Description

By Bryan D. Hodgekins

ISBN: 978-1-84991-827-5
Published: 2012
Pages: 120
Key Themes: Mental Health, Depression

About the Author

Bryan was born in Portsmouth in 1938. It was owing to the rough time he had as a child that he has, for many years, suffered with depression, which brought on hardship for his family owing to the lengthy time he had off work.
Like most of the wartime children, the men and women in the armed forces were their heroes so as soon he was able after leaving school, he joined the Air Force as a boy entrant, but found it was a struggle owing to his poor education, which although he didnt know it at the time, brought on depression.
After leaving, he got a job as an apprentice electrician, where he was treated more as a labourer. He tried many different careers, mainly to get out of the rut he found himself in.
It was when he joined the Royal Marines that things started to change for him, for it was then that he did he feel like he was somebody. The added bonus was being accepted into the Special Boat service where he excelled. He then went on as an Electrical Officer in the Merchant Navy.
But it was then he found life was putting him down.
However, it wasnt until he met his wife Yvonne that he realized he needed other outlets to keep the constant threat of depression away.
His wife encouraged him to go into amateur dramatics, which he enjoyed.
But the depression even now is always in the background, waiting to pounce onto that unguarded moment.