They're Coming to Take Me Away(Ha Ha)

[Sinister]

How many of you have had times where everything kind of built up and you felt like you were going to snap? Doesn't matter how... Doesn't matter why. But you were honest to God about to lose it.

I knew a man, perfectly sane and as a matter of fact he was downright brilliant teacher at a community college, who one January was taken and placed into Western State Hospital. There are very few PC terms for a Lunatic Asylum that do it justice, for those who are unaware. My father chose to specialize in this ugliness. I've never really approved of his choice of profession, not that I look down on the system. But it is not a job you would like to see a loved-one or family member be associated with.

I've often wondered the howcomewhyfors about madness, must run in the family. Or perhaps it is too scary to me.

I just wondered how close some of us may have come to this? If the answer is painful I advise you to forget about this thread. But if you feel like sharing, you don't have to go into particulars at all.

-Sin

[Furore]

I think I might've.
Lord knows out of all the guards I've worked with I seem to most easily reason with and placate those who seem more or less off their heads, some of which I can understand the logic behind what they're doing quite well.

I also seem to have a couple personas. There's my usual one, and then there's a feral one that usually only pops out under extreme stress - not often of late. Usually takes a friend being threatened, or a good helping of pain.

Lastly there's that constant wondering of 'What if?' that I sometimes can't help acting on. Things like jumping off something quite high to see if it's possible. I don't really harbour any desire for self destruction, but I do every so often need to give into my curiousity which sometimes can make things seem like it. It makes me take some risks others don't often seem to and I do sometimes reap some rewards from taking risks.

I don't think I'd be the kind to go to the loony bin though. I don't feel any desire to harm another unless physically threatened by them and am of the belief that my body is my own to do whatever the hell I like with.

And you know, I kinda think most people are at least a little crazy in some way, even if they can't see it. You really just need to bring the right stimuli into the equation, and boom, nutty happenings aplenty.

[Unknown Entity]

I can get pretty violent when put under stress, pain or fear. They say the quiet ones usually have something hidden, and in this case, it's correct. I've not really shown this violent side in years, so I'm not too worried about it. The fact that I don't know what I'm capable of scares me a little bit, but it takes a bit for that side to come out anyway.

I remember my brother arguing one evening, and he really hurt me physically as well as mentally. He really kicked me as hard as he could in these huge boots. I just went into a blind rage when I flew across the hall and really hurt him. I remember stopping halfway through my attack thinking "WTF?" and stopping, and he got up and locked himself in the bathroom, and didn't come near me for days.

I've had little outbursts too, like the time I shouted at my whole class for being a bunch of assholes to my teacher. Not only do I think that's the first time they've seen someone stand up for a teacher, but it was also the first time many of them had seen me really angry about something.

My friends say they'd be scared of me when I get angry too, and I don't even remember what I've done around them to suggest I'd totally flip my coin. It's unlikely that they heard about the classroom yelling unless I was the most talked about student at lunch time, and I broke down to my best friend about what I did to my brother.

I don't think I need help because I've not really been that furious in years. I mean, I'm in no way a Charlie Bronson. That dude... is... mad.

[Sinister]

I've always been kind of playfully too involved in life. I was raised on the philosophy that life is not a game, but more like a play that must be acted with conviction. And why not have fun playing the various roles and using the different reactions to your amusement? Why not? Idk. I suppose in that sense, I never truly grew up.

At any rate, my life has been a gag reel of weirdness and they say you are what you eat. I've yet to lose it completely, but granted I've stepped over the lines plenty of times. Nothing terrible or dangerous...all perfectly benign. I've had times, like other posters that I've lost my temper. Something that never happens anymore and that I'm not sure could ever happen again now. Sometimes I think things over too much and get caught in philosophy and riddle-thinking.

Eventually, in the course of doing all this you realize with horror that these are all the thoughts of a barely-grounded mind. But sometimes I have to wonder how much of it is my fault and how much of it isn't a reaction to the medication I'm currently taking. I'm not very big on medications for personal problems, but that's where my father and I differ. He demands that I can't return home even for Christmas if I don't take medication. This of course makes me sound like a dangerous loon. It's an unfair comparison and I do not need medication.

Either way, I don't live life on that side of the line even though my father seemingly tried to move it to convince everyone I do.

-Sin

[jcsimpson]

There was this guy in my home town who was bat shit crazy and rumor has it he was a university math teacher named Norman who was so smart he went crazy. We cleverly called him "Crazy Norman".