The first thing I remember which seems to savor of Insanity was a presentiment of some great evil which was to befall me, either in my own person, or to those nearest and dearest to me, then I had a vivid imagination, and was much inclined to day dreams or building air castles, and this added to a morbid sensitiveness to reproach, or ridicule, made me often very unhappy. I fancied that if I was to leave home for a while should I find something to banish trouble. I left my parents to spend a winter among friends and relatives, yet the grim phantom of coming evil haunted my slumbers, and I found, like Noah’s dove, no rest for the sole of my foot. I was ashamed to tell my friends the fears which tormented me, at length became so weary of myself that life seemed a burden.
-author, A Chapter From Real Life. By A Recovered Patient