Description

A Diary of Despair
By Rosamund McCullain

ISBN: 978-1-905610-95-2
Published: 2006
Pages: 85
Key Themes: anti-psychiatry, mental health services, treatments, medication, suicide, self-harm

It is lucky for service users in Powys and others around the world that McCullain is brave enough to survive and choose life – Jason Pegler, author and founder of ChipmunkaPublishing

Description

This book tells Rosamunds story as she journeys through experiences of mental distress and bad treatment at the hands of the mental health system. The book ends on a note of hope and survivor solidarity. A whole range of issues are covered, from conditions in inpatient facilities, drug treatment, stigma and discrimination, the impact of suicide and self harm, the quality of community mental healthcare to the eventual partial recovery of the Rosamunds condition and how she has managed to achieve this. An important and triumphant piece of work, The Dispossessed is a must read for mental health service users and professionals alike.

About the Author

Rosamund McCullain was born and grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Upon leaving school she moved to the Mid-Wales area to study English at Aberystwyth University, she currently lives in Newtown, Powys. When she first became a mental health service user, Rosamund was appalled at the state of the system and the treatment she received, and felt the public should be told what was being done with their money and in their name. To achieve this, she started writing The Dispossessed in 1993, and finally completed it in 2002. Rosamund has a keen interest in creative writing, for her it has been a lifelong survival mechanism. She is an animal lover, and has two dogs, two cats and a horse. She works as a self-employed mental health trainer and consultant, writer and creative writing tutor. She is also involved in voluntary work as a survivor activist.