First person account: the Messiah quest.

The article that begins below is the fifth in a series of personal accounts to be published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin. In describing his account, the author commented: "The viewpoint is solely my consciousness. The substance of every statement and the specific words in many statements actually occurred to me. Third person narrative was chosen to convey a sense of my psychological distance from the experience. This distance was essential for accomplishing growth. I have described my emotions and thoughts as exactly as possible, and in sufficient detail for the reader to follow the sequence of change in thought from and content. In spite of certain passages in the text, I had never previously felt fervently about any religion, religious figure, or telepathy, and I had never felt harassed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The experience described followed many extreme stresses--death of a parent, end of a longtime romantic relationship, and a career change. Before these events, my emotional and social adjustment had been good...." Brief comments by two clinicans who saw the author during different phases of the experience described are appended to his account.