When the Mind Takes Flight explores my journey through delusions with life-altering consequences, in which I analyze the self and culture through multi-layered lenses. The story begins with a magic mushroom trip before graduation that triggered a series of events, leading to confinements in France and Brazil. Later, while studying neuroscience in Germany, I sought to understand these experiences scientifically, but heartbreak skewed my perspective, resulting in another hospitalization.

One question that often comes up about my episodes is how I could recall such vivid details while in a delusional state. Another is how I managed to organize the journey while living in an alternate world. The answer lies in how delusions intertwine with reality.

We tend to dismiss them as nonsense, but what if they’re windows into the brain’s storytelling nature? Psychiatry, with its focus on control, diagnosis, and suppression, often overlooks the inherent logic of psychotic experiences. What if these departures from normalcy hold hidden truths? And what if embracing their creativity offers a deeper understanding of the mind itself?

[completed | unpublished | seeking representation]