Remembering Dr. Bert Karon

Image from Dignity Memorial

Content warning: This post uses the term "schizophrenia." This is the term Bert Karon uses, but I recognize that many people, including myself, find this label outdated and harmful. I use it here only to accurately reflect the language used by Dr. Karon, who despite using this language was a strong advocate for de-medicalizing these experiences.

This week would have marked the birthday of Dr. Bert Karon, whose groundbreaking book Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia: The Treatment of Choice shaped my understanding of altered states when I first encountered it, years ago. Karon, who passed away in 2019 after a distinguished career, approached schizophrenia not as an incomprehensible illness affecting "others," but as an extreme human response to overwhelming terror. His assertion that "any of us can and will develop so-called schizophrenic symptoms under enough stress of the right kind" (pg 42) challenged the dehumanizing divide between "normal" and "psychotic" experiences. What resonates most from his work is his compassionate recognition that many who have been diagnosed with psychosis have endured multiple terrifying experiences—sometimes obvious, sometimes invisible even to loved ones—and his deep appreciation for just how frightening and confusing existence can be for all of us, especially in childhood.