Overcoming Mental Illness

The Alice I’m referring to is - of course - that from the wonderful mind of Lewis Carroll. Which let’s be honest, is really not such a bad thing to have on your mind when you’re thinking of heading toward your bed for the night ;)

Anyhows, much like I occasionally scour Deviantart when depressed and/or not really coping all that well this evening I thought I’d do something different and have a wee look at how people interpret one of my favourite books. The results were eclectic, but several stood out as they always tend to do…

Alice:
But I don’t want to go among mad people.
The Cat:
Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.
Alice:
How do you know I’m mad?
The Cat:
You must be. Or you wouldn’t have come here.
Alice:
And how do you know that you’re mad?
The Cat:
To begin with, a dog’s not mad. You grant that?
Alice:
I suppose so,
The Cat:
Well, then, you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.

…and as with most stuff I do there is a reason for the first book I feature in this way to be Alice in Wonderland. Patience though is a virtue few people have these days, but it is something you’ll have to have for a day or so. Until then, skip on down to your local library or bookstore and grab yourself a copy of this fantastic work. It’ll be worth the read or re-read - you know it will be :) 

It’s that time again! The first of the competitions and giveaways have ended for this fortnight so it’s winner announcement moment. Hold your breath everyone :)

In the EMAIL SUBSCRIBER GIVEAWAY
Last fortnight’s winner was Stephanie from Montreal.
Well done you!

In the FORTNIGHTLY COMPETITION
Last fortnight’s winner was Gordon from Hammersmith.
Yay for you!

The prizes to be won this fortnight are:

EMAIL SUBSCRIBER GIVEAWAY
A copy of A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
To win, simply become an email subscriber by clicking here

FORTNIGHTLY COMPETITION
A $20 Amazon.com Gift Voucher emailed direct to your inbox
To win, simply answer the three questions found here

There’s more information on both the competition and giveaway on the Competitions page. Good luck everyone.

Following on from Part I (which you can read here), I’m continuing my look at great books dealing with mental health related conditions. In this second part, we take a look at books written by people who have had first hand experience of mental illness. These are their stories of the battles, trials and tribulations they have had to face.

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1. Alone by Myself by Melanie Voss

“Just a few months short of her 18th birthday, Melanie, a talented student & aspiring writer, commits suicide. Through her writing, she captures the thoughts & feelings of a teenager dealing with all the joy & stress of being on the brink of adulthood.”

Without doubt one of the finest accounts of suffering from a mental illness that I’ve ever read. I stumbled across this book in my favourite second hand bookshop in Melbourne (Book Affair, Carlton) and never having heard of it before and having a few spare dollars in my pocket and an empty space where a book should be in my life I picked it up. This book filled that space for only a few hours - the time it took for me to devour this absolutely captivating account of a teenagers battle with depression.

The book is made up of a series of diary entries written by Melanie throughout her teenage years, up until her untimely suicide days before her eighteenth birthday. Her death has robbed the world of a marvellous literary talent, her writing is honest, heartfelt and for the majority of the time downright beautiful in it’s portrayal of a young woman unsure of her place in the world and her attempts to understand and overcome her depression.

This is such a hard book to get hold of, which is a shame, as it should be required reading for all teenagers and adults alike. It is fantastic in bringing to light the problem of depression amongst young adults and in showing the world that sometimes teenagers are not suffering from “teen angst” but problems far more serious and life affecting.

You can find this book on Amazon here if you are interested in tracking down a copy.

2. You Don’t have to be Famous to have Manic Depression by Jeremy Thomas & Tony Hughes

This is a book in three parts, and it’s layout is such that I could include it not only in this part of my book features but also the next part (dealing with non-fiction). The first part of the book is a series of interviews between manic depressive Jeremy Thomas and his doctor of many years, Tony Hughes. It is a revelatory account of someone suffering from manic depression and debunks several of the myths and preconceptions surrounding the illness. It is a gloriously entertaining read packed with humour and insightful comments. The second part of the book is a series of “articles” written by other sufferers of manic depression talking about how the illness has affected their lives and how they’ve coped. The third part of the book is in appearance a brief encyclopedia of mental illness which at first view would appear pretty darned boring. However, infused with the wit of the authors is a compelling read from A-Z (or just as a way to look something up should the need arise)

I found this book by accident at my local library last week when I was looking  for I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (which I talked about last week) and am currently plowing through it during the odd moments I have the attention required to read.

