Books published by Chipmunkapublishing

Description Following the success of John's debut collection "Like a Fine Piece of China", this second collection sees a mind returning to full "normality", after a massive mental breakdown. We see an author finding his feet again, and notice a much more positive approach to the daily grind.About the AuthorBorn in Cappamore, Co. Limerick, Ireland, in 1947, John has experienced mental health issues and been through the system, since a savage sexual assault in the workplace 6 years ago. One thing's for sure: writing was the one constant in an otherwise very inconstant series of experiences; John found the discipline of writing to be very therapeutic indeed, and is writing to this day.

Description 'Relating To Michael' is a work of fiction. Michael is Robin and Tamsin Cooper's beautiful autistic son. Robin has left Brock Cottage, their home, and moved to a room over 'Coopers and Son', the family antique business in nearby Linbury. He and Tamsin strongly disagree about how they should treat Michael. The continuity of the family as embodied in the image 'Coopers and Son' is very important to Robin but Michael offers his father no real acknowledgement. This distresses Robin. Nursery rhymes are Michael's main vocalisations. Playing one note, D flat on the piano, and running water are other obsessions.Tamsin, who has problems with dependence, is pulled in all directions by her love for their son and her wish for acceptance and normality. She works from home as a potter. Harvest jugs are her speciality.'Relating To Michael' is about a family's struggles and frustrations as it journeys towards a different understanding.About the AuthorMary Maher has had four collections of poetry published, and many short stories one of which won a SW Arts Award. Her poems have appeared in the first Forward Anthology, on TV and have been used by The Hospice Care Trust, the UCLA Writing Programme and Exeter Health Care Arts. When the scheme was running she was a W H Smith Poet in Schools. She enjoys editing as well and recently edited two art books. Yorkshire born in 1937 to a family of miners, Mary has had manic depression several times and believes this is why she felt 'at home' working in Special Education where there was a lot of honesty, a lack of social inhibition and where life was vivid, never humdrum, on a daily basis.

Description In this volume of thirty poems, Gemma Lees deals with many tough issues such as: mental health problems, homelessness, learning difficulties and social decline. The collection, written over a period of seven years includes several new poems. These hard-hitting verses will shock, surprise and stimulate debate on a variety of gritty topics. About the AuthorGemma Lees was born in 1983 and brought up in Bury in Lancashire. She has graduated twice from the University of Bolton with a BA in Creative Writing and Writing for Stage, Screen and Radio and a PGDE in Adult Literacy. Described as a 'street poet', she bases much of her work on the people she meets as well as her own experiences. Gemma teaches creative writing and drama in schools, libraries, theatres and community settings to a variety of ages. She also performs her poetry at a variety of venues across the North West, including; pubs, schools and colleges, libraries, theatres and festivals. Gemma works for the spoken word organisation 'Write out Loud' and co-ordinates both their monthly Middleton night and one-off performances. A sufferer of both BPD and OCD, Gemma often struggles with her writing career but her husband and carer is a constant support, in the green room and audience at every gig.

Description Riding the Edge is about the author's struggles through life in dealing with his bipolar disease coupled with attention deficit disorder. There is humor and sadness to the book but it is a life truly lived on the edge.About the AuthorKevin Young, born in 1963, has lived with bipolar disease all his life but was not diagnosed as such until 2009. How bipolar affected his life can be both sad and humorous. Learning to live with the disease without going over the edge is the hardest part.

