Reddit mentions of And Then I Thought I Was a Fish

I had something similar happen to me in my early 20's. I had one "episode", but it lasted a couple of weeks, and it ruined my confidence in my own mental abilities and perceptions for years. I am not schizophrenic, so I agree with other commenters that are stating that a psychotic episode does not imply schizophrenia in the long term.

My episode was definitely catalyzed by my smoking cannabis, which I had done regularly, almost non-stop, for two years without any problems before it went horribly wrong. During and after the episode cannabis made it worse, but stopping didn't fix it either. So, while he should absolutely stop all drug use, more may need to be done. He should also get plenty of sleep, and not stay up for too long between sleeping, as sleep deprivation can make it much worse.

I did not have any professional help, and I made my way through it, but I consider myself lucky. It took months of solitude and reflection to come to terms with the delusions that I so quickly became reliant on during the episode. And, thankfully, I never acted on any of what I thought was happening around me during my episode. I've always been a very cautious person, and I think that stuck with me through my episode.

If you are afraid, you should try to get him to see a mental health professional of some sort. Be compassionate, but lean on his compassion for you too, and explain that your concerns/fears don't mean you don't care for him, but that, just as he is dealing with ideas/voices/etc that he isn't familiar with, you are similarly dealing with an unfamiliar situation and need his help too. From his perspective, this is all as real as anything he has ever thought or perceived, so focusing too much on what's real and what isn't in his mind will probably be fruitless in the short term. But, the simple idea that something can be unfamiliar and scary is something that I hope he can still understand, and sympathize with you on.

If at some point during this process you find yourself wanting to know more about what might be happening from his point of view, I've found this series of blog posts, and the book based on them to be a very accurate portrayal of the kinds of changes in thought and trust that can happen in a person's mind during an episode, from someone who experienced it and eventually "got better". The specific details and events were different, but it nonetheless conveyed very well how I felt during my episode, and I think it's a useful reference for understanding these kinds of episodes in general. I hope it helps you.

He's also the author of And Then I Thought I Was A Fish, a personal account of LSD-induced psychosis and an excellent read.

this is the same guy who had a psychotic break after not sleeping for a week after a bad acid trip. He remembered the whole thing (including believing his psychiatrist was a robotic Thor from the year 10,000), and wrote an ebook about it. Well worth a read

I hope you feel better and calmer and are able to get off drugs.

Some years ago I was very impressed by this book which vividly describes a very long period of a drugs-related psychosis. Not sure this is relevant/interesting to you, but thought I'd mention it.

I don't think Mullis's views were "non-scientific" – they were just wrong. Almost all 'scientific views' are wrong so that's okay.

In his book "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field" he described why he thought (or so he claimed in the book anyways) that HIV does not cause AIDS: no one had actually checked. He knew people had discovered a correlation between the two, but he claimed that no one had demonstrated a causal connection. That's not "non-scientific"; just inaccurate.

The now-famous "photo 51" was supposedly taken by Raymond Gosling. His supervisor was Rosalind Franklin:

• The near misses of scientific history
  
  It was Watson that realized the significance of the photo and shared his insight with Crick.
  
  And, of course, valorizing a single individual, or even two of them, often denies anyone else of recognition for their contributions – in popular media and thus in the minds of most people.
  
  And the history of science – the actual happenings – is a fucking jumbled mess of activity.
  
  LSD is great (and terrible too) by the way. One of my favorite books about it:
  
  
• And Then I Thought I Was a Fish

While I know the author in person, I'm not just saying this for the hell of it - he is an excellent writer and has a book out as well, And Then I Thought I Was a Fish - check it out.

Apparently this guy wrote a book about being crazy:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DZEWF8

It's $3 for the ebook version and apparently people really like it, so check it out if you enjoyed this!

He's got a book:
And Then I Thought I was a Fish

And Then I Thought I Was a Fish

Awesome book :)

Psychedelics can unlock psychosis in people who are already prone to it.

Great book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/And-Then-Thought-Fish-ebook/dp/B008DZEWF8

I don't know if it started as a blog, but it sounds like an ebook I read: And Then I Thought I Was a Fish

fwiw, I did eventually get that book done: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DZEWF8. Fewer typos and wraps up a couple of loose ends, though turns out Trinity died, so not a real pick me up.