The Reality

The one thing that frustrates me as a student and writer of mental illness is that it is so nebulous. All you can say with any certainty is that it is, wht it is, when it is. You can't even describe what exactly happened prior to or immediately after an episode, no matter how small or big.

My contention is that it is not possible to understand what is in another persons mind, whether in the realm of mental illness or day-to-day life. The bet we can do is assume that we are understanding or seeing exactly what an other person is explaining or seeing.

I sit here in a bookstore looking at the cove of a book. I can easily understand, and probably describe, what I see. But I can't possibly know for certain that another person is seeing exctly what I am seeing.