Hello, my name is Jed.  I have been labeled a few different things, but all imply crazy.  It seems to me that there is a big difference between what a doctor diagnosis as being in line with symptoms and how laypeople will set a part people who are known to have a diagnosis.  I suppose I can say that, by far, the biggest problem I've had with being crazy is dealing with people trying to deal with me. 

For me personally, I have done well with understanding and working with myself.  I have had to develop methods of taking care of my thought life.  Some say that thinking too much is bad, but for me... at a very young age, I feel as though my perspective opened up to a thought life that I had to come to terms with.  Questions and ideas just showed up and I had to figure out what I was to do with them. 

I like the idea of the Icarus project.  I feel as though my mind can be like a very fast car.  If I don't control it by taking care of myself, I'll crash.  I like that metaphor.  There are certain rules with driving fast... no self pity, being as honest with myself as possible, confront everything, be patient with myself, relax, remember as much as possible to be at peace and content, and have faith. 

I suppose I could be more specific about how I take care of my thought life, but I would like to keep this relatively short.  I can say that I like who I am.  I am not perfect and my flaws might be different then certain social norms, but my life is managable.  Most importantly, what I chose to do with treatments is my choice. 

I believe that the right for a patient to refuse treatment is a very important part of our democracy.  Imagaine a world were people could be arrested, detained, and medicated against their will with out committing a crime but because "normal people" are afraid of what they could do, even if they show no signs of feared behavior at the time. 

If I were to be a dictator, the most important challenge for convincing the people away from their freedom would be to show the people they need to be protected from themselves.  A free society is one that embraces differences and maintains order through maintaining law, and there is no law against thinking differently.