Who I am

I am 44 years old. I am an architect, artist and writer. I completed my studies at Columbia and Princeton Universities in the US. I currently live in Switzerland where I run my own architectural practice, where I also paint and write.

My parents are of Swiss Indian and Arab descent. I grew up in a multicultural household. My mother is a spiritual coach and trainer so I have always had a very spiritual side to my life as a natural given. I have two sisters, one of them younger and one of them a twin. My twin had a psychotic experience in her younger twenties. As my family was split up at the time, she was, unlike me, very alone in dealing with this profound transformation in her life. Like me, my sister had hallucinations and visions. She, however, never took medication and never had any relapses. It remained with a one time episode.

My encounter with schizophrenia began when I was 34 and lasted until I was 42 years old. I have been in and out of mental institutions six times and picked up by the police and submitted to mental hospitals by court order. I lead a reckless and dangerous life during my psychosis and I have tried to commit suicide. Should you like to learn more about my experience with schizophrenia, please go to my writings on this website.

Would it not have been for the love and support from family and friends, I do not know if I would have survived my last bout of schizophrenia. Loving understanding and poignant action at the right time helped me to surface not only from this deep experience but also from the halls and labyrinths of mental institutions.

I now lead a full life, with all the love and warmth a person can desire. I am working on building up my architectural practice again and this is going well.

A large portion of my time is still spent learning more about schizophrenic experiences. I study a lot of psychology, philosophy and poetry. Next to the medical, social, political and economic aspects of schizophrenia, it is the soul and psychic content of this immense experience which I find of the most import. Please go to resources in order to find listings of books and other websites which can help.

For reasons of privacy I am writing this website under a pseudonym.