--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But what happens if such a patient, say…" description: "\"“But what happens if such a patient, say myself, for instance, has rarely if ever experienced a normal state of functioning? What happens if such a pat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e0/lauren-slater-11238_lauren-slater-prozac_but-what-happens-if-such-a-patient-say-m_1017632.png" --- # But what happens if such a patient, say myself, for… ![“But what happens if such a patient, say myself, for instance, has rarely if ever experienced a normal state of functioning? What happens if such a patient has spent much of her life in mental hospitals, both pursuing and being pursued by one’s illness after another? What happens if “regular life”…” quote by Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e0/lauren-slater-11238_lauren-slater-prozac_but-what-happens-if-such-a-patient-say-m_1017632.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e0/lauren-slater-11238_lauren-slater-prozac_but-what-happens-if-such-a-patient-say-m_1017632.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e0/lauren-slater-11238_lauren-slater-prozac_but-what-happens-if-such-a-patient-say-m_1017632.png) > ““But what happens if such a patient, say myself, for instance, has rarely if ever experienced a normal state of functioning? What happens if such a patient has spent much of her life in mental hospitals, both pursuing and being pursued by one’s illness after another? What happens if “regular life” to such a person has always meant cutting one’s arms, or gagging?”” [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Explores how chronic mental illness can distort one’s sense of normalcy, making everyday life feel alien and painful. **In simple terms:** Mental illness can erase the feeling of normal life. Key Takeaway Seek professional help and supportive community. Themes mental health identity normalcy Mood reflective somber Type personal psychological When to use this quote - hospitalization - daily routines - self‑care - therapy Key Concepts psychosis self perception trauma Questions to Reflect On - How do you define “normal” for yourself? - What supports help you feel grounded? A Different Perspective Recovery may be slow and non‑linear. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Experienced Normal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experienced-normal-2248128/) [Happens Patient](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens-patient-2248126/) [Illness Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illness-happens-2248129/) [Lauren-slater-prozac-diary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lauren-slater-prozac-diary/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patience/) [Patient Say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patient-say-2219849/) [Pursued Illness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pursued-illness-2248127/) ## Related quotes > [“I had lived my life by these kinds of banners, only now, searching the sentence, I found little in it that resonated deep in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-had-lived-my-life-by-these-kinds-of-banners-only-now-searching-the/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Illness was a temporary respite, a release from the demands of an alienating world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/illness-was-a-temporary-respite-a-release-from-the-demands-of-an/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [We know that mental illness is not something that happens to other people. It touches us all. Why then is mental illness met with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tipper-gore/we-know-that-mental-illness-is-not-something-that-happens-to-other/) [Tipper Gore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tipper-gore/) > [“In illness, the world went wonderfully warped, high temperatures turning your pillow to a dune of snow and bringing the night sky, with its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/in-illness-the-world-went-wonderfully-warped-high-temperatures/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I had lots of books, most of them nonfiction, because I’d always felt that in nonfiction, specifically in the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-had-lots-of-books-most-of-them-nonfiction-because-i-d-always-felt/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“All the same, all different. What was it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/all-the-same-all-different-what-was-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“If this is the case, then the “normal state” Prozac ushers in is an experience in the surreal, Dali’s dripping clock, a disorientation so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/if-this-is-the-case-then-the-normal-state-prozac-ushers-in-is-an/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“If you have been sick for long, long time, Prozac may make you high. It probably won't make you high the way pot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/if-you-have-been-sick-for-long-long-time-prozac-may-make-you-high-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“A piano tuner used to come over to our house when I was young. He was a blind man, his eyes burnt-out holes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/a-piano-tuner-used-to-come-over-to-our-house-when-i-was-young-he-was/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I love you as only a lover can. Less depressed, less obsessed, I am better than ever able to love your hair, which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-love-you-as-only-a-lover-can-less-depressed-less-obsessed-i-am/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Prozac, too made me want to weep. Prozac, too, was grief, because it returned me to the regular world with consequences I never expected.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/prozac-too-made-me-want-to-weep-prozac-too-was-grief-because-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“And I saw and still see everything that I do have, but no matter what, there is always the itch of what gets lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/and-i-saw-and-still-see-everything-that-i-do-have-but-no-matter-what/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [We cause our diseases. We are directly responsible for any illness that happens to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crichton/we-cause-our-diseases-we-are-directly-responsible-for-any-illness/) [Michael Crichton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crichton/) > [“I couldn’t reach her. I was never able to reach her. Maybe she moved at a pace too fast. Maybe she was too sad.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-couldn-t-reach-her-i-was-never-able-to-reach-her-maybe-she-moved-at/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Getting better was a grief. One morning you woke up and your fever had fled. Your throat felt depressingly fine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/getting-better-was-a-grief-one-morning-you-woke-up-and-your-fever-had/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) ## More by Lauren Slater > [“When you die, there’s that much less breath to the world, and across continents someone supposedly separate gasps for air. When Marie, Joseph, peter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/when-you-die-there-s-that-much-less-breath-to-the-world-and-across/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“When I was a girl I loved fevers and flus and the muzzy feeling of a head cold, all these states carrying with them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/when-i-was-a-girl-i-loved-fevers-and-flus-and-the-muzzy-feeling-of-a/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Why doesn't passionate love last? how is it possible to see a person as beautiful on Monday, and 364 days later, on another Monday,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/why-doesn-t-passionate-love-last-how-is-it-possible-to-see-a-person/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“... instead of spelling stories you spread silence, which was outside the alphabet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/instead-of-spelling-stories-you-spread-silence-which-was-outside-the/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Finally the dawn came, the sky fringed with pink, and the sun bright as a coin in a spill of rising red.