US 'N' U

One of the most difficult aspects of my manic and psychotic episode was not the mania itself. It was the experience of involuntary treatment. For those who have never experienced it, involuntary treatment means being admitted to a mental health hospital against your wishes. Once admitted, many decisions about your life are no longer yours to make. The treating team determines your treatment, your medication, and ultimately when you are considered well enough to leave. The int

When I wrote The Dialectics of Mania, I did not set out to write a textbook on bipolar disorder, psychosis, or the mental health system. I simply wanted to tell my story. The book is a personal account of my journey through a manic and psychotic episode in 2023, my subsequent hospitalisation, and the experiences that followed. I documented events as they happened, often in extensive detail, capturing the confusion, excitement, fear, and uncertainty that accompanied one of the

Over the past several decades, the lived experience movement has helped bring consumer voices into mainstream mental health services. This has been one of the most significant developments in modern mental health care. Yet despite the progress that has been made, I believe we are only at the beginning of realising the true potential of consumer voices. Clinical expertise is important. Psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and allied health professionals all pl

Lived experience stories have formed the bedrock of the lived experience movement, a global social movement that is helping shape the future of mental health. But why are stories so important? I believe stories are important because they help us make sense of our experiences and our reality. Stories allow us to organise events, emotions, and memories into a coherent narrative. They help us understand where we have come from, what has happened to us, and where we might be head

It is a question I often ask myself. Would I have written the books I have written without experiencing my manic and psychotic episode in 2023? My answer is both yes and no. Yes, I believe I would have written books. But no, I do not believe they would have been the same books. The desire to write existed long before my episode. For more than twenty years, I dreamed of becoming an author. Throughout my adult life, I collected ideas, filled notebooks, reflected on life, and im

After being transferred from Nepean Psychiatric Hospital to the Hills Clinic in 2023, I entered an intense period of writing. Within three months of being discharged, I had completed drafts of both The Dialectics of Mania and A Turtle's Journey. For most of my adult life, I had dreamed of writing and publishing a book. It was one of those goals that always sat in the background, waiting for the right moment. Ironically, it was one of the most challenging periods of my life th

People often ask me why I wrote The Dialectics of Mania. The simple answer is that I felt I had a story that needed to be told. My manic and psychotic episode in 2023 was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I had never heard of someone becoming consumed by a delusion that they were living out the Seven Days of Creation. Nor had I ever heard of someone becoming so convinced that their final breath might somehow save humanity. The entire experience felt surreal, frightening