Pendulum Magazine Issue 28

VOLUME 26, ISSUE 4 • £3

WIntEr 2010

tHE JournAL oF MdF tHE BIpoLAr orGAnIsAtIon

The Art of Josephine King rachel perkins: Mind champion of the Year USING BIPOLAR METAPHORS IN THERAPY

NEWS

nEW rEport sHEds posItIVE LIGHt on BIpoLAr A Ground-BrEAKInG nEW report into bipolar Understanding Bipolar Disorder Disorder, published by the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology, stresses the benefits that come from having bipolar as well as the downsides.

The report was conducted by a team of leading university academics and clinical psychologists led by Professor Steven Jones of the Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University It argues that biases in previous research have led to an exaggerated emphasis on the difficulties at the expense of the potential positive aspects, such as increased creativity. The report suggests that some people’s experiences are more extreme forms of the mood variation we all experience, can result from life experiences rather than always only brain chemistry, and it is not always helpful to think of them as an ‘illness’.

The report also suggests that a psychological perspective is lacking in many people’s experience of mental health care for bipolar disorder with the default therapy model being biological and based on medication.

What is lacking is a shared psychological understanding of individual experiences.

A comprehensive review of the report’s findings is published in the research section on page 15.

LIFE SO FAR IN VIEW

Photos: Catherine Pope

ArtIst JosEpHInE KInG is shown here at the private view of a new exhibition of her work Life So Far at the Riflemaker Gallery in London’s West End, shown between 13 September and 30 October.

Josephine has created a series of self-portraits that examine the trauma caused by the artist’s own extreme bipolar disorder.

In an exclusive interview with Pendulum, Josephine talked to MDF Bipolar’s membership services officer Daisy Jellicoe of the structures she has in place to remain as well as possible.

These include the need to live a balanced life and maintain routines: getting proper sleep and eating well in addition to taking her medication.

The interview is published on pages 24-26.

REFUGE ALBUM LAUNCHED tHE nEW ALBuM Allowed a Voice by the acoustic band Refuge, highlighted in the Autumn edition of Pendulum, was launched on 10 October in line with World Mental Health Day. The album, supported by MDF Bipolar, showcases lyrics and poetry written by people with mental health problems in an attempt to challenge the stigma attached to conditions like bipolar, schizophrenia and clinical depression.

The lead singer of the band, Peter Hirst, himself suffers from bipolar. Here he is shown with other Refuge members marking the launch with a concert at the Musician Club, Leicester, on 14th October.

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PENDULUM • WINTER 2010

NEWS

roBErt WEstHEAd HAnds oVEr tHE cHAIr’s BAton to cLArE doLMAn

Clare Dolman: ‘2011 will be our busiest year yet’

FoLLoWInG nEArLY tHrEE years of leading the charity as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Robert Westhead stepped down in December to pass the baton to Clare Dolman.

Robert explained, ‘It has been an honour and privilege to have had the opportunity to do my best to help people with bipolar disorder – and it has been a pleasure to work with likeminded individuals both in

the trustee and staff team.’

Nick Stafford, Vice Chair, responded: ‘I would like to thank Robert openly and personally for the tireless energy and commitment he has poured into the charity over recent years.

I would also like to thank him for introducing me to the board and the subsequent enjoyment I have had in working with him and the wider team. It has been my privilege to support Robert as vice chair and as a friend. I am delighted Robert is remaining on the Board of trustees.’

Nick Stafford: ‘Robert’s tireless energy’

Robert Westhead: helping people with bipolar

Clare Dolman, who joined the Board in November 2009, was unanimously appointed Chair of the Board at the trustees meeting in December. Many of you will recognise Clare’s name as Research Editor of Pendulum. Clare’s skills and experiences as a research psychologist and journalist led her to become quickly involved with the charity’s research partnerships, communications work and last year’s conference.

As Clare explained: ‘Robert set an extremely high standard for the chairmanship of MDF Bipolar.

I am very much looking forward to working with our trustees, Suzanne and the staff team, volunteers, members and all our stakeholders. 2011 looks as if it will be our busiest yet and I welcome the opportunity to meet as many of you as possible at our Annual Conference in June.’

… y r a i d r u o y A note for

national conference 2011 Saturday June 11, King’s College London

Theme: ‘Taking Control of Our Lives’ Full details in the Spring edition of Pendulum WINTER 2010 • PENDULUM

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PENDULUM MEETS…

Paul McGoldrick: ‘I’m alive thanks to the power of positive thinking’ Scottish comedian and actor Paul McGoldrick explains to Sarah Owen how writing about his experiences of bipolar disorder has helped bring him to a place of peace…

Photo credit: Stuart Nimmo

A

ctor and stand-up comedian 48-year old Paul McGoldrick is best known for his roles in Scottish soap ‘River City’, TV drama ‘Taggart’ and the BBC’s comedy sketch show ‘Just For Laughs’ and is currently performing two comedy gigs a week.

‘I write material for my standup comedy every day, although probably only two per cent ends up in the act,’ he says.

‘I love writing because it’s my way of processing the world. And it was the right time to write the autobiography because after years of pain and torment living with unmedicated bipolar disorder, I’ve been regularly taking lithium for four years and I’m finally in a great place.’