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/finally-the-dawn-came-the-sky-fringed-with-pink-and-the-sun-bright-as/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“How do you describe emptiness? Is it the air inside a bubble, the darkness in a pocket, snow? I think, yes, I was six…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/how-do-you-describe-emptiness-is-it-the-air-inside-a-bubble-the/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [Everyone knows that a lot of memoirs have made-up scenes; it's obvious. And everyone knows that half the time at least fictions contain literal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/everyone-knows-that-a-lot-of-memoirs-have-made-up-scenes-it-s-obvious/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [Are psychiatric crises so overwhelming to the mind that they inhibit the presence of ethics? Is depression at root an amoral phenomenon, its focus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/are-psychiatric-crises-so-overwhelming-to-the-mind-that-they-inhibit/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I had lived my life by these kinds of banners, only now, searching the sentence, I found little in it that resonated deep in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-had-lived-my-life-by-these-kinds-of-banners-only-now-searching-the/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [Much has been said about the meanings we make of illness, but what about the meanings we make out of cure? Cure is complex,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/much-has-been-said-about-the-meanings-we-make-of-illness-but-what/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I believe my strength has something to do with memory, with that concept of fluid time. For while I recall with clarity the terror…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-believe-my-strength-has-something-to-do-with-memory-with-that/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I couldn’t reach her. I was never able to reach her. Maybe she moved at a pace too fast. Maybe she was too sad.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-couldn-t-reach-her-i-was-never-able-to-reach-her-maybe-she-moved-at/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“They cleared swiftly, dramatically, like a stage set or a movie; we went from black to stunning blue, the day emerging at once wet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/they-cleared-swiftly-dramatically-like-a-stage-set-or-a-movie-we-went/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [Depression is a death within, a knowledge - terrifying - that you cannot resurrect yourself. Depression is loss of the vision that lets leaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/depression-is-a-death-within-a-knowledge-terrifying-that-you-cannot/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [I was born from nothing and to nothing I will return. And yet, when i say the word nothing, when i admit, at last,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-was-born-from-nothing-and-to-nothing-i-will-return-and-yet-when-i/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) [Explore all 60 Lauren Slater quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) ## More Lauren-slater-prozac-diary quotes > [“I had lived my life by these kinds of banners, only now, searching the sentence, I found little in it that resonated deep in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-had-lived-my-life-by-these-kinds-of-banners-only-now-searching-the/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I couldn’t reach her. I was never able to reach her. Maybe she moved at a pace too fast. Maybe she was too sad.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-couldn-t-reach-her-i-was-never-able-to-reach-her-maybe-she-moved-at/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“And I saw and still see everything that I do have, but no matter what, there is always the itch of what gets lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/and-i-saw-and-still-see-everything-that-i-do-have-but-no-matter-what/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Prozac, too made me want to weep. Prozac, too, was grief, because it returned me to the regular world with consequences I never expected.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/prozac-too-made-me-want-to-weep-prozac-too-was-grief-because-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I love you as only a lover can. Less depressed, less obsessed, I am better than ever able to love your hair, which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-love-you-as-only-a-lover-can-less-depressed-less-obsessed-i-am/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“A piano tuner used to come over to our house when I was young. He was a blind man, his eyes burnt-out holes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/a-piano-tuner-used-to-come-over-to-our-house-when-i-was-young-he-was/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“If you have been sick for long, long time, Prozac may make you high. It probably won't make you high the way pot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/if-you-have-been-sick-for-long-long-time-prozac-may-make-you-high-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“If this is the case, then the “normal state” Prozac ushers in is an experience in the surreal, Dali’s dripping clock, a disorientation so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/if-this-is-the-case-then-the-normal-state-prozac-ushers-in-is-an/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“All the same, all different. What was it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/all-the-same-all-different-what-was-it/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“I had lots of books, most of them nonfiction, because I’d always felt that in nonfiction, specifically in the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/i-had-lots-of-books-most-of-them-nonfiction-because-i-d-always-felt/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“In illness, the world went wonderfully warped, high temperatures turning your pillow to a dune of snow and bringing the night sky, with its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/in-illness-the-world-went-wonderfully-warped-high-temperatures/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Illness was a temporary respite, a release from the demands of an alienating world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/illness-was-a-temporary-respite-a-release-from-the-demands-of-an/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) > [“Getting better was a grief. One morning you woke up and your fever had fled. Your throat felt depressingly fine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-slater/getting-better-was-a-grief-one-morning-you-woke-up-and-your-fever-had/) [Lauren Slater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-slater/) [Browse all 14 Lauren-slater-prozac-diary quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lauren-slater-prozac-diary/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But what happens if such a patient, say myself, for instance, has rarely if ever experienced a normal state of functioning? What happens if such a patient has spent much of her life in mental hospitals, both pursuing and being pursued by one’s illness after another? 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