Description

By Elizabeth Oates

ISBN: 9781849913447
Published: 2010
Pages: 76
Key Themes: anxiety, depression, seasonal affective disorder

Description

My book is about a journey about myself who used to live with various mental health problems and I now manage them so I can lead a successful healthy family lifestyle. It is a collection of poems I have written from the age of 16 to 30 . I thought my problems were quite normal and therefore just got on with life, but it was in 2009 when I thought crossing over to the spirit world would be painless and I could be on a cloud forever. I knew this was not quite right so I decided I wanted to manage my mental health issues.

About the Author

I was born in 1979 live in County Durham. I have suffered from mental health issues since leaving school in 1996 such as bulimia, IBS, seasonal affective disorder and sexual identity crisis. After graduating from University in Bristol I was a summer camp counsellor in New York and then travelled to the Far East.

During this period I self harmed and drank alcohol to forget my problems and I ended up in hospital on three occasions for self harm. I went to the GP in 2008 and had different medication tried on me. In 2009 I was advised to go into a mental hospital as I wanted to cross over to the spirit world. Here I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and depression and it was then when I decided to accept, manage and live with my problems.

I now lead a healthy happy family life where I compete in triathlon, duathlon, aquathon, have finished a marathon. Recently I have been told I have a little arthritis in my back and I now try to base my lifestyle around this, with swimming and strengthening. I have raised money for mental health charities and have been in the local media about beating depression by running. I plan to continue with this in the future, especially local campaigns.

I want to be an inspiration to people who suffer from mental health issues.