Dumbarton-born Paul refers to his autobiography Tobacco Smuggling: Tax Paid as his ‘scattered memoirs’ – a perfect description of the candid stream-of-consciousness that it’s

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easy to imagine flowing from his pen.

‘I wrote it in six hours using just a notepad and biro,’ he says. ‘I just sat on the sofa with the TV on in the background and let the words flow from my heart.’

In many ways, this is a typical bipolar story peppered with dramatic highs and intense lows. Of his early childhood, we’re left with the impression that Paul was a child who always felt like a ‘square peg in a round hole’ and who regularly stole from his mother’s purse to buy chocolate and juice.

His over-riding motivation was, he says, ‘to be liked’. At secondary school, he traded in fraudulent dinner tickets and sold marked-up jewellery and blackmarket cigarettes (hence the book’s title) in the smokers’ shed.

He also carved a role as the class joker, increasingly skipped classes and left without a single

qualification even though he’d excelled in primary school and passed the eleven plus.

During adolescence, Paul paints a picture of amateur boxing, pub brawls and alcohol binges, and describes how his moods would often lurch from ‘happy and glad to mad and sad’ within five minute periods.

‘My mood was seriously unstable.

I can remember taking a load of pills to put an end to all the pain, and waking up to my mother furious because I’d vomited all over the bed and, as she put it, “increased her laundry load”.

‘I tried committing suicide five times when I was 22 and 23, including once throwing myself in front of a bus. I was trapped in a labyrinth of suicidal lows.’

Paul recalls the manic episodes too, recounting the experiences with vivid detail.

PENDULUM • WINTER 2010

PENDULUM MEETS…

Paul in the BBC comedy show ‘Just for Laughs’

‘If you can imagine the best feeling you have ever had, and multiply it by a zillion, well that’s half as good as the feeling you get, and with me this, this could last for up to six months.

‘At first, I don’t sleep for maybe six days, I have flight of ideas, I streak, I think I’m spider man, and hang from buildings. I go to all sorts of European destinations at the drop of a hat.

‘In fact, I’m an international manic depressive, as I’ve experienced episodes in Turkey, Tenerife, Spain, England, France and Ireland. My parents, one of my three sisters or my brother would come and rescue me, usually to get me admitted into a psychiatric ward where I’d be given medication to bring me down.

‘One time, after a drinking binge, I spent two grand on a caravan and threw £20 notes out of the caravan window for the local kids. My mum and girlfriend at the time turned up because they were worried.

‘I went ballistic and smashed up my new home in a rage, eventually placing myself voluntarily in a mental health ward. But as soon as I was stable and left hospital each time, I’d throw my medication into a bush and the cycle would start all over again.

‘I was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of 18, but for 26 years I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was unwell or that I needed help. I didn’t realise that WINTER 2010 • PENDULUM

taking two little pills every day would change my life in a positive way and allow me to live again.’

Instead the cycle of highs and lows continued, until four years ago, Paul finally decided to keep on taking his medication and today has a number of coping strategies in place to help keep him stable.

‘I live on a farm just west of Glasgow and take my two Stafford Bull Terriers out walking everyday.

I find such solace in nature and the exercise is definitely good for me.

‘I’m proud to say that I’ve been sober for 13 years thanks to the AA 12-step programme, which has helped me make amends and recognise character flaws. I still need the support of AA. ‘These days I stick to less harmful addictions – like fishing, golf, DIY, weight lifting and social network sites. I might go to a car auction.

I love buying and selling just for the buzz of it. I also have four horses. I’m too fat to ride them, but I spend a lot of time mucking out the stables. In the evenings I sit and write. These days I know what’s good for me.

‘If I had the opportunity to go back to my adolescent self and speak to him, I’d promise him that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Most of all, I’d tell him to take his medication because that would have saved him so much unnecessary suffering,’ he says. And that’s the

reason why I wanted to share my experiences now, to help save others who are in the same boat.

‘For years I didn’t tell anyone about my condition. I think I was afraid of the stigma attached to any mental illness. But 18 months ago I decided to “come out” because I know that people who share what they’ve been through, like Stephen Fry, really can help others so that they no longer feel alone.

‘However dark things have been in the past - and, boy, things in my life have been very dark - laughter is always the best medicine.

‘I truly believe in the power of positive thinking. My goal is to think of ten positive things every time I think one negative thing.

That way the negatives are drowned out by the positives.

‘I’m living proof that it is possible to climb out of the black hole and live a happy life. I can honestly say I’m the happiest man alive today.’

Tobacco Smuggling: Tax Paid by paul McGoldrick. 50 per cent of proceeds will go to Bipolar scotland – www. bipolarscotland.org / 0141 560 2050. sarah owen is co-author, with Amanda saunders, of Bipolar Disorder: The Ultimate Guide, oneworld publications.

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FBI wants you…yes you!

Do you have an interest in research and improving NHS mental health services for young people and their families?

We want the views and experiences of young people like you — as research partners — to help us develop a new family based intervention (FBI) for young people with Bipolar Disorder.

If you have had personal experience of Bipolar Disorder and want to know more about how you can help, please contact Joanne or Adi at bipolar.fbi@newcastle.ac.uk