Dealing with insanity the rational way

I've been asked plenty of times over the cause of my life, "whats your greatest fear?" and I usually answered "torture" which seemed fair enough. Recently I've come to realize that pure insanity could be far worse than torture. If your mind conjured up a demon that could not only hurt you (stimulate your pain receptors) but would also promise you again and again that you would spend an eternity in hell being tortured like this, would you not agree that this is worse torture than torture that any human could inflict?

Anyway to my point, I've wondered how would i rationally deal with reality suddenly falling apart, and so I've come up with this scenario which I'd like all of you to read and tell me how you would respond.

(NOTE The the "you" in the scenario has never suffered from insanity previously). You're walking down the street to go to the local milk bar. You've just come back from an intense medical exam and your perfectly healthy, mentally and physically. You've also been eating at high end restaurants for the past week and have been feeling great. As you walk the ground suddenly begins to melt away and everything seems to become distorted. Pebbles on the ground begin to float up into the air. Before you can even comprehend what happened all the pebbles fall back to the ground and reality turns to normal again.

How would you cope with what just happened? You would have to immediately question everything you believe, whats real, whats possible and whether you are insane. Diagnosing insanity for others seems easy, but when you remember that the only thing you know that truly exists in life is yourself and everything else cannot truly be proven as "real", how could you truly know that what happened wasn't actually real?

Tell me how you would cope, what conclusion you would draw and why?

Just go along like you normally would have. if you are going insane at least no one else will notice. if you aren't and the world is coming apart there is nothing else you can do.

Based on the symptoms, I'd probably seek out master Roshi for advice.


In all seriousness though, I'd probably just visit a doctor. However, though I don't know much about insanity, my instinct tells me that it wouldn't just be like a strange and inconsistent version of reality. Something tells me it'd be more affecting, as much emotion as confused sensory input.

I think I would be a little freaked out, but I'd wait to see if it happens again before wondering if I'm insane. 

I would probably stop taking so much LSD, at least for a little while.


Edit: Seriously, though, I'd see a psychiatrist and/or similar. Hallucinations and visions != insanity, but they're not a good sign either.

I'd dye my hair green, bleach my face, wear a purple suit and declare myself the Clown Prince of Crime.

I would probably stop taking so much LSD, at least for a little while.

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I'd consider trying to get more sleep. It sounds like I'm having sleep deprivation visions. If more sleep didn't work and it happened again, I'd seek professional help.

I've been asked plenty of times over the cause of my life, "whats your greatest fear?" and I usually answered "torture" which seemed fair enough. Recently I've come to realize that pure insanity could be far worse than torture. If your mind conjured up a demon that could not only hurt you (stimulate your pain receptors) but would also promise you again and again that you would spend an eternity in hell being tortured like this, would you not agree that this is worse torture than torture that any human could inflict?

Anyway to my point, I've wondered how would i rationally deal with reality suddenly falling apart, and so I've come up with this scenario which I'd like all of you to read and tell me how you would respond.

(NOTE The the "you" in the scenario has never suffered from insanity previously). You're walking down the street to go to the local milk bar. You've just come back from an intense medical exam and your perfectly healthy, mentally and physically. You've also been eating at high end restaurants for the past week and have been feeling great. As you walk the ground suddenly begins to melt away and everything seems to become distorted. Pebbles on the ground begin to float up into the air. Before you can even comprehend what happened all the pebbles fall back to the ground and reality turns to normal again.

How would you cope with what just happened? You would have to immediately question everything you believe, whats real, whats possible and whether you are insane. Diagnosing insanity for others seems easy, but when you remember that the only thing you know that truly exists in life is yourself and everything else cannot truly be proven as "real", how could you truly know that what happened wasn't actually real?

Tell me how you would cope, what conclusion you would draw and why?

People don't simply go insane. Insanity is usually brought on be traumatic events.

Insanity is usually a release from a worse reality than the one they are now trapped in.