Description This is the story of Pil-nyo, a Korean girl forced to serve the Japanese army as a comfort woman during World War II. In a remote village in Korea that is under Japanese occupation a group of Japanese soldiers attacks the villagers. They brutally rape and kill Pil-nyo's mother and older sister, shoot her father, and burn her two little sisters alive. Fourteen-year-old Pil-nyo is forced to perform fellatio an officer. She loses her ability to speak from the trauma of what she has seen and experienced. She manages to escape to the woods where she hides for a couple of days, but confused, desolate, and still in shock, she lets the Japanese soldiers find her and take her with them. Young Pil-nyo is sent on a train to Manchuria , where she is stationed as a comfort lady.The Japanese established many comfort stations to serve their soldiers throughout the Pacific nations that they conquered. The official reasons given by the leadership were to protect the soldiers from venereal diseases and to prevent them from committing rapes. The Japanese kidnapped some 200,000 girls throughout the Pacific nations and forced them to serve in comfort stations and brothels.Soldiers would line up at the comfort stations from early morning until late at night to take their turns with the girls. Officers were permitted to stay the night with them. The comfort girls were brutally tortured and beaten by the soldiers. Food and medicine were in short supply and inadequate to sustain the girls. They had to wash the condoms after each encounter with a soldier and use them many times before discarding them. The girls sometimes had to service 60-70 men a day.Pil-nyo starts working right after undergoing sterilization surgery. Cycles of bitterness and anger eventually give way to complete apathy in response to what she is going through. Her friend Kumikko manages to leave the brothel and moves to the medical officer's room. She gives Pil-nyo papers and pencils and encourages her to draw. From here on her life begins to change. Pil-nyo discovers her talent as an artist and she finds a safety valve for her soul. In the brothel her guards do not see her anymore as just another marionette, just another sex toy; she is now an artist. They come to her cell to be sketched, as do the Japanese soldiers and officers. The mute Korean artist becomes somewhat of a celebrity.After Kumikko decides to put an end to her life, a Filipino girl arrives at the brothel. Nina is an interesting, sophisticated, controversial young woman. She is one of the highlights of the story. Nina is a direct opposite of Pil-nyo, but the connection that is formed between them through Pil-nyo's art and silence is stronger than anything words could have accomplished. Pil-nyo becomes Nina's only trusted ally and only witness to Nina's tragedy.The story deals mercilessly with rape, humiliation, lust, confusion, hunger, pain, torture and abuse. Pil-nyo's silence in this book is the loudest of all sounds; it screams and cries out for individual recognition. Pil-nyo journeys from despair to confidence and awareness of her worth through her art, her Buddhism, and her memories. The terrible atmosphere, the hunger and the screaming in the brothel, are part of the daily routine; and the only way for Pil-nyo to keep her sanity is to draw and sink deeper into her muteness.The Japanese government has never apologized or offered compensation to the surviving comfort women or their families. This book is only one of many calls to the Japanese government to do so.

Description This is a volume of poetry written by the author in his youth, starting in his early teens, when he was a patient in the Adolescent Unit of a psychiatric hospital in the early 1970s, and moving on to poems written in his late teens and early twenties.The early poems express the imagination of a teenager, while many of the later poems deal with lost love and feelings of depression, reflecting the sadness and aspirations of an unhappy young man who had fallen from a previous state of ecstasy into melancholy through having been compulsorily detained in a psychiatric unit for two and a half years.About the AuthorPeter G Mackie was born in Perth, Scotland in 1957 and, as a teenager, was mistakenly kept in the Adolescent Unit of a psychiatric hospital for two and a half years, an experience which affected his whole life and which led him to suffer from depression.Due to problems with his family, he ran away from home at the age of 16 and suffered abuse on the streets of London.At the age of 17, after a brief period in a hippy commune, he wrote his novel The Madhouse of Love in a bed-sit in Tooting, South London, based on his earlier experiences in the psychiatric unit.From 1977 to 1984, he spent a period working and travelling in Europe, which helped him to see a different perspective on life.However, due to unemployment in the 1980s, he was forced to return to Scotland, where he took an HND in Computer Data Processing, but failed to find work in that field.Due to his education having been disrupted early in life, he has had to survive doing unskilled jobs interspersed with periods of unemployment.From 2001 to 2007, he went through a very difficult time, moving from place to place, trying to find work and accommodation, with little success, causing him to have a nervous breakdown and to lapse again into depression.He ended up homeless in Edinburgh, where he sold The Big Issue for over a year.He is now doing an IT course at Redhall Walled Garden, a project in Edinburgh run by the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) and is still struggling hard to cope with depression.During the 1980s and '90s, he had poems published in numerous small press magazines.He has also recorded a CD of music on piano and synthesiser All Over the Shop, which is available from some alternative shops in Edinburgh and over the Internet.Due to his experiences both earlier and later in life, he has a particular concern for the rights of young people, for those claiming disability benefits and for the homeless.

