A compelling visual and verbal journey exploring the author's experience of schizophrenia: the first signs reactions from friends and family how he sought help the challenges of recovery.
Edinburgh 1994?I am crouching in an alleyway. They can't see me here so for the moment I am safe. There must be hundreds of loudspeakers projecting secret messages at me and umpteen video cameras tracking every move I make.They will tie me up soak my feet in water and have goats lick my feet down to the bone.?
Melbourne 2003?'Nowadays I say that I am recovered not cured. I have a job I have my band I have my friends and my family. I pay my taxes and do the dishes; I'm independent. A couple of pills a day keep me slightly lethargic yet sane . I can live with that.'
Mental illness is common and often devastating. In this day and age it is a treatable condition yet many are left untreated misunderstood. Richard McLean is one of the lucky ones. His words and pictures give us a unique and poignant insight into a hidden internal world.
This is a powerful quirky and important book. Powerful because it goes straight to the heart of battling a psychotic illness. Quirky because of the author s abundant creativity and the delight of his illustrations. Important because it outstrips anything else I have read about schizophrenia for its insight into the nature of psychotic thinking and behaviour. McLean writes with a bold simplicity and deftly avoids melodrama and bathos. Anne Deveson
