Hi all reading this and Best Wishes to you all.

I feel entirely alienated from the world and all others around me...

It's as if I inhabit a different world altogether...I see only the fascinating forms, colours, textures etc. of nature, only more so than others...In fact I get "lost" in their intensity (to me) and can't help but disregard people entirely...Sounds, the nuances of the natural world, the vibrancy of language, obsess my senses and spirit to the point where the "real" world (mainly that of people and their concerns) is of little consequence to my life...I do, think and feel differently from others, and also must do things at my own "pace" (usually slower)due to the fascination with my perceptions...In anycase some wry person once said "Hell is other people" and I sometimes think he was on to something there.

I few shared values with the "working class" people I am amongst and the result is that I am despised by all those about me, even though I do no harm to anyone either in word or deed. I simply "keep myself to myself" (they could never understand my world anyway). Thus I am regarded as a "weirdo" (and worse) and subject to various abuse and the status of social outcast.

Now - I'm not actually bothered that others regard me as "different" I don't mind that I've not got friends about me or a "social life" (don't want one) or feel the need to do the things that most otheres do (ie: socialise, go to pubs, cinema, etc., watch telly, or even wear the same clothes as others- honest).

My problem is this: the authorities think I have "mental problems" - that is to say, crazy - and put me on all sorts of medications which I don't take because I'm perfectly sane (what ever that is, provided you do no harm to others). The mental health department insist on giving me all sorts of attention I don't want or need...just because I casually mentioned to a doctor about the voice of the Our Lady (the Virgin Mary) which I hear and see and have done since I was a child and often "guides" me...

Does anyone else feel similar?...(puts me in mind of a famous comedienne's "joke" : "When you talk to God, you're praying, when God talks to you, you're nuts"

Patti J (England)