Description 'THEY SAY I'M PARANOID... and what about schizophrenia?!' is a young woman's account of what it's like coming to terms with her diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, the possible causes and the coping strategies she has put in place.These memoirs reflect some of the turmoil and confusion that has happened to Kaye throughout her life, but it is also a journey of self discovery as being diagnosed with schizophrenia is NOT THE END! It gears towards positivity as Kaye unravels the problems in her childhood and attempts to recover and maintain a healthy lifestyle.This book will enlighten you into the world of the British mental health services if you are not familiar with them already, but also invites you to share an optimistic attitude for those who have experienced mental health difficulties, especially those with schizophrenia.About the AuthorKaye Kidd is aged 36, born in Cambridgeshire in 1973. She is an emotional artist and a qualified Holistic therapist. She studied Performing Arts at De Monfort University, graduating in dance in 1994.Kaye considers herself not to be a professional artist but uses her skills therapeutically to combat her personal struggles with her mental health problems.Kaye was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1997 and considers herself to be well but suffers with periods of depression and sometimes paranoia.

Description The 21st Century is one of the most turbulent and critical in our history. When the blueprints that guided us through the last two centuries have been torn up or found wanting there is a great need to recreate our future through thought discussion and action. Well-being is about being happy with ourselves and comfortable with our environment and without the public space to create that and forge new maps and purpose then we are in danger of an intellectual and emotional void. This book is about creating and expanding the public sphere or square where this can happen and where we can make connections that will make a difference. But the public square in the 21st century is both local and global and based around constantly changing networks. How we give public space to these new networks is central to the theme of this book.This book emphasises that it is these local and global networks that have the power to shape our future by bringing into focus the need to change both our environment and ourselves. It is the connections made that are the engines and energy of networks and relationships created between individual and organisations can become the effective agents of change and reinvigorate our political life.The 21st century has to be about making the connections that will simultaneously change both our environment and ourselves. It is in the global public square of the present century that we can recreate our future in a sustainable way when faced with constant diversity and change.About the AuthorFrancis Sealey was born in 1944 and was a Producer and Executive Producer for many years working for both the BBC Open University and the Community Programmes Unit. He has been active in politics and community action for most of his life, being a Parliamentary Candidate in 1974 and founder and activist in a number of social & community networks. Since 1993 he has been a freelance producer working with a number of training, public and voluntary organisations. In 2007 he founded 21st Century Network to help recreate public space and bring genuine debate back to public life.

Description Everybody is a pawn on somebody else's chessboard...Little Child is a hard-hitting thriller which strips bare the impact mental illness and abuse can have upon the relationships within a family, and beyond the family.The story is set in the South East of England and portrays a mother and daughter grappling with their identities. Lost and overcome, striving to be the best they can be, the pressure of expectation weighs heavily. Both are running - Maggie from the power she's been entrusted with by her father's company and all that it brings; Emily from her mother's relentless abuse and keeping up the facade that her home life is normal. As Emily and her father make plans to escape, Maggie finds herself embroiled in a tangled web of lies, deceit and corruption, which will eventually lead to the ultimate betrayal. Both mother and daughter will be pushed to the brink of despair through events out of their control, but only one will claw her way back again. ¿Lurking on every corner - survival, power, instinct - and laced with gripping plot on plot, Little Child effortlessly combines a gritty underworld with raw, delicate emotion.About the AuthorPiara Strainge was born in Bath on the 6th November, 1982 and educated at Warmley Church of England and at the Sir Bernard Lovell School in Oldland, Bristol. Leaving home at 17, she moved to Fleet in Hampshire where she has been living ever since. The last 11 years have been spent travelling all over the world as Piara works for an Adventure tour operator in Farnborough. Writing is her first passion, closely followed by travel. It took 10 years to plan her debut novel Little Child and finally, in September 2009, she sat down and wrote the story during a 6-month break.Little Child deals with different types of abuse and touches it on all levels. On a personal level, Piara has experienced and witnessed emotional and mental abuse and it weaves itself through her family, passed on from one generation to the next. The different forms of abuse are widely acknowledged in the family and her generation is working hard to stop the cycle as they create a new generation - primarily by being aware of it. Piara accepts they won't all be successful because traits are ingrained, but at least the acknowledgement is there. Mental abuse fascinates her the most as it is so subtle.

