Touch :: Manic Depression and Me
Paul shares how meeting Glenn Gould in The Beaches of Toronto, and touch, gave him a new perspective on his manic depression.
Author: Paul Illidge
The whistling cure
I know it sounds crazy to think of whistling as a cure for anxiety and depression, but let me explain.
Watch out for the Mongo Bongos
A compelling story by Paul Illidge about his experience with his charismatic mother who spent years in and out of psych wards. Paul came to call her behavior that verged on psychotic as “The Mongo Bongos”. When about to enter a seniors home and worried that her psychiatric history might prevent them from accepting her, he asked her to be on her best behavior. Read more to find out what happened next. It left me shocked when I first read it.
Between the poles: Bipolar and me
Paul Illidge dove in deep to understand the term bi-polar, only to surface feeling more confused. It was a psychiatrist using the metaphor of being between two poles, and insight from reading about Orson Welles (who also experienced bi-polar), that led him to conclude what bi-polar means for him.
The ninety-percent solution
Paul Illidge shares how his entire relationship with depression is based on lived experience, on what has happened to him and how he’s dealt with it, or put off dealing with it, which has more often been the case.
The D-word; an excerpt from The Bleaks
Paul Illidge shares part of his story from his memoir The Bleaks; a harrowing nightmare in which Paul’s life is plunged when a drug-squad raids his house and the mental health experiences that follows.
