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A quick note (reducing stigma)

· 5 min read
Liz Argall
Liz Argall
Technical Writer and Program Manager

I’ve written, and abandoned, four different blog posts in the last few weeks! Each blog post fighting with itself as it was actually two or three blog posts.

So here’s a quick note that jumps straight to the point, plus the standard "Media I'm enjoying" section at the end.

Between 2018 and 2020 I had three psychotic episodes. It was terrifying, it caused me to doubt everything. It was isolating and it made me worry I’d never be able to hold down a stressful job again. In 2025, I’m in the best mental health of my life. I love the high stress work I do, and I feel joyfully connected to friends, community and my vocations.

Three in a hundred people will experience psychosis, but you wouldn’t know it based on what people are prepared to be open about. Autistic people are more likely to experience psychosis and are more likely to communicate their distress differently, which means that mental health professionals (not to mention friends and family) might not understand the level of trauma and impact.

This is a technical writing blog. If you’re not neurodivergent, you know people that are. I feel like neurodivergency is pretty neurotypical in technical writing circles! Our people are statistically more likely to go through psychosis, but those that do often brush it off and just get on with things.

Cartoon transcript. Between 2018 and 2020 I experienced THREE psychotic episodes. I was sucked into a world of delusion, a complex, forever evolving mystery thriller. It was amazing, to start with. All the anxiety of pre-psychosis paranoia fell away. Instead I was at the center of the most epic story of all time. If I got things right we'd: Take down the conspiracy; fix climate change; create world peace; usher in a new age.

Psychosis is a profoundly isolating trauma and the stigma makes it more isolating. I’m a cartoonist as well as a technical writer, so since 2020 I’ve been making art to help folks like me feel less alone and help their loved ones understand psychosis a little better. There are precious few psychosis survivors who are open about their experiences that aren’t folks with tenure, working in mental health fields or in extreme crisis. I want to help build a broader picture of what psychosis survivors look like.

I think it’s particularly important for our communities that have more neurodivergency, we need to look out for our people.

Whether you’ve been through it yourself, or want to understand something some of our people survive I encourage you read my comic in the Seattle Times, “A cartoonist’s experience with psychosis.”

Enormous gratitude to Taylor Blatchford, of the Seattle Times, for supporting me to tell my story.

Media I'm enjoying​

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