What I Did For My Summer Vacation
Most young adults in my circle spent the summer after freshman year doing interesting things. Some went to live on a winery in Italy; some worked on a kibbutz. I had a full-blown psychotic break and spent the whole summer in the mental hospital.
It was only slightly worse than working in a communal agricultural setting, but almost nobody from my original circle of friends can say they did the same. That’s why they love reading 5150 so much.
Non-Competitors
There are books that already exist about this subject. Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a good example of a sane writer portraying the lives of people struggling with sanity. If he actually was hospitalized, then I apologize. It’s not on his Wikipedia page.
The “USP”
Two books that I consider valid competitors are The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted, both written by people living with mental illness. These books are close to the Psychotic Break Series, but they differ in that they tell the story from a woman’s viewpoint in the 1960’s. I could never do that successfully; I tell my story from a gay man’s perspective in the 1980’s. That is the “Unique Selling Proposition” of these books.
So, if you’re bored being inside and want a fresh view of the world, turn your attention to my books. You can borrow them from various libraries, or buy them on Amazon. Getting back to the premise that one can loan psychosis: if you read this series, you will have moments where you feel disoriented or mentally unwell. It isn’t permanent, I assure you. 5150 is my attempt to create a very real picture of what it was like to go from jail to the mental hospital in the midst of a full-blown crisis. If you believe my reviews on Amazon, I did an excellent job of doing just that.
Summary
- You can borrow psychosis for an afternoon and return it
- 5150 is an authentic account of “What I Did During My Summer Vacation 1987”
- The books give readers a better understanding of what mentally unwell people are experiencing