The Center Cannot Hold Quotes

“Schizophrenia rolls in like a slow fog, becoming imperceptibly thicker as time goes on. At first, the day is bright enough, the sky is clear, the sunlight warms your shoulders. But soon, you notice a haze beginning to gather around you, and the air feels not quite so warm. After a while, the sun is a dim lightbulb behind a heavy cloth. The horizon has vanished into a gray mist, and you feel a thick dampness in your lungs as you stand, cold and wet, in the afternoon dark.”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“If you are a person with mental illness, the challenge is to find the life that's right for you. But in truth, isn't that the challenge for all of us, mentally ill or not?”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“need the people in my life to tell me what’s safe, what’s real, and what’s worth holding on to.”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“for two people sitting together in a room, one of them with the freedom to speak her mind, knowing the other is paying careful and thoughtful attention”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“If you could arrange things your way, what would that look like and how do you think we could help you get there?”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“delusions, which are fixed yet false beliefs—such as you have killed thousands of people—and hallucinations, which are false sensory perceptions”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“Schizophrenia is a brain disease which entails a profound loss of connection to reality.”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

“While medication had kept me alive, it had been psychoanalysis that had helped me find a life worth living.”
― Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness