In October 2010, as part of the Time To Change campaign, I was asked to share some of my story in The Sun newspaper. As you may imagine, given the tabloid paper’s usual take on diagnoses such as schizophrenia, I was initially a little sceptical. The whole thing was quite surreal.
Whilst the result was a far cry from the way I would usually speak about my own experiences (I don’t believe schizophrenia is a helpful label for me, and stepping beyond it is central to my recovery) I do think that The Sun did something to counter the negative stereotypes many people still have about those of us who are diagnosed.
The truth is that people who become overwhelmed with voices and visions come from all walks of life. We can, and do, find ways of making sense of and living with these experiences. Best of all, we can reclaim our lives and follow whatever path it is that we choose. We are all unique human beings and we have the right to follow our own journey (whether we are a ‘charity worker’, ‘mum’ or ‘athlete’). The labels we are given by psychiatry should neither limit nor define us.
You can read the article here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3179089/Three-women-talk-about-living-with-schizophrenia-or-schizo-affective-disorder.html
Being the second person in that article, it was a work of fiction very loosely based on my life & what I told them.
Not exactly what I’d have written, but I was just so pleased anything like it appeared. Before the interview I searched the Sun site, and the only mention of anything like schizophrenia was in headlines alongside ‘stabbed’ or ‘drugs’.
I think it’s important to do publicity with the ‘schizophrenia’ label. It’s still how many people are told to relate to their voices, the only language they are given.
There’s also something there about reclaiming the language. That was the first time I’d done any press work at all about ‘mental illness’, so having my name & photo in the UK’s most widely read newspaper under a ‘SCHIZOPHRENIA’ headline was frightening, but it was also very liberating – a ‘coming out’. The word wasn’t something that could be used to blackmail or bully me any more.
Hey 🙂 Yes, even though I don’t believe in schizophrenia as a useful concept – I’m pretty sure that article reached lots of people and changed some perspectives. I liked the message that we are just regular people with regular lives.
Full credit to you for coming out. I’d done a few things previously, but I remember feeling quite exposed the day it came out. Luckily their make up team made me look all glammed up and weird.
Yay for reclaiming ourselves and being proud to be ourselves 🙂
Hi Rai,
I’ve read your interviews to the The Sun, Full House and the Telegraph. Thank you for your emotional honesty.
I have a different slant to the last taboo. In the papers talking about mental health is classified as the last taboo, but not for me, the last taboo for me: is not talking about the appalling level of care in the mental health system… hence my reading of your post – the problems with psychiatrists.
Tomorrow I have a suprise appointment with a Harley Street psychiatrist, which is an important appointment for reasons that are too ardulous to go into here.
Still, well done, on campaigning for change.
Good luck for the future, Liam
[…] to as ‘severe and enduring mental illness’ (the piece is now paywalled, but you can read another interviewee’s take on it). I won’t discuss the stats, as they have already been done here & elsewhere, except to […]