Description

By William Roberts

ISBN: 9781849916509
Published: 2011
Pages: 182
Key Themes: novel, autobiography, mental health, recovery, empowerment

Description

A Mental Note is a novel based on the life and times of a man who suffers from a mental illness. Will, who has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, tells his story about living with this illness, focusing mainly on specific periods and events relating to this condition, and the reasons for it. He describes life before becoming unwell, the diagnosis and treatment, as well as other incidents. These are all included to show how Wills life developed during his ordeal. Although most of the book is factual, some areas have been dramatised to bring the story to life. Also, many of the fictional passages have been included to give a sense of the nature of the illness and the thought process that goes with it. For example, a schizophrenic can create his or her own deluded perception of reality that, although it is not real, seems perfectly believable to the sufferer.

The book is comical in places, and some of the fun in the book is designed to show that even when suffering from a mental illness, it is still possible to have a good time, and enjoy oneself. I have tried to focus mainly on the good experiences for this reason, but I have also referred to the darker sides of the illness so that people in similar situations can possibly relate to them. Hopefully this may give others a bit of an insight into living with the disease, and its harrowing effects.

I hope this book will be of considerable interest to anyone who either suffers from, or is involved with someone who suffers from, any similar mental health problems. I also think that it makes for a stimulating, insightful and humorous read for a wide range of other people concerned with such issues. Finally, because of some of the geographical locations in the book , I think people from those areas mentioned would enjoy reading this book too.

About the Author

William is a man with a story of courage. He was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire UK in 1980. He was educated privately in Shrewsbury, and at Adams School, Newport, Shropshire, where he achieved 8 healthy GCSEs. Trouble set in in his mid-teens when he was caught between the Sixth Form College, Shrewsbury, and the Radbrook College, Shrewsbury, where he transferred from an academic to a practical career prospect, studying to be a chef. From Shrewsbury to Croydon near London he pursued his chef career. He had a breakdown, out of which he has pulled himself together, and written A MENTAL NOTE an imaginative and dynamic fictional testimony to what it is to be like to be pained by schizophrenia, but to work ones way through. He is currently living in Birmingham, and writing his next, imaginative books.