Diagnosing Dick

Roger Luckhurst

pp. 13-29

in: Alexander Dunst, Stefan Schlensag (eds), The world according to Philip K. Dick, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Abstract

In an essay in The Psychologist journal in 2003 entitled "Beliefs About Delusions," the authors introduce their discussion with two incidents from 1981: first, the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by the delusional John Hinckley; and secondly, a few weeks later, the publication of Philip K. Dick's novel VALIS. This book is described as "a novel based on delusions resulting from his own psychotic breakdown". For professional psychologists unfamiliar with Philip K. Dick, there is a helpful dialogue box at the foot of the opening page about the author, which explains: "There are multiple reasons for Dick's bizarre beliefs, given his share of trauma, phobias, and drug abuse, but it is likely that many of the delusions he wrote about stemmed from psychotic episodes he experienced as a sufferer and as an observer of others. This alone makes his work of great psychological interest."¹ They also register their surprise that a pulp science fiction (sf) author seemed to be conversant with the psychological theories of Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria, amongst others.