This comes highly recommended (and if you fancy winning yourself a copy, check out the exclusive subscriber only competition on this blog!)

3. Bloodletting by Victoria Leatham

So few books have been written on the subject of self-harm, let alone books dealing with the personal account of a self-harmer so it’s fantastic to see a book available that is just this. Throughout her teens and twenties Victoria Leatham was a self-harmer, and this is an account of her life and how self-harm affected it. She discusses this taboo subject matter in an honest and at times ‘in your face’ style that in some sense is what this topic requires in order to smash down the misconceptions surrounding the issue. It takes a great deal of courage to write about yourself in such an honest style, and for this I have great admiration for the author.

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So after those three books above I thought I would look at a few books which I haven’t actually read. As I mentioned above when I get into a depressed episode I find it hard to read, which frustrates me so, as I adore reading. Thus, as a means to get me reading again, I’m going to try one of the following (whichever I find first) and give it a go…and when I’ve finished I’ll let you know.

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4. Depression and How to Survive It by Spike Milligan & Anthony W. Clare

“Spike Milligan reveals the dark side of his life in this book which is co-written with his psychiatrist Anthony Clare. He recalls the traumas of his childhood, his highly-strung mother, his largely absent father, the cruelties of a colonial upbringing and of sadism towards animals, the break-up of his first marriage, the mortar bomb which blew him up in Italy and the overwork which gave him a mental breakdown during the “Goon Show”. This book charts the development of this depression and his strategies for dealing with it were improvised, as both when he would get drunk with Peter Sellers, and clinically in his discussions with Clare.”
Find out more about this book on Amazon.

5. The Naked Bird Watcher by Suzy Johnston

“The Naked Birdwatcher takes you on the journey of a highly gifted young Woman from her schooldays to approaching her thirtieth birthday. A journey travelled though often on her own, never alone. It is a journey of a young woman’s awakening to the realisation of how her own mind which along with her athletic ability had worked with her to achieve the fabulous goals of her youth, begins to fight against her as she approaches adulthood and betrays her in her University years. A fight, we are unsure whether she will win or ultimately lose. We journey with her through her ordinary life (its ordinariness making the book ever more poignant) the battles, the triumphs and the defeats. The battles with her mind along with the battles she has to fight with some of those closest to her too blinkered to realise that nobody would make manic depression a life choice. The Naked Bird Watcher gives hope to those travelling with Manic Depression and those they take along with them. It also highlights the importance of having a support network to help you on your journey. Suzy it would seem has an exceptional support network, this will hopefully inspire those who could help a friend or family member with manic depression to try that bit harder to be there when needed. I have taken from this book that manic depression is a companion anyone could discover they have on their life’s journey; sometimes asleep, sometimes dozing, sometimes with them in their every waking minute. The aim and hope it would seem, is to find a way to get it to sleep and keep it sleeping. Everyone should read this book, it is an inspiration to all to see what can be achieved and how battles can be won if you believe in yourself enough and others believe in you.”
You can find out more about this book at Amazon.

6. The Rock Pillow: A Personal Account of Schizophrenia by Mark Lynne Folkard

“Staggering along through the night with my overnight bag, I made my way back to the trucking station. I was hallucinating badly again; I could see bodies and blood spread over the footpath and road in front of me. I felt as though I was walking through a horrific accident. The smell of blood and human flesh was on my own skin and made me flinch.”
Read more about this book at Bookworm.

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So there we have it, six personal accounts out of thousands dealing with mental illness. If any of you have any personal favourites be sure to drop a comment so others can check them out, and stay tuned for a look at six great non-fiction books in the third and final part of this trilogy.

Okay, so you’re interested in mental illness and you have a love of books, so why not combine these two interests and read about mental illness. In this first part of a trilogy I take a look at some excellent books which have dealt with mental health.

Firstly, the world of fiction. Now, I could of course throw in some of the obvious one’s here (ya know, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Girl Interrupted) but I thought it would be a little more interesting to look at some books you may not have heard of.