Description Styx is a book of narrative non-fiction. It is a very personal story. The subject matter is the stigma associated with mental illness. The style is poetic, confessional, memoir, and documentary. The narrative reflects on mental illness through the metaphors of passage, crossing, and travel. The author explores what it means to suffer the trauma of hospitalization including restraints and forced medication. The book is inspired by Greek mythology of the passage into the underworld as well as the innocence of childhood rhymes teaching children not to be hurt by name-calling when, ironically, that is what medical diagnosis does. The title refers to the river Styx in Greek mythology, which many attempted to cross into Hades. Of those who made it across into the underworld, few returned. The author's name, Khaos, refers to the gender-neutral Greek god, who created the universe from the miasma of nothingness that preceded creation. Shifting between the past, present, and future, the narrative reflects the mechanisms the body has to deal with trauma. While this book is non-fiction, memoir, and poetry, it is inspired by Toni Morrison's development of her protagonist, Sethe, in Beloved. The illness described in the book and the author's professional pursuit of medicine are often at odds with each other due to the taboo nature of the illness and specifically the taboo way in which the author's family and society treat mental illness. As such, the book is a coming-out project with regard to the illness.

DescriptionHelen tells her own remarkable, uplifting and powerful story of living and working with sufferers of mental health problems. Included in her tales are first hand extraordinary life accounts written and told by some of the people she was lucky enough to have supported through difficult times in their lives. She shares her experiences with passion and energy giving inspiration and the ''can do'' attitude to her readers in a subtle format. For 25 years she has worked with her heart and soul to help others. Her style is, at times, ''off the wall'' and eccentric and she has used these qualities to successfully run her community. At times she goes where angels fear to tread. By demonstrating times of laughter and sadness this is a book that should appeal to a wide audience as she takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.

Description A great resource and self-help book for any carer who is feeling under stress or is anxious. There are lots of very useful tips and activities to try. It can be read right through or picked up and used to help and support when needed. About the AuthorJessica Smyrl is a qualified nurse, midwife, Stress Management Consultant and Trainer. She runs a Stress Management Consultancy, Training and coaching business in Glasgow.Jessica and her sister cared for their mother whilst they both worked full-time which was on occasion difficult to cope with. After their mother passed away in March 2006, Jessica volunteered with a local carers' charity for about two years mainly giving telephone support to carers. In 2009, Jessica founded Your Stress Management and her first business break was when the charity she was volunteering with were looking for a stress management consultant and training provider. They asked Jessica initially to carry out some consultancy and then provide training to carers. This was an excellent opportunity for Jessica as she was able to combine her role as a carer, volunteer and stress management expert to develop and deliver specific stress management training for carers."Stress Management for Carers" was written by Jessica as she found that many of the issues and problems which she had as a carer had not changed. Most of these issues were still extremely frustrating for carers today, so she felt that a self-help book would give some support and much needed help to carers.

Description An eventually uplifting tale of one man's battle to overcome depression, or 'The Devil' as the author calls it. As Kris Kristofferson wrote in one of his most memorable songs:-'You see the devil haunts a hungry man,If you wanna beat him, you have to join him.I ain't saying I beat the devil, but I drank his beer for nothing. Along this rollercoaster of a ride we are introduced to the Gascon version of Arthur Daley, the charismatic ex-paratrooper Pierre Lagaillarde and the Nigerian generals; as well as being involved in la guerre d'Algérie and the War on Terror. We also hear about the numerous health advantages of foie gras and the Gascon way of life, the Planet under Stress, Van Morrison and last but not least the life-saving qualities of both Prozac and landscape.About the AuthorSimon Turner was born in 1948 and lives in Sudbury, Suffolk. He is a former Chartered Surveyor who had, in his own words, 'a notably undistinguished career in property'. He was also an aubergiste and agent immobilier in France for seven years between 1989 and 1996 until he was overcome by 'The Devil'. On recovering he did 'six years penance' as a Private Hire Driver. His first book 'The Waiting Game' was a novel ostensibly based on those experiences but in hindsight he now realizes was more about total mental decomposition.

