Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is the sixth full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. It was released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002 through Elektra Records. Excluding the A Change of Seasons EP, it is the first Dream Theater album to feature a title track. The recording is a type of concept album wherein the five songs which comprise the first disc explore different themes of lifetime struggle, such as alcoholism, loss of faith, self-isolation, sanctity of life and death. The sixth song—a 42-minute track occupying the entire second disc, separated into eight parts—explores the stories of six individuals suffering from various mental illnesses. Particularly represented are bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, post-partum depression, autism and dissociative personality disorder. Furthermore, the title of the album may also allude to the fact that each song on the album could be seen as a different form of inner turbulence, with the six tracks making another reference to the six degrees, along with the apparent reference to the six degrees of separation.