[Panel 1: Into the Fog of a Psychotic Break by Christine Deneweth.]

[Panel 2 and 3: Person with short curly brown hair, glasses, and a green shirt. She is saying, “I’m Crass, and I loved through a psychotic break. This is what it’s like to have schizophrenia, live through a psychotic break, and eventually heal.”]

[Panel 4: Drawing of an upset Crass. The text says, “One day I lost any kind of clarity. I had always known who I was and who other people in my life were. But it was all gone one day.”]

[Panel 5: Drawing of a scary-looking Crass coming out of the scared Crass’ back. The text says, “Let’s start with me. I didn’t know who I was anymore. Were there more than one of me?”]

[Panel 6: Drawing of a hand holding puppet strings. The text says, “I tried to be aware of every single action of mine. I tried to observe myself from outside of my own body. I asked everyone if it seemed like someone else was running the show.”]

[Panel 7: Drawing of a scary person with a long purple tongue talking to a scared Crass. The text says, “I was hyper aware of speaking to others. I looked for codes hidden in body language and inflection. They all knew something I didn’t.”]

[Panel 8: Drawing of monsters with photos of Crass’ friends covering their faces. The text says, “They were all in on something. I knew they were reporting my behaviour.”]

[Panel 9: Close-up of a monster mouth. The text says, “They would wait for me to mess up. Trip on my words, laugh at the wrong thing – oh, and when they laughed, I knew it was at me.”]

[Panel 10: Drawing of Crass trapped in a TV screen. The text says, “I finally figured out what I thought was the truth: My life was a big recorded experiment everyone was in on to see if I could figure how mentally ill I really was.”]

[Panel 11: Drawing of a clipboard with the message, “Look at her now.” The text says, “People were just steering me. Everyone already knew what I was going to do. Cars would move in unison. People with clipboards were everywhere. It was all just to steer me.”]

[Panel 12: Drawing of Crass lying in the fetal position on the ground. There are drooling monsters surrounding her. The text says, “This went on for three months.”]

[Panel 13: Drawing of Crass looking down a long hallway. A monster with big teeth and horns is coming out of her back. The text says, “It came down to two things: kill myself or get help.”]

[Panel 14: Drawing of Crass writing. There is a red exclamation point next to her face. The text says, “My friends urged me to get help and I found myself back in college somehow. Medicated and regularly going to therapy, apparently.”]

[Panel 15: Drawing of Crass typing on a cellphone while smiling. The text says, “After messing around in two different clinics, I have my diagnosis and medications down. And I’m still here to make these comics for you.”]

[Panel 16, 17, and 18: Crass saying, “I’m lucky my friends took my psychotic break seriously. Psychosis isn’t something to be taken lightly or joked about. If you or someone you know is struggling with psychosis, don’t wait to get help. I wish I had gotten help sooner. Really, let’s end the stigma behind it and make it safe to talk about so everyone can get the help they deserve.”]

Comic made by Christine Deneweth for Everyday Feminism.