Description This novel takes place in the thrilling years of the Weimar Republic in Germany, a time when the first modern queer movements and feminist movements were converging with radical political movements of various stripes--from monarchism and fascism to socialism, communism, and anarchism. This story centers round two lovers, a working class young man named Theodor Priser who at first espouses Communism as a way to fight against the reaction of his times, and Katharina Von Rosen, a rich, beautiful flapper girl who answers with Anarchy, and embraces sexual freedom as essential to any social and political liberation. Katharina, who comes to have the nickname "Katya," leads Theodor (whom she names "Theo") through his inhibitions to embrace anarchy, with all its sexual and spiritual freedom, and the two go on to form a nucleus of radicalism amongst their friends and comrades in the turbulent world of Weimar Berlin. They suffer many trials and tribulations over the years between 1922 and 1933, but come together at the end to deal a blow to the rising Nazi regime of Germany, one which erased and buried the glory of Weimar--though not for all time. In this novel, all the perverse and darkly celebratory beauty of the Lost Generation comes through, and a story is told that gives light to all that has been forgotten--the daring, the freedom, the craziness of the years between the First World War and the rise of Fascism in what was the most liberated city in all the world at that time--Weimar Berlin.

Description "Writing is like breathing to me - even if I want to stop for a while, have a break, regroup, I simply can't. I find I can't stop the ink running across blank sheets. When I went to Cornwall to write this novel, it took me over. I'm so thankful it did." - Laura May'The Letterbox Man' is a tale of love and loss in the life of Beth Spencer, set in the beautiful, haunting village of Polruan, Cornwall. Returning to Polruan for one week to clear her mother's house following her death, Beth, herself now an old woman, knows that she has hurt too much and has been away for too long, and that it is time to forgive the village and its river for the pain they caused her in the past. As Beth revisits the village of her childhood she is resigned to the fact that she is old and that she is dying. However, she is not prepared for the overwhelming beauty and peace that greets her there, and she is startled to find, among the ghosts of the past, a chance for a future. In turns rich, vivid, poetic and sorrowful, the first novel from Laura May, a young woman tackling Bipolar Disorder, is a poetic achievement.About the AuthorBorn in 1983, Laura May was always 'different'. In 2008, after ten years of being treated for depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies, she was diagnosed with rapid cycling Bipolar Disorder. Over the past eleven years Laura May has experienced psychotic episodes, has attempted suicide and has had several bouts of extreme mania and depression, all of which she has tackled through her writing. Laura works within mental health, and possesses a degree in English Literature from the University of Hull. She lives in Essex with her wife and their 'babies', the many cats and dogs

Description The 'Grim Reaper' is a story based partly on true events. However, all the characters and all the institutions mentioned are entirely imaginary and any resemblance to persons living or dead or actual events are purely coincidental. The reader will enter an unfolding tragedy about a loving couple who will experience the misery mental health problems can bring to a relationship and to families. This is a chilling tale about the awful experiences of a middle-aged woman called Ruth and her husband, Robert. The 'Grim Reaper' of the title is the demonic and malevolent being who torments Ruth and tries to take her for his own by getting her to kill herself. Robert - her life-long love- and to a lesser extent, her son, Sean, try to help her overcome her problems. The story poses many as yet unanswered questions. Can external forces of evil beyond our control affect and impact on our lives? Is it right that in the present day under the UK's mental health act, patients can lose all their legal rights and all their human rights? Is it right that the forced administering of psychotropic drugs (known as the 'chemical cosh) is still going on in the UK's mental hospitals and that this remains a closely guarded and very dark secret?About the AuthorJennie Dodd was born in 1950 in the picturesque market town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire. Educated at the Wakeman Grammar Technical School she developed a love of art and English literature and excelled in sport. In 1968 she entered Glamorgan College of Education where she studied advanced main physical education and subsidiary art and English for three years. She began her teaching career at the Bryntirion Comprehensive School in Bridgend, Glamorgan in 1971. She retired from teaching in 2010 and now devotes her time to writing. Jennie currently lives in Shropshire with her husband, Russell, and son, Alexander.

