Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

All of these articles are pissing me off.

He “became something of an LSD casuality”, “became a recluse”, “had a nervous breakdown”, “took too much LSD”, “[became] a lost soul, raving and drooling, with no signs of the former genius”… it goes on and on.

There are few articles that mention mental illness in any fashion other than dismissing it as irrelevant or minor, or using the old “acid destroyed him” line.

The man lived with schizophrenia until the age of 60. He was a mental illness survivor. That is a phenomenal achievement in and of itself, and seeing the way the press is either overlooking or belittling it sickens me. He deserves such praise for his strength.