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Man stabbed by fellow Microsoft employee

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Re: Man stabbed by fellow Microsoft employee

#21
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reads like amphetamine psychosis. Been there.

How did you recognize it in yourself, and how did you overcome it?

Overcome: stopped taking amphetamines.

Recognize: self-reflection after brief periods where I wasn't taking amphetamines.

Glib as it is, that's basically it. Prescribed by a doc at 15. Used them for a decade. After reflecting on my actions and the person I was, it brought me deep shame.

If you're wondering if you've fallen into psychosis, I recommend keeping a journal for a month. Write your thoughts and reflections for the day inside. Then, a month or two later, take a break from the stims, and re-read what you've written. If you come off as psychotic then you have your answer.

The journal was my first real clue that something was amiss; but really, anything that records your behavior works too (e.g. text messages, Slack messages, blog posts, emails, phone recordings, audio recordings, video recordings, etc.).

Re: Man stabbed by fellow Microsoft employee

#22
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you recognize it in yourself, and how did you overcome it?

Overcome: stopped taking amphetamines. Recognize: self-reflection after brief periods where I wasn't taking amphetamines. Glib as it is, that's basically it. Prescribed by a doc at 15. Used them for a decade. After reflecting on my actions and the person I was, it brought me deep shame. If you're wondering if you've fallen into psychosis, I recommend keeping a journal for a month. Write your thoughts and reflections…

Did any of your family/friends/coworkers bring it to your attention as well? Or did it kind of fly under the radar with them?

Re: Man stabbed by fellow Microsoft employee

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overcome: stopped taking amphetamines. Recognize: self-reflection after brief periods where I wasn't taking amphetamines. Glib as it is, that's basically it. Prescribed by a doc at 15. Used them for a decade. After reflecting on my actions and the person I was, it brought me deep shame. If you're wondering if you've fallen into psychosis, I recommend keeping a journal for a month. Write your thoughts and reflections…

Did any of your family/friends/coworkers bring it to your attention as well? Or did it kind of fly under the radar with them?

Unfortunately, not. They saw the changes, but none spoke out about them -- until I'd already made an unforgivable ass of myself. Many relationships have been permanently damaged or destroyed.

To be fair to them, I understand. I recognize bits and pieces of the psychotic state of mind in people who drink too much coffee: and I'm avoidant of these people, rather than confrontational with them (I, too, want to keep my involvement with psychos to the minimum).

Re: Man stabbed by fellow Microsoft employee

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did any of your family/friends/coworkers bring it to your attention as well? Or did it kind of fly under the radar with them?

Unfortunately, not. They saw the changes, but none spoke out about them -- until I'd already made an unforgivable ass of myself. Many relationships have been permanently damaged or destroyed. To be fair to them, I understand. I recognize bits and pieces of the psychotic state of mind in people who drink too much coffee: and I'm avoidant of these people, rather than confrontational with them (I, too, want to keep my i…

I think that is far too common.

I had a coworker that was a paranoid schizophrenic and he stopped taking his medication. We all knew he was "off" and we kind of dealt with it. I had complained a number of times to our founder and his advice was to "take him out to dinner and smooth things over". Crappy advice.

It was a weird and rocky ~6 months until the coworker threatened to kill our founder's cat one day.

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