Psychosis:  Embracing a higher reality

You know the feeling: growing up shy and more sensitive and emotional than your fellow peers in school. The people around you used to ask what was wrong with you.  This world that we live in does not tend to embrace those who appear different when it comes to the way they handle their emotions. In fact, they may even think those who are different are suffering from some sort of mental illness and need to be treated.  This article is here to inform those who struggle with being different that they be more normal than the majority of the population gives them credit for. This reality is very empowering for the underdogs and will go a long way toward enabling their personal growth.

What is Psychosis?

The definition of “psychosis” is being separated from reality. This leads us to the question “What is reality?” Reality is perhaps more relative than we originally though as it is different for each person. When people say that someone is not in touch with reality, it is usually because they are not in touch with our reality or the reality of most of the people that are like us. They may, in fact, be in tune with a much higher reality: the reality of the real world around them with most people who naturally conform to the world being oblivious to what really goes on in the world. Maybe they are the ones who suffer from psychosis and we are the normal ones who are different from the masses.

Being in tune with our emotions is not a bad thing. It actually means we are healthy, provided we can handle our emotions with regards to the world around us. That’s the whole key to mental illness: can we deal with our emotions and are we in control? The field of Psychiatry will tell us that no amount of willpower can take on a serious mental illness, therefore we must be on some form of medication for the rest of our lives.  By studying Psychology, we can understand the general principles that will go a long way toward helping us understand ourselves.

Living life at a higher consciousness

Another interesting thing to take note of is that people who are diagnosed with the more serious mental illnesses, such as Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, are generally of genius level intelligence and above. In this world, you have to have a high level of Emotional Intelligence (EI) to go with a high level of intelligence.  Those who are above average intelligence have a higher consciousness, or are more awake. They can perceive things that the average person cannot even fathom. For example, maybe you are not really paranoid if people really are out to get you; for example, the dog eat dog world that exists in the world of office politics and Corporate America.  

Most people just ignore their emotions, because society conditions them to do so, and push through life anyway without realizing that they are slowly becoming more numb. Many of the neuroleptic tranquilizers work the same way, by numbing your emotions so that you cannot be as in tune as you once were. That is why the side effects become more serious the longer you stay on these drugs.  This is also why many people who try taking these drugs become angry, because their emotions become numb over time. These side effects are more difficult with men because men are expected to deal with their problems.

How to look normal or embrace your differences

How does one go about striving to appear more normal? Or better yet, how does one just embrace their own uniqueness? It may take counseling, but most importantly it take a serious commitment to self-development and personal growth.  The process of raising your emotional intelligence is becoming more aware of the things that trigger you as well as becoming more in tune with what your emotions are trying to tell you.

An interesting fact about the mental health field is that at least half or more patients are being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.  This does not necessarily mean it is an overdiagnosis. If you understand this “rare” condition and observe those around you, most people have traits of Bipolar Disorder. The only thing that sets apart the ones that receive treatment from the rest is how they handle the condition. 

Once you become more aware of your triggers and learn how to read, understand, and process your emotions, then no one will even notice you have a “mental illness” because you have successfully learned how to manage it.   Rather than having Bipolar Disorder, you have the undiagnosed condition of “Bipolar Inorder”.  Even if you do not succeed at anything else in life, if you can accomplish this and not have to stay on medications the rest of your life, this is a great accomplishment in the area of personal growth and self-development.  You could go on to become peer counselor or a Life Coach as a way to give back to your community and help them to overcome their issues. Don’t forget that most people are not overcomers and will likely ignore you. Just remember that even if your life helps one person, then it was worth it in the end because that one person will help another person (or more) in the end.

- Erwin Wooten