8 minute read
Local psychiatrist releases new novel
In Two Minds
Long-time Northwood resident, Professor Gordon Parker, describes his life working as a psychiatrist as being like a ‘pig in mud’. But his path could have been very different, grappling at an early age with the dilemma of whether to choose a medical or writing career. By Jocelyn Biddle.
It was medicine that ultimately won out and in the past 50 years, Gordon has established himself as an internationally recognised psychiatrist specialising in mood disorders. He has also written prolifically on the topic, producing hundreds of research papers and books.
Gordon has more recently indulged his creative side with the release of his second fiction novel – some five decades after the first. Having spent his career writing technical books and papers on mental illness, he was keen to step out of his comfort zone.
The result is a novel that has seen two of Gordon’s passions - psychiatry and writing - coincide.
In Two Minds, which was released on April 1st, follows the story of Martin, a Sydneybased GP. Martin is a high achiever who is popular amongst his friends, patients and colleagues. However the death of his mother triggers an episode of melancholic depression, later followed by a manic state, that sees him being lead astray by the alluring, yet manipulative Bella.
The situation is completely out of character for Martin, who is a loyal and devoted husband to his long-standing wife Sarah - who happens to be away on a business trip at the time.
What unravels is a series of events that sees Martin, Bella and Sarah struggling with the fallout of his actions, representative of the risk-taking behaviours often seen when someone is in the grip of a psychotic episode.
By writing In Two Minds, Gordon was not only able to quell his writer’s itch, but it also provides an opportunity to raise awareness of mood disorders - particularly bipolar disorder.
Gordon is a passionate advocate for identifying two mood conditions - melancholia and bipolar disorder. He established the Mood Disorders Unit at Prince Henry Hospital in 1985 in order to improve their diagnosis and management.
“My raison d’être has been to provide the right diagnosis with the right management. If you do that, people can get their life back and you obviate suicide risk.
“At the end of one hour with a patient, I want to be able to provide them with a diagnosis, treatment options and plenty of information so that they can make an informed decision as to the best path 9 781925384192
forward.”
With a long list of career highlights, the pinnacle for Gordon was founding the Black Dog Institute in 2002.
The Institute now has over 100 staff who conduct research, offer clinical services, and provide health professional training and community education programs.
Sophisticated information is presented on the Institute’s website, together with online questionnaires that people can use to test themselves for depression (which affects about one in four women and one in six men over their lifetime), bipolar or anxiety. Each month, around 60 thousand people undertake the bipolar test alone.
“In Australia we have managed to destigmatize mood disorders better than any other country in the world, helped in
IDoctor Martin Homer has a naturally sunny disposition. Honourable, attentive and trusted by all of his patients, he has only ever loved one woman – his wife, Sarah. When his mother dies suddenly, Martin’s life is thrown into complete disarray. His profound grief sinks him into a state of black dog depression, before he is propelled to new heights in a frenzied, manic high. In between riding his new skateboard around the streets and skating on thin ice personally and professionally, the now self-entitled Martin crosses paths with Bella, a beautiful and sensual young woman ntwo min
profoundly damaged by trauma of her own. d
In Two Minds takes you on a quirky, rollicking journey s
that unveils the complexities of mental illness with
wit and warmth. Gordon Parker’s impressive career A NOVEL
in psychiatry reveals itself through rich and insightful
www.venturapress.com.au descriptions of depression, bipolar disorder and borderline personality characteristics – and their powerful impacts. cover white 11mm wide Gordon Parker Cover illustration: Aura Parker FICTION Also available as an ebook www.venturapress.com.au
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Professor Gordon Parker AO is the founder and former Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute. Currently Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, he was, for nearly two decades, Head of the School of Psychiatry at UNSW and Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals. His first novel was published in 1966, and he has written for The Mavis Bramston Show and OZ Magazine. He was an ABC Science broadcaster and a book reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. His play, Personality Games, was staged in 2004 while his autobiography, A Piece of My Mind: A Psychiatrist on the Couch, was published in 2012. 3821 Two Minds_COVER.indd 1 22mm
‘I can more or less guarantee that you know someone for whom this book will be important and inspiring. There’s a very strong chance that person will be you.’
STEPHEN FRY Intwo Minds A NOVEL Gordon Parker
9/02/2017 9:55 am
Northwood resident, psychiatrist and founder of the Black Dog Institute, Professor Gordon Parker, has just released a new novel that unveils the complexities of mental illness with wit and warmth.
large part by high-profile members of our community coming forward to talk about their own experiences with mental illness.
“This has led to more people seeking help than ever before, and I believe Australia is ahead of the world in destigmatizing depression. There is still a way to go – and thus a secondary aim for this novel.
As the Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute up until 2012, Gordon was also Head of the School of Psychiatry at the University of NSW and Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals for nearly two decades.
Gordon is currently Scientia Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales. He continues to research, teach and lecture at the university and is a prolific writer of academic books and research articles on the topic of mood disorders.
It is the experiences from a career spent diagnosing and treating thousands of patients that provides readers of In Two Minds with such a fascinating insight into the world of mental illness - from both a patient and clinician perspective.
Entering the main character’s world, readers can better understand the debilitating impact that depression and psychosis can have, and their capacity to turn lives upside down.
In the novel, central character Martin switches from a depressive state into a manic psychosis, enabling Gordon to show readers the two ends of the spectrum often experienced by bipolar sufferers.
Which is exactly what happens with Martin. Through his character, Gordon shows how patients can become delusional and lose all inhibitions while in a manic state.
Although Gordon says that 80% of his book is based on imagination, it is informed by his clinical practice and what patients have explained about their own experiences in living with a mood disorder.
“A main complication in treating people with a bipolar disorder is that sufferers love the highs so much that they have to be persuaded to stay on medication in order to manage their condition.
According to Gordon, sometimes people need to ‘crash’ 3-6 times before they learn the high price of not managing their illness with medication - whether it is through damage to themselves or the people around them.
Gordon explores this with his character Martin and the reader is left hanging as to whether the thrills associated with his manic high could cause him to further jeopardise the one relationship he holds most dear.
Gordon’s daughter-in-law and fellow local Lane Cove resident, Aura Parker, illustrated the striking front cover, which carries a highly praised quote by Stephen Fry endorsing the novel.
In Two Minds has been released nationally and is now available at Dymocks and Burns Bay Bookery in Lane Cove.
The insights that Gordon has gleaned from years of clinical practice listening to the narrative of people with mental health issues brings an insightful perspective to his new novel ‘In Two Minds’.
Author talk:
Professor Gordon Parker will be discussing his new novel 'In Two Minds’ and his work as a psychiatrist at the Lane Cove Library. TO REGISTER, PHONE 9911 3634.
