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Dissonance

  • Series
First two panels from an 8 part comic called Dissonance. The panels show crudely drawn heads drawn in thick black lines against a mottled grey background. They talk about the artist's struggle between reality, delusion and stigma during a psychotic epidsode.
Dissonance. © Andrew Field for Wellcome Collection.

A psychotic episode left Andrew Field confused and isolated from reality and the people around him. In this eight-part comic he shares his experiences of being immersed in a delusional state, and his painful struggle to resolve the mismatch between reality and belief. With the aid of medical treatment, he began to rediscover the joys of a shared experience.

  • Comic

Walled in by psychosis

When you enter a psychotic state, you become increasingly isolated from the world around you.

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My delusion wasn’t shared

You can’t connect with people when you don’t share the same reality.

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Disembodied and alone

Psychosis cuts you off from yourself. You become separated from both your body and your identity.

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I was hallucinating

That moment when you realise that no one else sees what you see is when the dissonance becomes unbearable.

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A glimpse of reality

As reality starts to break through your delusion you question everything you're hearing.

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From psychotic to patient

And as the outside world seeps into your delusion, you experience a new reality and you gain a new identity.

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Reclaiming reality

While hospital routine and meds get to work on the psychosis, you can start to draw the threads of your life back together.

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A shared experience

Having a simple conversation with another person brings such pleasure.

About the artist

Black and white photograph of the head of a young white man with short dark hair and large black-framed glasses. He is smiling and looking into the camera.

Andrew Field

(he/him)

Andrew Field is a cartoonist, poet, singer-songwriter and librarian based in Southeast Michigan. He is currently finishing up a graphic novella about living with schizophrenia called ‘The Light-Haunted Museum’, which can be found on his website.