So, as I’m always full on contradiction (what human isn’t?) I’ll start with perhaps the most famous…

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1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

It has been rather a long time since I read this book, it was somewhere in the hiatus between leaving school and beginning work at the Video Store when I read this book. It’s highly possible it was purchased in a wonderful yet now no longer existing book-store in Guildford, but that’s debatable. It deals with depression primarily but also covers hospitalisation, electro-shock therapy, breakdown and suicide attempts.

As I say due to the length of time since I read this book it isn’t very fresh in my mind, I may have to re-read it. It was one of the first novels which I read which dealt with depression, and really, it’s considered to be a classic for a reason.

2. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

A contemporary novel dealing with suicide. I read this a couple of years ago after picking it up on a cheap second hand book stall in Melbourne, it languished on my shelf for several months before I finally got around to checking it out. It’s plot concerns four strangers who meet up on the top of a tower block all planning to kill themselves and given the seriousness of the subject you’d be surprised at how funny this book is. Sure, you’ll feel a little guilty from time to time laughing along at this darkest of dark topics - but Hornby writes with such a deft skill and wit that you can’t help being carried along with it.It contains the perfect mix of melancholy, humour and depression and is a great book to get stuck into - even if it isn’t the greatest book ever written.

3. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

A friend gave me this to read after I told them I was feeling depressed and suicidal a couple of years ago. It was quite hard to get through at the time, quite often when I am in my depressed moods I find it very difficult to read even a couple of pages let alone a whole book, so this episode didn’t help. I did however persevere and did rather enjoy this book.Not all of it, parts had me quite infuriated and angry, other bits had me wondering what the author was thinking. There were however some utterly beautiful sequences, sections and writing to wonder and behold at. I think Paulo Coelho is a bit of an acquired taste, and even though I haven’t read all of his work, this book did give me a taste to check out some of his other offerings.

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So after those three books above I thought I would look at a few books which I haven’t actually read. As I mentioned above when I get into a depressed episode I find it hard to read, which frustrates me so, as I adore reading. Thus, as a means to get me reading again, I’m going to try one of the following (whichever I find first) and give it a go…and when I’ve finished I’ll let you know.

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4. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg

“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is a semi-autobiographical account of Joanne Greenberg’s experience with mental illness. This book was originally published in 1964 under the pseudonym Hannah Green in order to protect her family from the stigma that often accompanies a psychiatric diagnosis. When Greenberg’s family learned more about her history with mental illness, she allowed the book to be reprinted using her real name. In addition to the book making people aware of the stigma that comes with mental illness Greenberg wrote the book to give a realistic portrayal of the experience of mental illness. Deborah Blau is an adolescent who has been sent to a mental hospital, by her parents to be treated for schizophrenia after attempting to commit suicide. The book follows Deborah through the course of her stay at the hospital, flashing back to Deborah’s childhood while taking the reader to the world of Yr. Yr is a world of Deborah’s own creation that previously provided her with comfort and sanctuary, but at the time of her hospitalization it had begun turning into a frightening and condemning place for Deborah. Throughout the course of the story Deborah bounces between the “human world” and Yr unable to incorporate or choose between the two worlds.”
Read the rest of this review at Biblioreview

5. Red Tears by Joanna Kenrick

“Red Tears is a new novel for teenagers. On the surface it’s about a teenage girl who turns to self-harm when she finds things are getting on top of her. She is in her GCSE year at school (age 15 for non-UKers) and is being treated badly by her so-called ‘friends’. Overwhelmed by pressures from all sides (particularly from her mother, who wants her to ‘do the best you can’ all the time) she resorts to self-harm. But once you start, it’s not that easy to stop…”
You can find out more about this book at the authors website

6. The Province of Hope by Mark Lee Kirchmeier

“Johnny Verliebt is a young man with many lives. One is that of a college student from an affluent suburban family; the other is one of sleepless nights and racing thoughts that can only be quieted by alcohol and drugs. Soon after Johnny falls in love with a young medical student named Robert, he suffers a psychotic breakdown and begins life with bipolar affective disorder.”
Read more about this book on Amazon

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So there we have it, six fictional books out of thousands dipping into mental illness for their inspiration and material. If any of you have any personal favourites of novels dealing with mental illness be sure to drop a comment so others can check them out, and stay tuned for a look at six great ‘personal account’ books…one of which being my all time favourite book dealing with mental illness!