Gold: Do you see, what I see
Psychosis is a condition of the mind where your perception of reality is changed. It affects the way you think, feel and experience the world. The mental illness can affect anyone, but the causes of the pshycotic periods can be complex and hard to determine. It can stem from stress, lifechanging events, drugs, physical or other mental illnesses. You get to meet eight out of 12 people, who have experienced phsycotic behaviour. Though the causes vary, the difficulties to determine what is real and what is not applies to all of them. The exhibition consists of two sides of the same person. One is who they are, one is a glimpse of the reality as they experienced it during their psychotic periods. Through close collaboration we have tried to visualize their state of mind during the phsycosis. This was done to give you the ability to try and understand them as individuals and how it affected who they are today.
For can you be the same, when you return to reality again?
Jonas Holm
“Don’t do weed. That’s how I see it” Jonas Holm Petersen, 24 y/o Jonas starts smoking cannabis as a teenager. At 17 he smokes on a daily basis. He starts feeling euphoric. Later the anxiety and negativity starts to hit, but he continues. After days of too little sleep he looses touch with reality. It triggers the first of three phsycoses. He is admitted to the phsyciatric emergency room. He is told it appears to be a manic episode with phsycotic symptoms. Possibly caused by his drug abuse. A year later Jonas finds himself in London. This time he doesn’t smoke cannibis, but is exposed to severe stress at work. He wakes up in an ambulance after having jumped into a canal. Today Jonas is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The phsycoses have shaken up the core of what he thought he knew about himself. Through daily meditation and yoga, he uses them to grow as a person.