Description 'Flirting with Madness,' focuses upon the mental illnesses, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Depression. 'Flirting with Madness' is written under the pen name of Louise Ellison. This is due to the confidentiality of her occupation and to protect the identities of those she is close to. This book is a raw and honest account of her experiences as a sufferer of mental illness, told in a sensitive and wry manner. It focuses upon the relationship between counsellor Maggie and Louise. It was Maggie's use of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy that provided Louise with the skills to deal with the possibility of living with BPD in conjunction with OCD and Depression. Alongside the details of therapy sessions, 'Flirting with Madness,' contains unedited diary entries that provide the reader with honest and accurate thoughts of a mental health sufferer. 'Flirting with Madness' is the words of a young woman struggling to find her identity in the world and make sense of what is 'normal' whilst trying to stay on the correct side of the borderline. I hope you enjoy this honest account.

Description This book is a must for anyone making a serious study into the totally ridiculous. Sid Ozalid first burst onto the scene in 1978 as a one-legged tap dancing poet. He would dance with his pet monkey, thrash himself with a daisy and beat his head with a tin tray. During this time he provided support for such acts as Simple Minds, The Clash, The Specials, OMD and many more, some of whom asked for him to be removed from the building. He worked on Radio, TV and in The Moulin Rouge. This entertaining story of Sid's life and his brushes with fame over a 30-year period, plus a collection of poems written and performed from 1977 to 2010 demonstrates one man's desire to find a space for his creativity. About the AuthorBorn weeks before the start of the 1960s, Douglas fitted in very well at school until he had to learn something. On leaving school at 16 he found employment working in the cartographic drawing office at BP in Aberdeen. To fulfil his creative side, he invented the poet Sid Ozalid, and went on to perform for over 30 years on stage, radio and TV. At the turn of the century, Douglas suffered mental health issues and stopped both writing and performing. Over a period of time and with the help of friends and colleagues he managed to get back to work and establish himself as a successful Facilitator and Change Manager.Douglas has gone on a number of sponsored cycle rides and raised thousand of pounds for mental health charities. In 2010 he started performing again with gigs in London, Aberdeen, Amsterdam and on the moon.

Description Working on Wellness: A Practical Guide to Mental Health is a manual designed to help anyone living with a mental illness recover and achieve the life they've wished for. Author Karl Shallowhorn provides simple, easy to understand tips on wellness, and shares his own personal story to illustrate his helpful methods. Karl explores such topics as potential, spirituality and the connection between the mind and body. Readers will quickly learn that the life they are looking for is within their reach, through the use of self-exploratory questions as well as reflection on their own life journey. Working on Wellness is an inspirational light of hope for individuals living with a mental illness and the people who love them. About the AuthorKarl Shallowhorn was born in Buffalo, NY in 1962. He was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 1981 and spent nearly 15 years struggling with his disease before stabilizing his condition. Karl is a recovering addict and a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor currently working in the mental health field. He has a Master of Science Degree in Student Personnel Administration from Buffalo State College. Karl's experience as both a consumer and clinician have given him a keen perspective on what is needed to both manage symptoms and go beyond one's self-perceived limitations. Karl is happily married with two daughters and lives with his family in Amherst, NY.

