This book presents personal stories that show how individuals, their friends, families and employers, have found ways to overcome difficulties and cope with the changes in their lives brought about by the onset of various psychiatric conditions. Those covered include: depression, anxiety, dementia, schizophrenia, alcohol or drug addictions and eating disorders.

 

Contributions from the providers of mental health services show the ranges of support and treatment available, as well as how both users and providers are learning from each other to help improve services. This is the third joint publication by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and West London Health Promotion Agency.

 

STIGMA STORIES
A day with severe depression by Colin Edington
Commentary - Peter Relton
Resistance is useless by Lizzie Gardiner
Poems by V. I. Oliver
Commentary - Femi Oyebode
Mental illness and employment by Kay McKall
Commentary - Alison Cobb
Mental illness in the media by Stephen Dominic
Commentary - Peter Byrne

 

PERSONAL STORIES
A positive story by Jean James
Commentary - Miles Rinaldi
A double life: a selective autobiography by Anonymous
Commentary - David Baldwin
Depression and alcohol by Anonymous
Commentary - Michael Crowe
Drug-induced psychosis by Randy Osqviff
Problems with drugs and alcohol by Keith Murray
Commentary - Emily Finch
Living with obsessive-compulsive disorder by Daisy Fields
Commentary - Isaac Marks
Growing up by Anonymous
Eating disorders in men by Anonymous
Commentary - Jim Bolton
Commentary - Mike Hobbs
Commentary - Steve Bloomfield
Reflections on caring by Philip Ingram
Caring at home by Gillian Harrison
Commentary - Susan Benbow
Becoming ill by Jamie Barnes

 

ISSUES
Suicide by starvation by Anna Paterson
Commentary - Susan Bailey
If you prick us, do we not bleed? by Anonymous
Commentary - Michael King
Refugees and mental health by SGH
Commentary - Derek Summerfield
Commentary - Kam Bhui
Falling through the net by Anonymous
Commentary - Philip Timms
Commentary - Alison Gray
Poems by Peter Grist

 

LIVING WITH...
My in-patient career by Anonymous
Jake's hospital journal by Jamie Barnes
Commentary - Kelly Ratchford
The adult I may have become by Sarah Swainston
Commentary - Winston McCartney
Living with severe mental illness by Paul Reet
Commentary - Roger Freeman
Controlling cravings by Anonymous
Commentary - Roger Farmer
Under a cloud by Barry Lane
Getting better by Janet Powick
Being a gay carer by Mark Paige
Commentary - Jill Siddle
Growing up as a carer by Nicola Dacre
Commentary - Patsy Westcott
Extract from A Mother's Story by Georgie Wakefield

Glossary of terms
Organisations that can help
References and recommended reading
Index