cause connection seeing, which on its own is mostly net neutral (slightly negative on average, but positive for many people). But it’s not having the ability to think critically about those connections, along with trauma and lack of social support, that causes this ability to see connections to manifest as mental illness. The genes for schizophrenia on their own though are, on average, only slightly net negative in terms of their impact.
by Alex3917
8/21/2026 at 1:55:05 PM
Seeing connections in everything is unsurprisingly marked as illness in The Black Iron Prison (per Philip Dick), while not seeing connections in anything is its reinforcing virtue: the daily grind, the routine, the dittoheadness, the oblivion, you name it. "Normal people".Of course, it's best to be where these two counterbalance each other. Solve et coagula.
by wartywhoa23
8/21/2026 at 1:50:53 PM
[dead]by cineticdaffodil
8/21/2026 at 3:08:34 PM
> As an aside, it's weird how many stories of mental hallucinations are tied to the music of the Beatles.I think it's just an economies of scale thing. The Beatles _were_ THAT big. If everyone listens to them, there's going to be increased incidences of the Phillip K. Dick's and the Charles Manson's.
by butlike
8/21/2026 at 12:54:58 PM
I believe this is drug induced psychosis not schizophrenia, but ianad so that's just a guess.DIS can reverse with cessation, but schizophrenia is not reversible AFAIK.
by newsomix9xl
8/21/2026 at 1:14:03 PM
This is the general consensus, last I checked. PKD was a meth addict, and it absolutely played a major part in his "visions".by uptownJimmy
8/21/2026 at 10:42:33 AM
>I was watching something the other night that mentioned just how obsessed Manson was with the White albumIIRC Manson thought the song "Helter Skelter" referred to some sort of apocalypse. In fact, it is just a name for a children's helical slide that used to be popular in British fairgrounds!
by hermitcrab
8/21/2026 at 12:18:38 PM
Huh:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_skelter_(ride)
First known appearance on Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1906.
by gilleain
8/21/2026 at 1:39:19 PM
Yes, hardly apocalyptic!by hermitcrab
8/21/2026 at 9:18:38 AM
> it's weird how many stories of mental hallucinations are tied to the music of the BeatlesI think Lennon once made the claim that he had taken acid 1000 times. So it lines up.
by echelon_musk
8/21/2026 at 11:13:01 AM
PKD remained surprisingly lucid and self aware of the likelihood of suffering from some sort of mental illness. He went back and forth the rest of his life trying to figure out whether he was insane or whether he'd had "real" spiritual experiences. But as the characters in his books learn, there may not even be a clear distinction between the two.From VALIS (which was largely based on his experiences):
> What he did not know then is that it is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
> Let it be said that one of the first symptoms of psychosis is that the person feels perhaps he is becoming psychotic. It is another Chinese finger trap. You cannot think about it without becoming part of it. By thinking about madness, Horselover Fat slipped by degrees into madness.
> People suffering nervous breakdowns often do a lot of research, to find explanations for what they are undergoing. The research, of course, fails.
> What struck me was the oddity of a lunatic discounting his hallucinations in this sophisticated manner; Fat had intellectually dealt himself out of the game of madness while still enjoying its sights and sounds.
by Trasmatta
8/21/2026 at 11:57:58 AM
For those unaware, Horselover Fat is a direct self insert - the name is intentionally referring to his own.by vidarh
8/21/2026 at 12:04:23 PM
What I love is how PKD and Horselover Fat phase in and out of each other throughout the book. Near the beginning, PKD makes it clear that Fat is "him" and that he's narrating the book to give himself clarity on the events. But then PKD the narrator slowly instatiates into the story as a completely separate character. There are scenes with Dick, Fat, and his friends all talking. And then that changes again later in the book.I see almost 4 versions of PKD in VALIS: the narrator, Fat, the narrator instantiated into the story itself, and then the real life author (who is treating this book as semi fictional, semi autobiographical).
by Trasmatta
8/21/2026 at 12:54:32 PM
Thank you for your contribution to the ongoing stigma surrounding mental illness. Never forget, you are the hero of this story.by sillywabbit
8/21/2026 at 12:56:49 PM
Is saying it's sad and suicide is horrid a stigma? Apologies.As somebody with mental health issues himself, I was not aware of other people's sensitivities on this, only my own.
by PaulRobinson
8/21/2026 at 2:48:18 PM
I misjudged the tone of your comment at the time I wrote that. My bad.Personally, I'm still dealing with fallout from temporary cannabis-induced psychosis.
Keep the downvotes coming. Points matter.
by sillywabbit