Description In 1987, a few months before I left home to hobo around Europe, Guns N' Roses released Appetite for Destruction. The band and album seemed a complete fit with my mind, beliefs, personality, life and ambitions: the songs told a tale of travelling to a new life; nostalgia for better times and the search for more; partying excess; alienation from society; getting into trouble and paranoia. The band seemed like the 1980s version of Jack Kerouac's beats, who had inspired my travel ambitions with stories about their frenetic trips across the states to California in the 1950s. They'd also been running from what they saw as humdrum existences they could not fit into, but what most people see as normality. My mind had also failed to settle, and just dreamt of escape while working at the mill where most other school drop-outs ended up. As with Kerouac and Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses, boredom and booze in a small town had brought trouble, and my ambitions to travel the world became as much about mental escape as seeing the sights.Experiencing the freedom of the road through hitching and sleeping rough brought amazing peaks and troughs, and this is described as lucidly as possible in the book. There were also exotic and beautiful locations, and both local and international people that provided an introduction to the myriad personalities and behaviour that the human mind manages to create. As well as being the memoir of a rock fan who'd been inspired to travel by Kerouac and found recent confirmation through the songs of Guns N' Roses, this book is also the first account as far as the author knows of the 1980s worker-traveller communities in Europe and the Middle-East.Thatcher's Britain was dystopian for those seeking freedom and fairness, and especially people hit by record unemployment. The unions had been crippled by the government planned miners' strike and those who dropped out of society into the Peace Convoy had been attacked at Stonehenge and basically run out of the country. Europe and the Middle-East offered employment possibilities close to home, although jobs usually only paid enough for survival or a ticket to the next destination. So, many people preferred to escape across the channel to live a freer nomadic life working and travelling with the seasons. Life was anarchic and often messy in the worker traveller communities, as in the 1950s beat communes or 1980s LA rock clubs and parties. Level headed people wouldn't have been impressed, but we thrived on the highs and lows; laughs and tears. We fitted in on the outside.

Description 'Shame, well, he doesn't realize how tough it is to be a dad.' These words reverberate around Shane Leah's head like a the sound of an atom bomb going off in his back garden. Shaken by the possibility of him becoming a father for the third time, he goes to pieces and tears down the metaphorical walls that surround him as he searches for the answer to the same problem that he posed himself as a teenager; 'How can i possibly survive this?' Survival is assured as he leaves the family home to delve deep into his psyche but will he ever come back? Can he love this child? Or will he beat the babe over the head, treat the news as lies and forever be manipulated by his partner, family and friends? 'The Devil himself has at least a hand in this... and he is Victor...'

Description A Pillar of Impotence deals with many issues in mental health. Fundamentally it is a story of recovery, the damage done by misdiagnosis, and finding a simple, medication based solution after 10 years.A book crosses the spectrum of mood disorder and a falsely diagnosed Personality Disorder. It deals with inpatient care, suicide, day services, psychotherapy, and eventual abandonment by Statutory Services. But it is put into the context of the wider world and as such is a record of the whole of the 1990s through the eyes of one sufferer. Various diagnoses were given at various times including depression, chronic endogenous depression, psychotic depression, narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality, and non specified mood disorder.

Description This book is not any sort of professional manual on Asperger's Syndrome nor yet an autobiography.It comprises a revealing series of Essays on Ron's experiences and speculations in the light of the understanding he now has of the Syndrome. He details his relations with the world, with his family, his children, friends, therapists and with his wives. The writing is delivered in a friendly and conversational mode, with a fair mix of humor and irony, - indeed in much the same style with which he presents his popular lectures. In these pages he describes some of the things that the NTs (non-Autistics) of this world simply cannot know about those on the Autism Spectrum. A glance at the Table of Contents will show the wide and stimulating variety of questions that have pressed Ron to seek for answers during much of his 74 years.

Description THE ARTIST'S DISEASE is my most current anthology. A mixture of observations, analysis and love coloured by the visions my illness granted me. The Artist's Disease will give readers an insight into mental health issues and recovery from an Australian perspective. My writing has for me been more than self analysis. It has been a poetic journey through the pits and peaks of madness and beyond.About the AuthorDamien was born in Seven Hills, Sydney, Australia in 1958. He was one of five children, all of whom are creative. His father was a British Paratrooper and Mentor to Damien. His mother was a warm, supportive woman with her own artistic gifts. When they found out that Damien had bipolar she danced him around the kitchen saying "son, you have the artist's disease'. Damien has completed qualifications in library studies which compliments his life long love affair with poetry and writing. Damien has also had a long history of involvement with music, theatre and literature. He names his diverse influences as the Beat Poets, Native American Shamanic writings, Pink Floyd, Steve Vie and Van Gelis just to name a few. Despite these numerous influences, Damien's voice emerges as a highly original and gifted poet. Damien has entered the chaos and pain of illness and emerged into recovery as a strong, expressive, generous and giving man. He credits his recovery and positive outlook to family, his writing, a commitment to wellness and the positive supports of the people around him.

Description 'Pillow book of a Manic Depressive' follows the style of medieval Japanese writers, who would keep a record of courtly life through their daily impressions, which they would then keep under their pillows. Taking a modern approach, the 'Pillow book' follows the impressions of the author in the year following an extreme manic episode, which saw him leap four floors and only barely survive. While his body repaired he was forced to slow down, take-in all that was immediately around him, and come to a place of peace and gratitude.Unknowingly using the technique of Mindfulness, he was able to reflect on all the many facets of his life, and life in general. Written in a very simple way, each impression invites the reader to slow down and examine his or her own thoughts. While as a whole, the collection is a story of survival and recovery - as the author's momentum towards good health becomes increasingly, if subtly, apparent.From the stain left on a page by a bookmark, to the author's catastrophic manic leap, to an old radio - the breadth of recollection is vast. And time to time, sprinkled throughout the book, are lists - of things you can break, things you can't hide, things that you do but don't know if they work - which pause to make you think what you as a reader might add or subtract. And to capture some of the deepest emotions, poetry is used.There is also humour, and lots of it. Life is many things, and to someone suffering a mental illness, the comfort of laughter is one of the richest. This is not slapstick, but the warm recognition of truth, and the joy of a new perspective on old troubles.Ultimately 'Pillow book of a Manic Depressive' is a window into one person's recovery and mind. But it also attempts to open hope to all through its portrayal of the human spirit.

About the AuthorLuca is diagnosed with schizo-feria as he likes to call it, and later described as co-morbid personality ,During his first so-called- brain-breakdown, I described what I heard, saw and felt, as pixilation energy and began to sense spiritual activity, living as a kind of modern-day hermetic, sketching stones and placing them in the weedy garden in Bromley common. Yet much later after moving to Thanet, the strangest voice I ever had was when I heard a latching deep pitch and a minotaur with horns in the form of a Prussian black shadow, and I had to look up in the dictionary to decipher the meaning of the sentence, in the Hailey hotel in Herne bay, it said 'you are a prefect of the devil' and then I found out that prefect meant like a schooling, but I twisted it out of fear that it meant I could leave the human-class of egoism anytime without following any darkness. I guess any darkness I ever used was kind of a shock-reactive act when ill, I kind of sensitivity, that I am a soaker of all the ecstasies and negatives of life, mainly paranoiac reactions in the past lead me to confinement in hospital and by non-confidence, and collective voices.I joined up with the theosophical society of English in Holborn in 2002 or 3, where I went to a book opening and purchased a copy of the esoteric science by Rudolf Steiner. My opinion from it is that every religion is a path to the same door, and that karma exists, and all religious texts are like riddles to the ultimate Buddhist-like truth that we merely reincarnate genetically and spiritual, advancing throughout lives, and then when perfected, we reach a god-like decision. Spiritual evolution, and I know-this, this is why I do not follow any particular region of the esoteric; I call it the study or realisation off essence-hood, the totality of all. And creativity is its instrument, like protein or Thai-chi for the soul. When I where sectioned fasted, at first, but then the medication had always been a problem until I found one with the least amount of side effects that didn't make me weight-gain, a little empty, but I battled that.In this book I have included poems, that are symbolic yet sensational for me, and if I believe they are deeply rooted in ageless thinking or my creative struggle.